The Hygge Ranch: 2023 Home Goals & Projects
Year 3 of sharing annual goals for our home & this might be officially be my favorite annual exercise. In case you're new here, we bought our home - that I've affectionately dubbed the hygge ranch - at the end of 2020. At the top of 2021, we decided to sit down and come up with a plan for what we wanted to tackle in our home that year. Then we did the same thing for 2022. A lot of things didn't go as planned & a lot of pivots needed to be made, however, after doing this for the past two years - paired with 2 years of homeownership - I still find it to be a pretty dope exercise for my husband & I. And who knows... maybe this'll be the year things actually go as planned lol.
Since we're still pretty new to all of this - home ownership & such - I figure why not do a quick look back at the goals we'd previously set & accomplished...
renovate kitchen
upgrade pantry system
upgrade hall closet system
convert guest bonus room closet to shoe closet
complete said bonus room
furnish back yard
furnish balcony
upgrade the mini's closet system
renovate laundry room
remove carpet throughout the house
upgrade hvac system to ductless
switch out storm door
switch out patio & balcony doors
new window treatments throughout the house
remove popcorn ceiling throughout the house
upgrade the interior & exterior lighting
complete garage insulation & drywall
clean out & repair garden bed
renovate powder room
design the mini's bedroom
refresh our bedroom
install launderette doors
back yard fencing
front yard landscaping
back yard landscaping
driveway repair & redesign
siding & roof replacement
furnish back yard
furnish balcony
remove carpet throughout the house
switch out storm door
switch out patio & balcony doors
remove popcorn ceiling throughout the house
design the mini's bedroom
refresh our bedroom
install launderette doors
back yard fencing
front yard landscaping
back yard landscaping
driveway repair & redesign
siding & roof replacement
Taking a macro look at this list - and two years into home ownership - a lot of these have either fallen off as a priority or they can be absorbed as part of a larger project. With that, there were projects we tackled in 2022, that set the stage for projects we hadn't previously considered.
2022 Project Recap
With 2022 being the year that I launched The Meridian Experience Weekend, it was a very slow year for projects at the hygge ranch... especially when I think about the volume of projects we tackled in 2021. Last year, we tackled the following projects...
renovating our washroom (powder)
installing new exterior cameras
completing the garden bed removal
beginning our deck demo
2022 Renovation
Behind the Design of Our 25 Square Foot Washroom Renovation…
Yep... that's it. That's the entire list of "projects" we completed in 12 months. To be honest, when I sat down to reflect on my 2022, realizing I only had one before & after reveal - the washroom - that's when it really hit me how little we accomplished in our home... from a project execution perspective. The result being spending 12 months actually living in our home, reaping the benefits of everything we accomplished in 2021.
From 11-2020 to 11-2021, we worked on the living room, kitchen, media room, launderette, flex lounge, and bonus bedroom... not to mention a few miscellaneous updates here and there.
Compared to the ONE reveal we had in 2022… huge contrast right? As a home & lifestyle content creator, this wasn't very good for business. As a wife & mother, on the other hand, it was perfection. It allowed me to have a soft place to land while planning The Meridian Experience Weekend. It was a place of comfort & respite, as I made the transition from entrepreneur to employee and back to entrepreneur. Yep, in 2022 I had a whole full-time job, working as a contract site merchandiser for one of the world's largest e-commerce retailers. While I often look back to 2021 wondering if we did too much too soon, 2022 showed me that it was all exactly what we needed for the unknown future that lied ahead.
Now, here we are in 2023... I'm planning the 2nd annual M.E. Weekend. My husband works full time outside the home. The mini is in school full time. Oh yeah... and I have a new full time job for another top e-commerce home furnishings retailer. Finding that sweet spot between what we want to do and what we have the bandwidth to do is paramount this year.
P.S. yes... we will be revisiting the conversation of employment as an entrepreneur. For now, you can read what I had to say about it 4 years ago here.
All that to say, our updated 2023 project goals list looks like this...
demo & upgrade backyard deck
upgrade side fencing & gates
stain back fencing
furnish back yard
back yard landscaping
upgrade balcony railing
furnish balcony
replace outdoor shed storage
replace all exterior doors
design the mini's bedroom
front yard landscaping
siding & roof replacement
replace gutters
refresh the dining room
paint media room ceiling
begin media room sound system
You'll likely notice that items from 2021-2 were removed and brand new items were added. It's been two years for us to truly begin to shed our renter habits. It's a constant exercise for us... reminding ourselves that we own our home so we don't have to rush, we won't have to undo anything, and that this is ours for as like as we want it to be. Fully embracing this has been liberating, and it also allows us to accurately plan our next moves based on what we need, leaving room for what we want, and keeping in mind what we can't control.
You'll also notice a lot of outdoor projects, which was always the plan once we completed the bulk of the interior work - to bring the indoors out.
We would've never begun the deck demo last year without plans to build the new one this year. TBH... if not for delays & the weather, we likely would've completed the deck by the end of 2022. Deciding to tackle the deck was the catalyst for us to completely shift our focus to the exterior spaces. Some of this items are absolute musts, especially when we factor in the age of the home & just general wear. As a reminder we bought the hygge ranch from its original owners. While they did a great job at maintaining & updating a lot of the home's integrity, this is still a 40-ish year old home. Having to eventually replace/upgrade the roofing, siding, and gutters, for example, is something we anticipated... especially considering the very rainy disposition of the PNW.
As we speak, the deck demo is still underway. The continued progress of this project is all up to Mother Nature & how she decides to act this winter. Once the deck is complete - whether that's now or 8 weeks from now - we'll move onto the other parts of the exterior punch list + the sole interior project - the dining room. In the meantime, however, we've been plotting & planning the landscape & gardening design with the help of a few books I recently got.
All in all, I think this year we have a nice balance of projects - needs vs wants, what we'll do ourselves vs what we'll hire out, and what'll be low lift weekend projects vs what'll be long term projects. More importantly, because so many of these projects are intrinsically linked, I am optimistic that we'll actually be able to tackle all of them alongside our lives outside of home improvement projects.
This shift in how we're viewing our projects also comes with my shift as a content creator. I've always said that exclusively being a home content creator was something I needed to redefine for myself, because I had no desire to spend the rest of my working days taking my home apart & putting it back together. If 2022 taught me anything, it's how to appreciate the white space between projects. This is a long term goal of ours - to eventually be project'd out & just enjoy the comforts of the home & lifestyle we've worked so hard for. I said it when we bought the home - I refuse to succumb to project pressure...
“project pressure is the pressure to tackle every and any project imaginable in a new home, likely before even actually living in said home.”
When living in our last apartment - a 2 bedroom condo - I encountered what it's like to be project'd out and I embraced it... I loved it. Granted... little did I know a year later we'd be buying a home & starting all over again, however, that's neither here nor there. The goal - ultimately - is to design each space with intention & longevity in mind. Not to say there won't be refreshes & upgrades, however, now when we're creating our home goals list, the sum total of the goals will be to achieve the ultimate goal of creating a home... not just content.
So to recap...
This year, we've reprioritized & even though we'll be tackling some of the projects that have fallen between the cracks these past two years, we're focusing a lot of our energy on the exterior spaces in 2023. Personally, I am prioritizing being a comfort influencer over being a home influencer, and I invite you to follow along as this new year unfolds.
What are you gonna be working on this year at your home? What are you excited most to follow along with over here. Tap in & lemme know.
