New Year’s Resolutions | final dose

I’m here today for my final New Year’s Resolutions post. Resolutions. Or intentions. Or words of the year. Whatever you want to call them – this is their time. You can read about my previous two Resolution posts here and here. I broke down my resolutions into categories (HEALTH & WELLNESS & ORGANIZATION).

You can see how I related working on our resolutions to taking medicine and how I’m like Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, “Resolution time!” And like taking our medicine, resolutions can be somewhat daunting. I get a little overwhelmed at the idea of making and keeping resolutions, but I like the idea of taking the time to reflect, reset and focus on the future. So today I’m sharing my final resolutions category: BLOG PROJECTS. yeah!! So much better than eating healthy and getting organized, amIright?

I have a few home projects that I want to do, some projects for others, and some general blog ideas and new artwork that I want to work on this year. Maybe you can find some inspiration in these projects too – or maybe you can send along any ideas you may have to help me along!

1) Kids’ Nautical Bathroom. I started the redesign forever ago. Click here to see the most recent status. I’m going for a more mature design with better storage and a slightly nautical, rustic look. I will finish it this year!

2) Our new addition (not it’s not a baby, or the band). This past fall we had a small addition put on our home. We call it the sunroom. It’s a 4-season porch and it does get a lot of sun. The construction is finished but we’re still finding furniture and making final design touches. We love our new room and hope to finish it soon and share it with you!

And I love this inspiration photo from Desire to Inspire. Ours won’t look quite like this but I’m going for that natural, relaxed, beachy feel.

3) Redo our kitchen cabinets. Ours are U.G.L.Y. They’re a natural oak color but cast a yellow tone over our whole kitchen.

Any of these will do. swoon.

via New England Home

via Heidi Piron

via Dear Lillie

I’m considering refinishing them myself but I’m a little gun shy. I’ll keep you posted.

4) And then I can add a fun, painted kitchen island. We have a small open island that I had refinished years ago. I like it but I want to give it a new look. Loving this blue.

5) I dream of a mudroom. When you walk in our home, you literally trip over shoes and bags. And when our kids’ friends are over, forget it. It would require some major renovation work but I would love it to happen this year. Or tomorrow.

I love this one (can’t find the source).

And this one from Freckles Chick.

6) DIY a headboard. We splurged on a Charles P. Rogers wrought iron bed when we were first married. I loved it. But we recently upgraded to a king sized bed and, although I love the extra room, I miss my pretty bed frame. So I’ve been thinking of DIY headboard options for this year.

Like this from Design Sponge.

Or this door turned headboard.

Or this from Craft Hunter – it’s actually fabric from Ikea. what?

Then there’s this canopy from Design Sponge again.

7) More home design work. I love designing home spaces, gallery walls, paint colors and furniture to go with it. I have a few home projects set up for friends that I’m really excited about. And I signed up to take an online class called The Cozy Minimalist Class from The Nesting Place. I love her style, her blog and everything she does. I hope to learn a lot from this class and use it a lot this year.

8) Build social media presence. I’ve got Facebook down but I’m not very social-media savvy. I have to work on my tweets, maintaining my Pinterest boards and even join Instagram.

9) Grow my Etsy shop. I have a few items on Etsy but I want to add more. I love creating things and the idea of having a real store is something I’ve always dreamed of. Etsy is a start and I’ve linked up with a Facebook group for local artists too. So I have to keep working on making good stuff and promoting it. I just started a yearly art subscription and the response has been great. You get a new art print delivered to your email in-box each month for a whole year. Click here to learn more and sign up. I’m having so much fun creating this new art!

So there’s a list of project ideas for this year – some big, some small. I know a lot more stuff will come up but my main goal is to learn more and grow as an artist and business person. It’s challenging because most of what I do is totally on my own. And it’s a lot of self-teaching. But I have lots of support so that helps a ton!

I hope you stick with me and follow along on these projects and my blog development. If you don’t subscribe already, you should sign up to receive my posts to be delivered to your email. Click on the SUBSCRIBE link in the right hand column to sign up and then make sure you go through the 3-step process. It’s fun getting emails and maybe some will inspire you!

Have a wonderful weekend, now I have to get going on all these resolutions!