Ok…I am officially going stir crazy. Anyone else? Next week will be 10 weeks at home for me and I’m ready to get back out into the world. While we still wait for the government to determine the best action plan for reopening, I’ve made a list of house projects to tackle while we are still at home.
With the loss of my job and hunting for a new one on hold for a bit, I’m finding myself with a lot of extra time on my hands. And while I’ve had my share of rough days and have needed to extend myself a little extra grace when I do, for the most part, I’m wanting to use this time to take action.
I created a list of big and small house projects to tackle right now while at home. These are things that have been on my to-do list for a while now, waiting for the right time to start. If you too are looking for ways to whip your house into share, check out the list below!
House projects to tackle right now while at home
Deep clean your home
Want a way to lift your spirits? I think we’re all looking for ways to do this right now. How about sweeping out all the dirt, grime, and dust in your home! Hear me out.
Deep cleaning our home is NEVER something I WANT to do. It’s such a process to wipe down walls and ALL the mouldings and trim. BUT, trust me. You will feel SO MUCH better once your home has been given a thorough cleaning.
The weather is finally starting to warm up and the windows and doors are being flung open to let the fresh air in. This is the perfect time to clean the inside of your home. Circulate and get fresh air flowing through and usher out any staleness leftover from the winter months.
This is a great place to start and an inexpensive project to tackle in your home. All you need are your cleaning supplies and your house will feel good as new!
organize your home
Going hand in hand with deep cleaning our home, I’ve also added tackling home organization to our list of house projects.
If you’re like me, you have stacks of magazines throughout your home that need to be dealt with. Mail that needs to be gone through and filed or thrown away. And other random things that aren’t where they’re supposed to be.
I created a 30 day Spring Organization Challenge to do just this. In the challenge, I picked big and small projects to tackle different areas of my home. It is not an all-encompassing list but a great start to get you going. And it’s totally adaptable. Use it as is or adjust it to meet your needs and the rooms in your own home.
declutter your home
This one goes hand in hand with the above as well. As you’re organizing and putting stuff away, take this time to declutter and get rid of the stuff you no longer want or use anymore.
Decluttering or purging was top of my to-do list going into 2020. As I continue to hone and define my style, the items that no longer support my vision is becoming more obvious. These are the items I am trying to purge from our home.
I’m creating separate piles for items that are still in good/great shape and can either be sold or donated. The rest is headed to the trash.
A couple of years ago we rented a dumpster for the week and had it dropped off in our driveway. We had a ton of drywall and wood scraps leftover from the bathroom remodel and used that time to also purge some of the other larger items that needed clearing from our house.
Having the dumpster made this task super easy to complete. The looming deadline also kept us moving and making progress to purge before they were back to pick it up.
As we start to tackle some of the other house projects on our list while at home, I’m wondering if we should do this again.
Freshen up the paint and trim in your house
This is a great house project to tackle right now while we are all at home. It can also be a pretty large undertaking depending on the size of you house and the amount of rooms/trim that needs painted or touched up.
This one has been on my own to-do list for a while now but after a long work week, this is the last thing I wanted to tackle on the weekend. Now that we are quarantined at home, with some extra time on our hands, I’m bumping this to the top of the list.
It’s been a few years since we’ve painted most of the rooms in our home and they are showing some wear. You can see nicks in the trim and scratches on the walls in just about every room.
This is a pretty inexpensive way to freshen up your home and make the rooms feel like new again. If you already have the paint at home you’re halfway there!
There are also a couple of rooms that need a fresh coat of paint or need to be repainted in a completely different color. For these rooms, if we have the paint and the room is staying the same, I am adding it to the list. If I am changing up the paint color I’m working on a mood board to find inspiration for the room.
Paint and/or give your doors a facelift
While you’ve got the paint out, why not paint the doors in your home? If you have orangy wood hollow-core doors like mine, then you’ve probably been dying to update them.
I want to paint all of ours navy on the side facing out to match our navy trim. On the side that faces into the room, I want to match it to the trim color in that room.
Also, since our doors are plain with no detail at all, I want to add some to give them more of a classic, traditional look. I found this tutorial showing how to add picture moulding and will use it as a guide.
I’m super excited about this project! For just a little bit of money and a little bit of effort, we can really elevate the look of our doors. This would also give us another way to infuse our style into our home and help create a cohesive look.
