Tag Archives: home goals 2023

Looking back at Home Goals 2023

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Last year was a different kind of year. I started a new job as a college instructor. We took a big trip to Ireland and had other getaways and day trips. This meant that there wasn’t as much time for working on the farm.

As we start 2024, I feel like I left a lot undone last year. But as I look back at the goals I set for 2023, I feel like maybe I didn’t do too bad.

Here’s a review of some of what we did and last year’s home goals.

Coop

My plan was to have the coop completely finished by the end of the year so that we’re ready to bring home some chicks this spring. That did not happen. Our landscapers cleared the old foundation, Matt’s Dad helped tear apart the roof sections and burned a lot of the old wood. I piled more lumber that I hope to reuse and cleaned up the area inside the barn where I want to build. But we still have a big hole in the side of the barn and no pens inside. I’m not giving up, though. The coop will return this year along with other barn upgrades, like eavestrough, exterior lighting and probably some more electrical.

Patio

The driveway patio was the biggest success of last year. Our contractors were great and the result is fabulous. With a comfortable dedicated dining spot, we ate breakfast outside every day and many other meals as well. The herb garden surprised me with how well it did and we were still clipping herbs into December. The new border of rocks around the garden adds so much to the front of the house. The patio is a small area, but it’s added so much to the house and how we live. I am thrilled with how this project worked out.

Swing set

The swing set was another success–and something I accomplished (mostly) on my own. The swing set is big enough for our girl and strong enough for underdoggies. I think it will also grow with her as she learns to swing more on her own and uses the hanging bar and rings more. I also made a few other playground upgrades at the same time, spreading mulch, attaching a ladder to Ellie’s climbing tree, and adding a flag to her treehouse. It’s become a great play zone for her that will last for years.

Vegetable garden

The vegetable garden ties with the coop for my biggest failure. I started 2023 feeling optimistic and even ambitious, so I think that makes it harder that by fall the garden just… fizzled. The timing of my new job and our trip coincided with clean-up season, and eventually I closed the gate and walked away. The raspberries have not been pruned and dead plants have not been pulled. Never mind new mulch, compost, pathways, or growing beds. The garden is another project that will return though.

Turnaround garden

The turnaround garden saw some progress last year, though it’s still pretty haphazard. We added more transplants from a friend, some garden decor with my Dad’s bike and a memorial for Matt’s Mom with a strawberry hydrangea tree. Every garden is a work in progress and an ongoing project. The turnaround feels all that even more. We will keep working at it.

Ellie’s bedroom

A year ago, I wasn’t sure I could convince Ellie to switch rooms. But once we started the makeover, she was all in and eventually set a deadline for me to finish the project because she was so excited to move in. “Finish” is slightly conditional as there are a few details that I still want to do, but she is fully settled and has added lots of details to make it her own. And we’re both sleeping better with a little more space between us.

Like every year, 2023 was a mix. There is no shortage of work on a farm and a fixer-upper house. Just mowing the grass regularly felt like an accomplishment (and thank goodness my cousin came every other week to help me with that). But we did more than that too.

I used the rotary cutter more than I ever have before and did it on my own. Our septic bed and the upper edge of our front field are now in “maintenance mode,” which is big progress. We also did lots of clean-up: picking up litter, clearing overgrown areas, and cutting trees (Matt’s Dad gets credit for this).

Despite feeling a bit discouraged on the project front, I am proud of the balance we found last year. We did so many things, both on and off the farm, and the year was full of fun, love and joy. For us, that’s what life is about. It’s not what the house looks like or whether the property is perfectly groomed. What matters is the people who are here and the things we do together. Projects are part of that, but there’s a lot more too, and that guided our time in 2023.

Did you do any projects–big or small–at your house last year? Did anything disrupt your plans?

Playground upgrades

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Over the summer, Ellie’s playground got a few upgrades.

The treehouse has been a hit, and I’m so glad that I made it for her. It’s large and high (with room for her to grow) and has most of the things she likes (she is very proud that she has mastered the firepole).

She had very quickly outgrown the little playground that I bought for her three years ago, so this spring I sold it. The departure of the playground meant we no longer had swings, so building a swingset was on my to-do list.

But before I could get to the swingset, we did a few other things.

First was adding a simple ladder to her climbing tree. I knew we had a little section of wooden ladder somewhere in the barn. When I stumbled across it one day, I immediately grabbed it and brought it out to the tree she likes to climb (but can’t reach the lowest branches on her own).

