Now that you guys have seen what’s on my 2022 home wish list, it’s time to tell you what I have planned for our house this year!

2021 brought on a ton of excitement with the premier of Design Star: Next and the production and airing of Reno My Rental, but that meant very few projects here at home. It was a drastic difference from 2020 when the changes to our home were almost non-stop! First up was the infamous dining room update. Then there was the wet bar refresh (part 1). Next up was our hallway wallpaper transformation. Then we kicked off summer by finishing our home office makeover. We ended the summer with getting the entire exterior of the house painted (more on that to come). That fall brought on our guest room makeover and kitchen refresh (part 1 and part 2). And we rounded out the year with a birthday makeover of Davin’s bedroom. That’s a crazy busy beautiful year!!!!

We made a lot of plans for the house last year, but life was moving at lighting speed until we lost Marcus. Time and our home literally stood still. I wish I could say that it was to intentionally preserve everything just as it was when he left us, but in reality, for a long time, I didn’t have the mental or physical capacity to do anything besides exist. I got the question about moving a lot. I guess a lot of people just assumed that it would be too painful to stay. This isn’t the first place we’ve lived, but it is our first home. We had created over 5 years worth of memories here. Funny enough, over the last year or so he was here, Marcus felt like we had outgrown our home. He’d spend half his day on Zillow looking for our next home. Something with a bit more room for Davin and his friends and more space for us to entertain our growing community of friends. He thought we needed a bigger place…I didn’t.

Our home has been a labor of love since moving in. I’d finally gotten to a point where I was in love with every corner of it. We weren’t having any more kids, so I didn’t feel the need for more or bigger. I could definitely see his side of things, but it didn’t feel like enough to leave our current home over. Plus, we lived in the most convenient area, had the most perfect neighbors and the property value on our home has skyrocketed! It was too good to leave! I expressed all of this to him, but knew he couldn’t be convinced without a tangible solution. And if you know anything about me, I’m the queen of tangible solutions!

I had the idea of converting our existing 2 car garage into another living room/den. It has a huge workshop that we could convert into a mudroom and entry to a newly added 3 car garage (for our cars and his toys) with an apartment above. We have a huge yard, so we have the room and with the increased value of our home, we could pull the equity to pay for it. An addition would give him everything he was looking for without having to pack up a single thing. He loved the idea. What he loved even more is that it would ultimately turn our first house into a forever home. An investment that we could then pass down to Davin.

We put it on our wish list for 2022. We were supposed to start our search for an architect the week after he passed away.

So…..here I am with our project list of 2022. I’ll go ahead and tell you that an addition isn’t on it. It just doesn’t make since right now. We don’t need a bigger garage and I’m more than happy to relinquish the living room to Davin and his friends, should he ever have more than one over. I just can’t justify that expensive of a change right now. Maybe in a few years that will change…..but not right now.

So, what is on the list? A LOT! All of the other things we wanted to do!

First up, bringing in more natural light! I’ve already told you guys about the new front door I want. That will make a huge difference in our entryway. I also told you about wanting a new sun tunnel for the hallway. I think one where the light fixture is will do just the trick and also highlight the art on the walls

I’d also like to add another skylight to the house! Adding them to our kitchen made for one of the most dramatic transformations in our entire home and I’m itching to add more! The space that I’m thinking is the hall bathroom.

It’s high time that this bathroom gets an overhaul and this is the year for it! So the plan is a new skylight, all new tile for the floor and shower surround, new vanity, new lighting, new mirror, new rug, the works! I don’t have a design in mind just yet, but will very soon! Gotta get started on it ASAP!

And speaking of bathrooms, the next project on the list for 2022 (read NOW) is our primary bathroom.

Yes, the bathroom we renovated at the end of 2019 for the One Room Challenge. THE bathroom that was beautifully designed and had everything I wanted. Unfortunately, it was POORLY executed. We’ve had countless problems with this space since we finished the renovation: leaking plumbing behind the vanity from the wall mounted faucets, damaged fixtures from the repair of said leaks, mold growing out of our shower pan and then to top things off, roots growing in the toilet drainage pipe. It doesn’t even look like this anymore. It now looks like this.

It’s been such a headache that I’m ripping everything out and starting over. Unlike the hall bath, I did have a design that I loved, but it has since been scrapped thanks to material supply and can’t get the feature tile that I had fallen in love with! *insert crying face*

Next on the list is a feature that I’ve been dreaming about for a few years. I have a ton of beautiful, healthy plant babies and absolutely plan to add more…but I’m running out of surfaces for them! I knew the solution would have to be a vertical one since I don’t have the room for another console or credenza. Our living room has 18’ vaulted ceilings and that’s as much vertical real estate as you can get, so that’s where I pointed my focus. Ultimately, I came up with “suspended” console shelf unit idea made of metal and wood. This is what I did to get it out of my brain. LOL.

I fleshed out a few more details and had my amazing intern, Lydia, mock it up for me and this is what we came up with!

It’s the perfect solution, but it absolutely doesn’t exist in the world yet, so custom it is!!! I’m planning to work with my metal fabricator, Lorenzo Scruggs (you may remember him from episode 5 of Reno My Rental), to bring this beauty to life and I can totally feel the new vibe it’s going to bring to the space!

I know I’ve mentioned a new front door a million times now, but there’s another door I want to change too! Our garage door! We have a super basic one that adds nothing to the side of our home and since it’s been painted black like the rest of the house, there’s literally zero dimension over there!

That’s a crappy screen grab of a video of the team painting our house, but you get the picture! That side of our house is just a huge black surface and I want to break it up! Since I’m going mid century on the front door, I’m repeating the same style for the new garage door in a finish that looks like wood, like this one!

It’s going to make all the difference in the world for the exterior of our home! But not just that…

All new landscaping! Yes! We’re finally addressing the plants outside of our house! LOL! Marcus dug up all of our flower beds all the way back in late 2019/early 2020. They’ve been tragically empty ever since!

I’m working with a landscape architect to completely rehab our humungous front and back yards with not just new plants, but also a new front sidewalk, new drainage system, new driveway, new fence, new back patio and greenery for the deck planter! It’s a total overhaul of our entire exterior!!! I. CAN. NOT. WAIT!!! Here’s a little sneaky peak!!!

These are not the final final design, but they’re super close! And since we’re working on the landscaping, the pool may make a 2022 appearance! If not, we’re planning the landscaping around putting in a pool in the future!

So that’s it peeps. That’s the full rundown of what I’m hoping to tackle this year. In my mind, I’d love for all of this to happen TOMORROW! I’m ready to get it all over with and just LIVE IN MY HOUSE! Your girl is tired! But, we’re going to be pacing ourselves to get all the major projects done. I hope you stick around for all the fun! But I’d love to know what big house plans you guys have for this year! Tell me in the comments below!