Change out existing door hardware
One of the smaller house projects to tackle while at home is to change out your door hardware. If your current hardware is not your style or is the standard, builder-grade door hardware from the 80s like mine, why not swap it out?
This is another way to easily infuse your style and add some character to your home.
Depending on your style and the look you are going for, and of course the number of doors you have to update, this can be done for not a lot of money.
One of my favorite affordable options from The Home Depot includes this bed/bathroom lever by Copper Creek. A little pricer but still a great deal, when compared to custom hardware, is this set by The Nostalgic Warehouse. I love the classic and timeless look the rope detail adds and the unlacquered finish will develop a great patina over time.
Don’t forget about your exterior and closet doors and the hinges on all those doors as well!
tackle that gallery wall
This is another house project that has been on my to-do list for a while now. Do you know I STILL don’t have ANY of our wedding photos framed and up on the walls? It’s been almost 8 years. I think it’s time.
I’ve been wanting to try Framebridge for some time now. Have you heard of them? They are an online company that specializes in easy and fast custom framing at affordable prices. If you’ve tried them out let me know what you thought!
I love the Avalon and the Montclare gold frames on their site. And the thin and medium burl wood frames are stunning as well. I like the idea of mixing and matching a few to create a unique gallery wall with a collected look.
We’ve also been moving some furniture around and making plans to demo a wall or two. I’m working on finding new homes for the existing art on these walls as well.
I started a gallery wall going up our stairs a few years ago. With the redesign I’m planning for our entry, I think this will need to change a bit.
Rearrange Accessories
One of the things I like to do from time to time is rearranging the accessories in our home. This is one of the easiest house projects to tackle while at home and an inexpensive way to freshen up your spaces.
As I find new accessories to add or purge ones that no longer work, I find myself moving existing items around. Reworking vignettes to incorporate the new or just to change up the look.
This is also a great creative outlet for me and a way to keep challenging myself. Creating, editing, and honing the look until I get it just right. Testing new ways to mix items together to achieve the look I want. It can definitely be frustrating at times but like most things, practice makes perfect!
Tackle the Yard
With everything going on in the world, I’ve found myself missing some of the seasonal changes happening now that spring is here. The trees are starting to bud or even sprout little green leaves. Flowers and plants are starting to push their way up through the ground. And with it, the weeds!
The hubby got the itch to tackle some of our bigger outdoor house projects while I pulled weeds and cleaned up our flowers beds.
I didn’t get a chance to split our hostas last year. They grew so big they crowded out some of our other plants. This year, before they start to get too big, I’m going to split them off and plant them in an empty bed we have.
I’ve also noticed that plants that were put in the ground years ago are starting to sprout up even though we had written them off. This is causing some crowding and uneven spacing within our beds. Before things really start to bloom and take off, I’m hoping to move and shift some of them around a bit.
Along with the plants, we also have some edging to do. Around a couple of our flower beds, we need to finish edging with brick pavers. Mike also removed an old concrete stoop that we want to replace with the same pavers that surround our flower beds, tying them all together.
We are also trying to slowly attack the backyard. This is a HUGE project that will most likely include adding a retaining wall, updating the existing patio, maybe adding an additional patio, and much more. Mike is hoping we can do this this summer but I’m not sure we will be able to complete it. I’ll just be happy with a little progress!
Design and source inspiration for our home
The project I’m looking forward to tackling the most while at home is just having the time to work through the design.
It’s been a while since I’ve made a design plan for our home and a lot has changed. As we’ve lived in and worked in the spaces we’ve learned what we love and what doesn’t work. We’ve also defined and honed in on our style as a couple a little more.
Having this time to explore, get inspired, and develop a design plan for our whole house will give us a blueprint to work from. Helping us to determine what to tackle next and when. Keeping us on track and the design cohesive.
Tackling house projects while at home
While I’m not sure I’ll get to everything on this list, having a plan is half the battle. Knowing what needs to be done and what I want to accomplish, allows me to be able to break it down into manageable chunks and start chipping away.
I hope this list of house projects to tackle right now while at home gives you some inspiration if you are looking for ways to stay busy and freshen up your own home.
What are the projects you are working on in your own home while staying home?
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