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hey there! I'm monica 

I pride myself on making amazing style and design accessible for everyone, regardless of location, budget, or ability! My design philosophy is rooted in authenticity + attainability - If I can do it, you can too! My work has been featured in countless publications, but I take the most pride in homeowners that have been personally inspired by my DIY ideas and have tried something in their own homes!

learn more about ME + MY BIZ

Ok, folks. Yesterday we shared our BLOG goals with you and today’s the day we publicly lay out our plans for our homes in the hopes that putting it down in writing for the whole world to see will motivate us to actually geterdone. These goals include our big plans for the year, but we’ll be sharing lots of little projects and ideas along the way.
So, here goes:

1. Finish the dining room, goshdarnit. I’m the worst at putting the finishing touches on a room (ugh, the details!), but that’s all I have left to do. Look for the full reveal later this month!
2. Update the Living Room. This room is attached to the dining room, so it looks a bit drab compared to the new cottagey/coastal dining room. The stenciled fireplace is just waiting for the rest of the room to catch up!
3. Tackle the Master Bedroom. Oh, this room. It’s dark, dingy and in dire need of some love. I’m ready to paint, add an accent wall, change out the bedding, refinish the furniture, and make some art that speaks to my hubs and me. This will be the last room on the main level that gets done! (Oh wait, there’s the master bath too…..)
4. Create an organized (but beautiful!) desk area under the stairs in our finished basement. We need a place to keep our files (instead of my husband’s underwear drawer. I kid you not!) and house our computer.  I’m not entirely sure what I want to do there, but I know it will include this fabulous antique door. We planned to use it in our Guest Room Makeover, but we went with shutters instead.
5. My baby turns 3 this year and it’s time for a big boy room! I’m so torn about the direction I want to go in for Charlie’s room: preppy and nautical or vintage baseball. I know he’d go nuts for baseball, but I’d go nuts for nautical! Who will win?!
 Pottery Barn Kids & Source Unknown
6. Be content to just live in and enjoy our home without constantly scrutinizing it for problem areas. I’ll be honest. Sometimes being in the home blogging world feels like everyone has the perfect house. I don’t and that’s ok. I’m going to try to read a book in my ugly bedroom every once in a while and just enjoy it, instead of wishing it were someone else’s gorgeous retreat. You know why? Because I am blessed….ugly rooms and all.
Pinned Image
1. Eliminate Wasted Space.  Almost everyone has that one room (usually the formal living room) that is just totally wasted space.  Either, it looks pretty, but no one uses it or it’s kind of an unfinished eyesore… Mine is the later.  When you walk into our foyer you see our bold wallpaper, fun word art wall, and then BAM it hits you… to the right is a completely unfinished jumble of a room. I was going to make it a completely predictable formal living room, but I’d never really use it.  Jess, the hubs, and I have been brainstorming and I think we just might have a plan!
(this is part of the current jumbled up mess- don’t worry I’ll just be relocating this area, because the kids do use the crafting area all the time)

2. Compromise in the Bedroom No! It’s not what you think (geesh you guys!)… Eric and I recently discovered (okay, he knew, but I was oblivious to the fact) that we both have really different styles.  He would love a bedroom that’s warm and I believe he used the word “Lodgey” (like a ski lodge). If you look at my home for even a second, you will notice that nothing about it fits that bill.  So, we’re making it a 2013 goal to finally design a bedroom that we both love (Honestly, I’m okay with me loving and him liking… just keepin’ it real) and I’m thinking it will be sort of Rustic-Industrial.
So, as embarrassing as it is to show you… welcome to my current master bedroom.

3. Details. Details. Details.  I am not good at the little details of designing a room.  I am a big-picture, big-ideas kind of gal.  Once the walls are painted, a few pieces of furniture are in, I tend to walk away and never bring it all together with accessories etc..  It’s my goal this year to work through each room and make sure it feels finished.  So you’ll be seeing a lot of thrifted accessory upcycles, fabulous accent pillows, and who knows what else.
 

4. Kenzie’s Room (Heaven Help Us All!)  Man, if you could meet one of my kids, I’d want it to be Kenzie. She’s a trip (and I sounds 98 yrs old for saying that)! She’s funny, spunky, sassy, and adores animals like no one I’ve ever met.

Anyhow, she has been promised a room makeover this year and it’s going to push my design skills to the limit. Have you ever seen this guy?

He’s the “TurtleMan” and he has a reality show where he rescues “critters” and it’s by far Kenzie’s favorite show (sometimes I feel like I live in the Twilight Zone).  Anyhow, she would like a combination Turtleman and Equestrian room.  I have a strong feeling that will be a first on Pinterest! Ha!  So far, her only specific request is a pallet wall ceiling.  This project is going to be a challenge to say the least.

So, there you have it. Our home goals for 2013! We know there will be about 2 million other projects we tackle this year, but hopefully all of these will make the list too!
Now….who wants to keep us accountable?!!
What are YOUR home goals this year? 

 

The comments +

  1. Erica Simon says:

    Love all the new projects! I am really looking forward to the master bedrooms. We painted ours but haven’t really done anything else and its getting old fast! I need some new ideas! 🙂 can’t wait to see all the fun things you 2 come up with! Oh & I highly recommend the baseball room! That’s what we did in my sons room and its been so super easy to add too and play around with the design. I had to have something that could work in multiple sized spaces since we are a military family and have moved, a lot! The nice thing about the baseball is you can just change it to basic reds/creams(or gray)/blues when he gets a little older if he no longer wants a “theme”.

  2. Can’t wait to see how all of your projects come together!! The beginning of the year is so exciting because you get a fresh start to start all those things you’ve been ‘meaning to get done’. Master bedrooms seem to always get put on the back burner we’re hoping to do something with ours really soon!!

  3. Sara says:

    The source for the little boy’s room with the oars is http://johnsonfamjourney.blogspot.com/

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