2018 is finally here! We’ve had such a busy start to the year already but I’m certainly not complaining. There are so many exciting things and projects happening this year and I’ve spent the last few weeks trying to get myself organised for it all. Although, I don’t normally believe in New Year’s resolutions (I do try but often fail to remember them..), but I still think it’s really important for me personally to set some goals for the year (no matter how big or small).
Our house renovation project has stagnated for a while which is something I’m not particularly happy about. We did all the major renovation works first; new boiler, flooring, extension, new kitchen, new driveway and new garden decking etc. As much as I enjoy seeing the improvement, I absolutely hate having people in the house to carry out the renovation works. It’s such a stressful time and when you have children it’s 10 times worse. After we finished renovating the kitchen and the extension I decided it was time to take a break. Luckily, I feel like I’m ready for a challenge again. We’ve had some time to think about what we want to do next, especially now that we have done all the structural work, it’s time to focus on the fun stuff. We have also realised that this is probably not our ‘forever house’ (although I do believe we’ll stay here for the next 3-5 years) so that has definitely helped us to narrow down the jobs that we really want to do.
We’ll be redecorating our hall, stairs and landing first. Our painter started ripping off the wall paper last week and he should be finished by the end of this week. The walls will be painted white (using Dulux Timeless matt colour, just like downstairs) and I’m so pleased we’ll get to replace the old carpet we inherited when we bought the house with a brand new wool herringbone carpet. I’m so excited about our new carpet you wouldn’t believe. I really wanted a natural carpet with an elegant herringbone pattern and shopped around online and locally and finally found one that I absolutely love. The only thing is it’s 100% wool and light cream. Am I crazy? Yes, probably since I have two small children and a messy husband but I’m hoping the herringbone pattern will hide some of the dirt. I’m also going to have a fabric protector on it so hopefully it won’t stain as easily. Since we don’t eat or drink on the stairs or on the landing I’m a bit more relaxed about the colour. Also, we don’t wear shoes inside either which should help a little.
We will be also remodelling our downstairs bathroom. We have never renovated the downstairs bathroom, although we did a mini bathroom make-over and installed real marble floor tiles when we moved in (which begun to deteriorate after few months, yes months!) Well, fast forward 6 years and I’m still loving marble but not the natural side so much. So, this time we will be installing marble effect porcelain in stead (it’s actually more expensive than real marble but more durable). Our bathroom renovation isn’t due until March so I’ve got plenty of time to plan it all. I’m planning a fully tiled bathroom with marble effect porcelain tiles and some black accessories. We’ve only bought the tiles so far, so I still need to find some cool accessories to give it a nice contemporary feel. Oh, I also need to figure out shelving and storage as it’s the trickiest part when you have a small or medium sized bathroom. I really hope that everything goes according to plan. Big jobs like this always make me nervous, no matter how much research I do.
We are also finally planning to fit a kitchen splashback (we have one behind the hob but that’s it). I think I’ll go for white subway tiles with a herringbone pattern (similar to this). Not tiling the kitchen was one of my biggest kitchen renovation regrets. At the time I didn’t really know what type of splashback I wanted and I thought the painted finish looked nice. The thing is painted walls in a kitchen are just not practical. You need to do touch ups pretty frequently (which doesn’t really bother me that much) but the room just never looked finished to me. I’m so excited to get it finally done and hope that it looks exactly like I had imagined.
Of course, I’m also going to continue blogging about décor and hopefully collaborating with some awesome brands that I love. Also, something super exciting is happening in April but I don’t want to reveal too much about it yet. I’ll keep you posted!
On a more personal note, I’m going to try to improve the same things that I say I want to improve every year. Since I work from home, I’m going to try to learn how to switch off work mode and spend my time more wisely. I also want to automate more blog posts and social media tasks. I often feel guilty for not spending enough time writing blog posts and posting pictures on Instagram (some bloggers post multiple times a day!) but I simply don’t have it in me. There are so many different social media platforms out there right now that it’s hard to keep up, don’t you think? I know things will get easier as my babies get older (I hope!) but I’m doing the best I can right now. Which leads me to my next New Year’s resolution.. I’ll also try to take better care of myself and maybe even join a gym this year. Meditation and pilates are the two things I’d like to focus on. It will be all about unplugging, unwinding and relaxing which is something that I really need to work on.
If there’s anything you’d like to see more of on the blog (or see less of), please speak up I’d really like to hear from you. My blog has evolved a lot since I started (almost 4 years ago now!) and although it will always be mostly about interiors/décor I’m open for suggestions.
Did you make any New Year’s resolutions?