A little digging anchored the bottom of the ladder into the ground. A few screws anchored it into the tree. And our girl scrambled up right away. She also enjoys jumping off the ladder. (I’m used to her leaping, so my heart doesn’t completely stop anymore.)

Next up was spreading woodchips under the treehouse. I’d had a load of mulch delivered for this purpose and the pile was where I wanted to put the new swingset.

Unfortunately, when I was ready to move the mulch, the tractor wasn’t due to a flat tire. A shovel, a pitchfork, a wheelbarrow and tenacity got the job done.

First I mowed the grass under the treehouse extra short. Then I covered it with a layer of cardboard. (That person you saw heaving surprisingly heavy bales of cardboard from the drugstore’s recycling pile into the trunk of her car? That was me.) Then I spread a very thick layer of chips under and around the treehouse.

The mulch cleaned up the treehouse so much. No more crazy grass and weeds sticking up here and there. No more contortions as I try to mow under the platform. Ellie also enjoys it as it makes a softer landing zone for her jumping.

With the mulch pile gone, I moved onto the swingset. I had bought a set of brackets and swings off kijiji last spring. I’d even bought the 4×4 lumber I needed to go with them and found the instruction manual online, and then it all sat in the garage for the winter.

Assembling everything was pretty straightforward. Though moving, attaching and flipping 10 foot tall A-frames required some creativity (thank goodness the tractor was back in action by then). My sister also gave me a lift to move the swingset to its final position.

I purposely chose ten foot lengths, even though the manual called for eight, as I planned to sink the A-frames into the ground to anchor them securely. Matt’s Dad helped me dig the holes and move the posts into them. Then a few bags of concrete, some dirt on top and a sprinkle of grass seed, and the swingset was complete.

The final touch for the playground was a flag. The bracket and flagpole have been on the treehouse for more than a year, but I finally sewed up a personalized pennant last week. Ellie helped to colour in her name, and she now loves waving the flag around.

This spot has come together as a great play zone for our girl. Ellie now has a treehouse with tire ladder, firepole and slide, a climbing tree, and swingset with two swings and bar or rings.

A true playground in our own yard.

Vegetable garden update

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The vegetable garden is a mix of highs and lows right now. A nice change, since the last few years have been all lows all the time.

I’m not quite as high as I was last fall, when the garden was cleaned out for the season and I had grand visions for the possibilities that awaited us. But I’m not in the doldrums either.

I’m working at it.

We are using about half the garden this year. One quadrant has mulched pathways and beds that I established last fall. My mission there has been filling the beds (mixed success) and maintaining the paths (mixed success there as well).

The highest of our highs is a surprise. Three potato plants that appeared at the edge of one of the mulched pathways. I am pretty sure the last time we planted potatoes was 2018, so these have been lurking in the weeds for some time. Potatoes are always Matt’s, so these three plants feel like a gift from him. We’re calling them Daddy’s potatoes, and we’ve pledged to always leave some surprise potatoes in the garden.

The next high is our raspberries. We have so many canes and they are loaded with fruit. One of the highlights of working in the garden this spring was hearing hundreds of bees pollinating the berries. This is also our first year harvesting from plants I transplanted from Matt’s Dad, and the berries are beautiful.

The lowest of our lows is of course the weeds, which are still thriving. I’m reminding myself that they are very well established. It’s going to take effort to knock them back. Thistles and milkweed are our major invaders. (I know milkweed is important for monarchs. We have lots all around the farm and have transplanted many plants this year. I’ve decided they don’t get the vegetable garden too.)

Then we have the plants that I want to grow in the garden. These are not as well established as the weeds. We were a bit late in planting this spring, so they’re all still a little small. We also used our old seed stash, so we’ve had some spotty germination. The old seeds worked great for the tomatoes and watermelon, but the zucchini, carrots, and lettuce didn’t come up at all and the beans and peas are sparse. I bought fresh cucumber, spinach and beet seeds, but the beets didn’t sprout either. (Though I did have a spinach salad for lunch yesterday.)

But speaking of tomatoes, our bumper crop of seedlings led me to open another quadrant of the garden. This one had been tarped, so it was fairly weed free, but there were no rows or paths or beds. I stuck 70 tomato plants in the ground and figured I’d deal with the infrastructure later. But of course as soon as the soil was exposed to the light, the weeds sprouted. The tomatoes are not placed how I want the beds to be, so I can’t work around them to put in my paths and beds. But I’m going to try to lay down some cardboard in between the rows to try to fight the weeds a little bit.

