2015 Penny-Pinching Punchlist Playback

Resolutions suck.

Yep. Resolutions…they aren’t my favorite.

I don’t like setting myself up for failure. In general, I don’t think that’s a healthy practice. But, this blogging thing has kind of forced me to create goals. If I don’t, I have nothing to blog about. And well, that would be boring. Then we’d just have a weekly screen staring contest with one another. And while I do love a good staring contest, I think we’d both tire of that quickly.

Source: Imgur.com

Today, I’ll recap our goals for 2015 and tell you how we did. And then we’ll go ahead and make some goals that we probably won’t achieve, and I’ll share those with you guys next week. Just being honest, friends. *This post contains affiliate links. Please see our full disclosure policy HERE.*

2015 Goal Recap – Our Penny Pinching Punchlist

1. Scrooge-esque Stair Refinishing.

Our plan was to finish the basement stairs as cheaply and inexpensively as possible…

with PAINT.

2015 resolution recap heathered nest stair refinishing-2

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

We did it!

And we LOVE the results. We were concerned the paint would chip and we’d end up doing this again. And I can tell you that a year in, it looks PERFECT. And this is a highly trafficked staircase! I’d do this project again in a hot minute.

2015 resolution recap heathered nest stair refinishing-1-3

The whole staircase top to bottom was a super penny-pinching endeavor. See that capiz chandelier? We hacked that from a boob light that was originally there…took 5 minutes, and cost us nothing, since we already had the capiz shade.

And that mirror? Used a 1980’s style bathroom vanity mirror and some scraps of barn wood. Again, cost us nada. Just click those links for more on each of those projects.

2015 resolution recap heathered nest stair refinishing-1-2

And super fun fact…this cheapo staircase got a magazine feature this year in This Old House. Who says budget-friendly isn’t beautiful?

2. Hit the deck! (with paint).

Our next goal was to get up to speed with our deck maintenance. The former homeowner had built a (very) large deck in the rear of the home, which is great…but it hadn’t been maintained very well.

2015 resolution recap heathered nest deck makeover-1

So cleaning and re-staining this deck was high on the priority list if we wanted this structure to last.

2015 resolution recap heathered nest deck makeover-2

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

Our former home had a screen porch, which was our absolute favorite spot. We got estimates to add one to our deck in this new house, but when numbers like 11-18k started getting tossed out, we knew that wasn’t going to happen any time soon. So we went for plan B.

We built a pergola and made some DIY mosquito net curtains that we put up during the summer months to cut down on the bugs. A perfect solution for a fraction of the cost.

Heathered Nest Outdoor Living Room-Deck Reveal!

The deck is in much better shape now, and we love how functional it is. It’s a great spot for entertaining. We did a series of posts on the process…each linked below:

We even made a “can-delier” out of some vintage coffee cans from my Grandpa’s garage, paired with some vintage oyster tins. Wanna make one of your own? We’ve written a full tutorial.

3. Miserly Master Bath Makeover (continues)…

In 2015, we had already started our uber-cheap master bath renovation. So in 2015, the plan was to keep the spirit of spending next-to-nothing alive with more in the master bath to include: building a little step to cover that 4×4 tile stair by the tub, covering the current tub tile surround with wainscoting, framing the mirror, and DIY’ing some light fixtures.

BEFORE:

MISSION FAILED.

We didn’t get to a single, solitary item in this bathroom in 2015. Whatevs. We have a working toilet…that’s something. If you wanna check out what we did last year in this space as part of our $0 bathroom makeover, here’s the post.

4. Reasonably priced tile re-glaze.

This was what our kids’ bathroom looked like last year. We hadn’t touched it since we moved in. And prior to that, I don’t really think it had been touched since the house was built in the early 1990s.

The original project on the 2015 docket was simply to re-glaze the tub/shower with a Tub & Tile Refinishing Kit. So we did that…

Then we took it about 200 steps further. When we crunched the numbers and figured out we could renovate the whole room for less than $2000, we went for it.

MISSON WAAAY ACCOMPLISHED.

If you haven’t seen it before, I introduce our $1800 kids bath remodel.

We did a series of posts on this bathroom renovation if you’d like to check any of them out.

5. Frugal Flooring Facelift.

Here’s what our kitchen looked like when we moved in.

The budget-friendly plan in here for 2015 was to paint the floors. I know, it’s a little “out there”. But that’s how we roll here. We were thinking of doing something like this…

MISSION FAILED.

We didn’t do a blasted thing with the floors. We did paint the cabinets and add some pendant lights over the island, which I guess I should show you guys at some point, but truth is, I still don’t love the space AT ALL, so it’s hard to get amped enough to write about it.

Good things come to those who wait is what my Mom always said. So I’m trying to be patient while we save up enough to make some changes.

6. Frugal Flooring Facelift Part Deux.

This is a picture of how our laundry room looked when we moved in. Our plan was to lay utility hardwood flooring, to the tune of about $.99/sq ft and get rid of the linoleum. On one hand, linoleum is fantastic because it’s SO easy to clean. And as this room is situated between our garage and kitchen, that’s pretty clutch. On the other, it’s really old, chipping, and certainly outdated.

Hardwood utility flooring is awesome. We used it on the landing of our painted staircase remodel, where there also had previously been old, chipping linoleum. Once we laid the utility flooring, we were going to paint it to match the kitchen floors, so the two rooms would flow nicely. Well, we’ve done some updates, but that lovely linoleum remains.

MISSION KINDA SORTA FAILED, BUT KINDA ACCOMPLISHED.

laundry room mud room makeover heatherednest.com

Although the linoleum remains, we did paint the walls and trim, removed the oak cabinets and put in larger maple cabs which I painted. The old oak cabinets were saved for extra storage in our garage. We installed PVC wainscoting, a new light fixture, and some utility hooks.

laundry room mud room makeover heathered nest

It’s a process, right? I’m sure some of you can relate. I don’t know if a “dream home” really exists for anyone. It’s just a slow process of changing, re-arranging, demolishing and remodeling to make a house a home….and all the while, remembering that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and credit cards aren’t the answer to our happiness.

We have to slowly, incrementally scrimp and save, make choices, and do what we can afford to do. And at the end of the day, none of it REALLY matters too much, anyhow. It’s the little head lying on that pillow at night, the beast that comes and goes through his doggie door…the tiny person whose toothpaste remnants you are forced to clean out of the sink bowl each day, the guy or gal who brings home Chinese food and is there to hug you when Overstock runs out of that accent table you had your heart set on. It’s the inhabitants of our little corners of the world that really count. So let’s try to remember to take care of each other in the year to come. Happy new year, friends.

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Comments

Pamela-FromMyFrontPorchToYours says

January 4, 2016 at 11:19 pm

Love all your projects Heather! The boys bathroom is my favorite. Cant wait to see if you tackle the kitchen floor this year. I am wanting to do the sam thing to our stair landing once we get our stairs completed.

- Heather says
  
  January 5, 2016 at 1:39 am
  
  Thank you SO much. That is very lovely to hear, coming from you!!! Good luck on your stairs. Sure they will turn out beautifully!! Happy new year 🙂

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2015 Penny-Pinching Punchlist Playback

Resolutions suck.

Yep. Resolutions…they aren’t my favorite.