Changes for 2009

I can hear you groaning. We're not even through the holiday season, and here I am writing about 2009 already? Yup, that's me. Procrastinating about what needs to be done today so I can think about what I want to do tomorrow! If I put words on paper (or in this case, type on my blog) it helps me define my personal goals. I've been thinking a lot about what I want the next year to bring (as in, what this year didn't bring but it could have or should have if I was more goal-oriented). I'm going to re-do my house. That's my goal for 2009. We've been here 20 years as of the 15th of this month. With few exceptions, the furniture is pretty much the same, the lay-out is pretty much the same, the "feel" of the house is pretty much the same. It's time to move on, make changes, shake things up. I've made a list (of course) of what I want to change. Before any of these changes can take place, however, I'm going to start selling things -- Craigslist, Ebay, local newspaper ads, and the mother of all yard sales in mid-May. Mad decluttering. Mad selling of furniture. I find the best way to convince my husband that we need new furniture is to get rid of the old. No kidding. Before we moved to Ohio from New Hampshire, I called GoodWill and had them pick up almost all our furniture. "Oh look, honey - no bed. Guess we need to buy a new one." It worked then, it will work again. Just watch. Then it's on to buying new furniture. I have been clipping ideas from magazines, copying ideas from the Internet. Writing down names of furniture companies whose designs I like. To the left is an example of what I want for our guest room. I love the feel of this room -- cozy, slightly sophisticated, tranquil. I love the bedding (oh yes, I need all new bedding), the lamps, the color on the walls. And I'm going to sew quilts in 2009. Full sized quilts for the guest room and master bedroom. Seasonal wall hangings for the entry way and family room. Placemats and tablerunners for the kitchen. Mantle scarves for the fireplace. Pillows for beds and sofas and chairs. Valances for the kitchen windows. And more -- lots more. I'm going to hire painters to paint every room. I did this three years ago and it was probably the best money I ever spent. It took them two days to do ceiling, trim and walls in all the downstairs rooms and the hallways. Monetarily, it seems at first like an extravagance but honestly, if you knew how much time it saved, how much bickering it saved, you'd understand that it's worth it. I'm going to hire a carpenter to come in and create built-in bookshelves and a fireplace surround. We currently have a monster of a red brick fireplace, which is actually nice, but far too big for the size of the room. I want it enclosed with a beautiful mantle and bookshelves and cupboards on each side. I want to have my kitchen cabinets resurfaced. This is a compromise. I'd actually really love to have my entire kitchen gutted and redesigned. It's a very large room with huge windows, but because of the way it's set up, there is almost no counter space and a serious lack of storage. I'll have to wait and see which direction I can take this, once I get a price on resurfacing vs new cabinets. I have (relatively) new appliances, so that at least will keep the cost a bit lower, whichever way I go with the kitchen. A local furniture store has a "day with a designer" offering. I may do that as well. While I know what I want, I'd also like to have a professional opinion on furniture placement, window coverings, floor coverings, etc. I'm probably only going to do this one more time in my lifetime, so I want it to be exactly right. I don't want regrets later. And -- I want to do this without going into debt. No credit cards. Possibly monthly payments on furniture if it's zero interest for 12 or 24 months. But no debt to do this. That's a lot of selling! But that's OK -- we have a lot of crap stuff we can get rid of. I'll be frugal as much as I can, but without sacrificing my goal. I may reupholster our family room couch and chair myself -- I've done this before with beautiful results -- or have them reupholstered, rather than buy brand new. So that's my plan for 2009. If my family is reading this, they're in shock because I believe they think I don't care if I don't have beautiful furniture or pretty accessories. They're wrong. I've just never talked about it because there was always something else that needed our money or our attention or our time. But now the time is right. I fully expect it will take the entire year to reach my goal. But reach my goal I shall. I'm headed to my sewing room right now. The Christmas wrapping can wait until tomorrow.