I planted the herb spiral at roughly the same time as the tomatoes, and I mulched the spiral with wood chips. We have had barely a handful of weeds from that whole bed, so contrasting the herbs with the tomatoes has been a great lesson in the power of mulch.

I’m so committed to my no dig and mulch and cardboard and paths and beds that seeing and walking on the exposed soil in the tomato section felt weird. The areas where I spread cardboard and mulch last year are definitely less weedy than anywhere else in the garden. They’re not weed free. I didn’t have enough cardboard to do the whole quadrant, and the cardboard I did have has now decomposed. So the weeds have broken through in spots, but there are not as many and they are much easier to deal with than the bare soil.

I think I entered no dig expecting truly no dig. The weeds would succumb with one application of cardboard. The worms and bugs and plants would thrive. My garden would be lush and beautiful and low maintenance.

The more I’ve studied, the more I realize that it’s a process. Battling the weeds takes time. Finding my balance of mulch, compost, interplanting, succession planting and just plain planting takes time. I believe that no dig is best for the soil, animals, bugs and plants. I also believe we can get there to a lush and beautiful (but not necessarily low maintenance) garden. I’m working at it.

How is your garden growing? What are you growing at your house? Are you a mulcher? Anyone else experimenting with different growing methods?

Farm flagstone patio and steps reveal

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Our patio is done. We celebrated its completion with a party with a capital P. There was pizza, pop, party mix, and pie. (We also made a psalad with pecans and prusciutto.) Our landscapers are good sports and did a great job. They also enjoyed all of our homemade treats throughout the project, so it felt appropriate to treat them one more time.

We now have a beautiful flagstone patio, large boulders edging the front garden and herb spiral, and gorgeous stone steps for the living room patio door and mudroom entrance.

I knew from the start that I wanted real stone. As always, my goal is to make this house more “farmy,” so I wanted the patio to look like it could have come from the property. No pavers or tiles here. I’m grateful that our landscapers worked with me on the design, so that natural stone was possible within our budget. And that they were willing to take the machines across the fields to pull rocks from our own farm. (We worked with RS Landscape & Construction and they were awesome.)

The stairs, flagstone and boulders are all random. We bought the stairs and flagstone from a stone yard, and the boulders came from the fields. Our landscapers spent days laying everything out and fitting them together. I love the precision of all of the joints. They had amazing attention to detail.

For the mudroom step, they set out the three slabs and then spent a half an hour with me flipping and rotating them with the excavator until I was happy with the layout. They were super accommodating. Now when we go inside, there’s plenty of room for Cigo, Ellie and me to all stand on the step together–since no one in my family has heard of the concept of personal space.

The purpose of the patio is to give us proper stairs to access the mudroom and living room and to create a small landing area that’s separate from the driveway. The design gave us that, along with two pockets of space. One is just large enough for a small dining table and four chairs. The other fits a little lounge chair that’s the perfect size for Ellie and me to curl up together.

Starting our day out here with a book or breakfast has been a beautiful treat.

The patio is a major step in finishing off the garage renovation. I’d still like to pave the driveway, but I think I’m going to wait until my budget has recovered. In the meantime, we’re enjoying entering and exiting the house easily, our new herb garden, the improved view of the southside of the house, lounging in the chair, eating at the table, or simply perching on the steps.

I’m very grateful that we were able to build the patio and that it came together the way I envisioned.

Do you have a patio at your house? Who else likes outdoor lounging and dining? Are you a fan of natural stone? What outdoor projects are you tackling at your house this year?

Home Goals 2023 mid-year report

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We’re halfway through 2023. (Yeah, I know. How did that happen?)

We’ve made progress on all of the home goals I set for this year (yay!) and I’m excited about how far we’ll get over the rest of the year.

Are you excited to check in with me? Here’s how we’re doing so far.

Coop

Black dog standing on dirt beside a barn. A hole in the barn wall is covered in a tarp.

The last trace of the 100-year-old coop disappeared last month when the crumbling foundation became part of our (now massive) rockpile behind the barn. It was a huge job, and I was grateful that our landscapers were able to handle it while they were here for our patio construction. Next up, the building phase, starting with a new wall for the (still massive) gaping hole in the side of the barn.

