This is a collaborative post. All opinions are my own.

Personally, I think it's fun to work on our home, chipping away at the list of projects and improvements, and seeing our plans come to fruition. Since we bought it a year and a half ago, we've been slowly but surely checking off the rooms inside the house. It's coming together, but there's still a pretty hefty list of renovations that we're dreaming of. We're hoping to be done with the interior of our home within the next two years (although many of the remaining projects are the more expensive ones, so we'll see). Then we can put the finishing touches on our family home, and just enjoy it...hopefully for many years to come! These are the things which we'd like to tackle eventually, but have been low on our priority list for now. When we finally get to these, we'll know this house is really getting wrapped up!

Not my house...just a cute house in Spokane!

A Garden

We've been so focused on getting the inside of our home to our taste, that we really haven't given much thought or love to the exterior. One of Ben's dreams is to have a big, bountiful garden. This year, he's making some raised garden boxes so we can start growing some veggies. Eventually, we'd love to plant flowers and create a garden path too, with a few well-placed stepping stones, or a pebble walkway with simple outdoor lights on either side. Not only will a garden add beauty, but it will feel so good to harvest food and flowers from our own yard! Speaking of which, we have a few thriving cherry trees that produce bountifully in the summer. But we also have a sick tree that's not doing so well, so we may need to find a Seattle gardening and tree surgeon to help us figure out what to do.

Exterior Aesthetics

I'll admit, the exterior aesthetics of our house have been lowww on our priority list. We do have some (vinyl) siding that's bubbling up, which we've talked about getting fixed. But overall, I've had the thought that we'd tackle any exterior improvements right before we sold the house, so it can look fresh and give a good first impression to potential buyers. But now I'm thinking I'd love to increase our curb appeal sooner, as we wrap up the finishing touches to our home. That way we can enjoy the improvements for years, along with our neighbors and our guests. The nice thing is, most exterior updates (painting, siding, etc.) have an immediately noticeable effect. And they definitely do increase the value of your home, as long as you keep the color scheme simple and not too crazy. Having jdhostetter.com provide your siding and paint applications can help you with a uniform and beautiful job.

The Garage

When moving into a new home, you'll probably utilize the garage space for your unpacked boxes and long-term storage items. As time goes on, don't forget about those things! Go through, clear them out of the garage, and store them in their proper place, whether that's in your attic or various rooms of the house. We've done this (although we could definitely clear out more), and we have space to park both our cars now. But we still have a lot of garage work left to go. We would really like to create a better storage system in there, and paint the floors so they are clean and we can let our kids ride bikes in the garage. We also probably need a new garage door, both for function (it keeps stopping mid-way through opening, and we have to press the button multiple times) and for looks (it's pretty tired looking). It's something we'll definitely improve when we're adding the finishing touches to our home.

What are the last things on your list that aren't a priority now, but would be nice to finally work on? Those final touches that will make your family home feel complete?

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