Patio

Black dog laying on a stone patio. An unfinished chair is in the background.

The patio is almost done and it’s fabulous. All the details are coming soon.

Swing set

Pile of woodchips beside a treehouse.

The swing set fittings and lumber that I bought last year are still stacked in the garage. I sold Ellie’s too-small playset, so we have a spot for her new swings. Then I took delivery of a big pile of mulch, which was dumped in the swing set site (say that six times fast). As soon as I spread the mulch underneath her treehouse, I can build her bigger swing set. In the meantime, our girl has mastered the firepole on her own. She’s so proud of herself, and I am too.

Vegetable garden

Tomato seedlings in a garden

I’m still trying to be cautious in the garden. Some days I’m quite optimistic. Others I feel like it’s close to being overrun with weeds (as has happened in years past). We have mostly cleared and planted about half the garden. We have 70 tomatoes, 6 watermelons, plus beans, beets, spinach, carrots, lettuce, zucchini, peas, cucumber, grapes and about a trillion raspberries on their way. I feel like we are getting closer to a no-dig, not too weedy, productive garden. But it takes constant vigilance right now.

Turnaround garden

Pearson Pennant flag flying over a flower garden

Most of the plants Ellie and I moved to the turnaround last fall survived. We’ve added some more, made a path to the flagpole and spread some mulch. There’s lots more to go yet, but we’re getting closer to my original vision to fill the whole turnaround with plants.

Ellie’s bedroom

Ellie loves her new room. She has been sleeping in there for several months (although this weekend she started sleeping on the floor). I still have a few things I’m hoping to do to fully finish off the space, along with convincing her to move back into her bed.

I’m really proud of everything we’ve accomplished so far. Every item on my home goals list has had some attention. At the start of the year, I felt like we weren’t just playing catch up anymore or fixing things that were broken. We are finally making progress. Reviewing these goals makes me feel like we’re making lots of progress. I hope the momentum continues.

What’s your big accomplishment so far this year? How are you doing on projects this year at your house? Do you have any home goals?

The middle

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The part we all wait for in DIY is “look at the beautiful room/garden/furniture/shelfie/whatever I made!” The middle while you’re waiting is less beautiful, less photogenic, less interesting.

I’m in the middle.

I feel like I have little to report. But I like the regularity of writing a blog post for every Monday, so here I am. Schedules and deadlines–even when self-imposed–work well for me. In both blogs and renovations.

Ellie’s room makeover is on track. We’ve had paint week. Last week was window week (curtains are tedious, so I’m not giving you a whole blog post about the HALF A DAY I spent ironing or the wait at Ikea to return a too short curtain rod).

This week is bed week. I’ve washed the dusty bedframe, added beadboard to the headboard, bought a new can of primer and am ready to begin painting the headboard. The mattress is being delivered on Thursday.

We’re on track. In fact, we’re on track for lots of projects. As with Ellie’s room, there’s not much to share yet, but I’m going to mention them anyway.

Coop

I’m halfway through clearing the manure off the old coop foundation. Getting to this point involved detaching the the snowblower from the tractor and recharging the tractor battery, so there was progress on several fronts.

Patio

We had some lovely weather last week, so Ellie and I enjoyed breakfast and lunch on our currently-imaginary-but-hopefully-soon-to-be patio and confirmed that, yes, we would like a proper place to eat and sit. Cigo sprawled in the sun. We set up a small table and chairs and confirmed that they should fit on the new patio. Construction should start sometime in May (fingers crossed).

Gardens

Garlic is up in the vegetable garden. Transplants to the new turnaround garden seem to have survived. I have bales of cardboard and piles of mulch (and a brand new pile of very old manure) ready to be spread around. May may be garden month.

We keep moving ahead. Progress may not always be as quick as I want (I still can’t believe it took me a whole morning to iron curtains), but I know I’m getting closer to that beautiful, photogenic, interesting moment.

What projects are you in the middle of? How do you schedule projects? What tips do you have for persevering through the middle?

Ellie’s room makeover

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Ellie’s room makeover was the first project of the year. We got started in January, clearing out the old guest room and coming up with a plan for the space. And then we stalled.

This is a relatively simple project that could be done in a week. A different kind of blog would even do it as a weekend makeover. We are now at the beginning of April, which means Ellie’s room has been going on for three months.

It’s time to get moving.

Fortunately, something happened a few weeks ago that brought my motivation back. I found a headboard.

Dark wood headboard

Ellie’s directive was that she wanted the same bed that she had, just bigger. I had planned to construct a headboard with a built-in shelf. But while browsing a thrift store, I found a double headboard that had shelves and sliding door cubbies, just like her current bed. I’m going to give it a coat of paint, attach it to a metal bedframe that we already have, buy a new mattress and cross this task off my list.

Speaking of the list, here it is.

Empty room – We finally got (pretty much) everything out this weekend. The big furniture was dragged into the middle of the room.

Furniture grouped in the middle of the room

Paint walls – We patched the holes, primed the patches and picked up the paint. Hopefully it goes on the walls this week.

Window treatments – I ordered new curtain rods which have already arrived. Blinds are on order. I need to sew a blackout lining for the existing dropcloth curtains. Then install my layered window treatments.

Bed – The doors to the headboard’s cubbies are going to get a little makeover, then I will paint everything white. I need to buy a new mattress and box spring. I dug the metal bedframe out of the driveshed. It needs a good cleaning and then I can attach it to the headboard.

Decorate – We’ll need some pictures on the walls, some accessories, a mirror.

Move in – We’ll make the bed, hang her clothes in the closet, bring in her books, and hopefully our girl will like her new room.

My plan is to tackle one thing a week (painting week, window week, bed week, etc.) until we’re done. Painting is up first.

Child painting a wall while standing on a small ladder

The One Room Challenge, which kicks off this week, is providing a little extra motivation. While I’m not officially joining up, I love the ORC for how it helps me focus and gives me a deadline. So I’m making Ellie’s room my own personal One Room Challenge.

Stick with me. We’ll get this done… eventually.

Anyone else have a stalled home improvement in progress? How do you stay motivated during projects? Have you made any good thrifting scores recently?

Demolishing our 100-year-old chicken coop

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The idea to demolish the chicken coop was laid (see what I did there?) when I was writing my 2022 Home Goals mid-year report last summer. Usually, I have a list in my mind of what renovations or projects are next. So the coop kind of surprised me when it snuck in. But once it was there, I couldn’t forget it.

So as our last project of 2022, we took down the old coop.

The timing is right for a few reasons. The patio is on the list for 2023. That means there will be equipment here that is capable of removing the foundation for the old coop and levelling the ground.

Also, we’ve been here for 11 years. It’s time to have birds already!

If you need a bit of background, this post gives you an introduction to the old coop. While the coop was a good size, it was run down. Rehabbing it (and mucking it out) was more than I wanted to take on. Plus it wasn’t what I was looking for when I thought about how I would handle our birds. I decided to start fresh.

First step was cutting the trees that had grown up around the coop. Matt’s Dad and nephew came out and gave us a day of work to clear them out of the way. In the process, we learned that the coop was sturdier than it looked. One of the trees that was particularly close and leaning in an inconvenient direction ended up on the roof. Despite the weight of the large tree, the coop didn’t budge.

A few weeks later, my cousin and his daughter’s boyfriend came out for the official demo day and my Mom came to take care of Ellie.

Aside: I am so fortunate to have help with so many things around the farm. I want to be able to continue to live here, and I want to make it the way Matt and I always envisioned. But it’s a huge job. Taking care of this property and doing the work that’s needed (and wanted) is a lot. In cases like the coop, it’s more than I can handle. Asking for help is essential. Having people who willingly and happily say yes is incredibly meaningful. It’s more than a coop. It’s a vision and a life, and they help me make it happen.

Back to demo.

We started with popping off the old siding. I wanted to work from the outside as much as possible, as the coop was full of old manure, critter mess and who knows what else. Nothing we should be breathing.

As we progressed to the roof, it became obvious that the coop was, in fact, very sturdy. Even with major support posts cut, the structure wasn’t going anywhere. So my cousin climbed up, peeled back the metal sheathing and sliced the roof with his chainsaw. Then we hooked up a rope, connected it to the winch on his ATV (he brought all the tools, which turned out to be so helpful) and pulled the roof down. We did that three more times and ended up with four huge sections of roof spread around on the ground.

This was also the point when it became clear that the coop was its own freestanding structure and wasn’t actually attached to the barn. I had planned to leave the one wall intact where it joined the barn, so that we didn’t have a huge gaping hole in the side of the barn all winter. But the wall was part of the coop and down it came.

By the end of the day, the coop was gone–aside from huge piles of wood and a foundation covered in half a metre of manure.

We saved a lot of pieces of wood that are long enough or solid enough to be reused. Matt’s Dad again came to the rescue and took care of burning the rest of the old lumber. He also helped me cover the huge gaping hole in the side of the barn.

He and my sister came out again to help take apart the roofs. These were beasts. The rafters and beams were round sections of trees. Then there was a layer of sheathing boards. On top of that was a layer of wooden shakes. Then another layer of boards that were strapping for the metal panels that were the final layer. Prying them all apart, saving what was useable and then burning the rest took a full day.

From what we uncovered during demo, I am guessing that the coop was built in 1919. The walls were a double layer of barnboard, and between the planks were old newspapers. They were very well preserved and dates were very clear. The coop has obviously been renovated over the years. Metal was added to the roof over the original shakes. A layer of concrete was poured over the original floor. But the core structure seems to be more than 100 years old.

Part of me felt a bit bad for taking it down. But as I said at the beginning of the post, it would have taken a lot of work to fix it up and it still wouldn’t have been what I was looking for in a coop. I’ve come to realize that living at the farm comes with history and also means adapting the property to us and now.

So that’s where I’m looking now. I’m planning for our new coop and looking forward to starting to rebuild. I’ll share my plans soon.

Have you ever had a home project sneak up on you (not because something broke)? Have you found any relics when renovating? How do you deal with history at your home?

Home Goals 2023

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I’m feeling pretty excited for this year’s home goals. We have some big projects coming up that will really transform the farm and how we live here. I also feel like we’re in a good place to tackle them. As you saw in my 2022 home goals wrap-up, I feel like we’re building toward the vision Matt and I have for this farm.

I’m also learning to make our home work for us. The way I want to do things, the way we live, the best use of our spaces. I’m less locked into keeping things just because that’s the way they’ve always been. This is our farm now, and I want to make it what we want.

Here’s how we’re going to be doing that this year.

Coop

Source: Backyard Poultry

First on the list is a (maybe) surprise project. We’re building a coop! Finally! We’ve lived here for nearly 11 years, and I’ve wanted birds the whole time. At my mid-year home goal review last year, I suggested maybe, possibly knocking down the old coop. Well, that ended up happening. There’s still a bit more clean-up to go, but it’s almost time to rebuild. Actual birds are not part of this year’s plan. I need a functional secure home for them first. Other barn upgrades, like last year’s eavestrough plan and probably some electrical, will be part of this project.

Patio

Source: RS Landscape & Construction

The driveway patio returns to the list. I think I’ve found a contractor. We’ve talked about my vision. We have a quote. We revised the quote so that it’s now in budget, but still in vision. We’ve looked at stone. We’ve talked timelines. I’m crossing my fingers that everything comes together to do this project this year.

Swing set

Source: Wayfair

This project is another carryover from last year, though you haven’t heard about it yet. Ellie very quickly outgrew the playset I bought for her. She now has the treehouse, which has been a huge hit. She needs a bigger swing set. Our girl is very into underdoggies, and as she grows she wants to swing higher than our little set can handle. I found swing set fittings on kijiji last year and even bought wood. This year, I will put it all together.

Vegetable garden

Source: Charles Dowding

I usually try to be cautious in the garden, but this year I’m feeling optimistic and it’s making me ambitious. I did a major cleanout in the fall, made a few rows and paths, and spread mulch everywhere. Ellie has big plans of what she wants to grow this year, and I’m hoping that we can get closer to a no-dig, not too weedy, productive garden.

Turnaround garden

Source: Gravetye Manor

Building another flower garden on the turnaround was a bit of an impromptu project last year when we transplanted the well garden in anticipation of building the driveway patio. I’m waiting to see what plants survived their hasty, late season relocation and we will keep growing from there.

Ellie’s bedroom

Source: Wendy Hyde via Design Mom

I think have finally convinced our girl to move rooms. So she and I will be coming up with a fun new design to make the guest room into Ellie’s room. Green is no longer her favourite colour, so now we’re aiming toward teal. Or maybe rainbow. My client has lots of ideas.

Of course, along the way there will continued work on the history of this farm, pond shore, pruning, more clean up everywhere, preparing for the worst, repairs and surprises. But there will also be lots of fun.

What projects are on your list for this year? Do you have any home goals?