Resolutions New and Old ~ 2014

So last year we shared a recap of some things we wanted to make happen around here.  Some of those things happened…. annnnd some of those didn’t.  Here’s a quick recap.

1. Feed Our Walls — that is, actually hang some art on our mostly naked walls!
2. Continue to make the Tiny Kitchen in Pittsburgh more efficient of space.
3. Create a better desk/workspace, ideally something that would be fit for two.
4. Create a more functional entryway.
5. Build our lives TOGETHER in the SAME STATE.

It was a short list, but certainly hefty.  A challenge to relocate my life 4 hours away?  Fortunately, though there was some hardship involved, the stars aligned and in July I officially moved to Pittsburgh, and by the first week of August I was starting the awesome job I have now.   ….though if you’ve been paying attention, the volume of posts occurring here decreased in conjunction with the change.  It seems finding a job that I actually get to flex my creative muscles once in a while besides just drone along like a cog in a machine has been using more of my pent up creativity than I expected.  But I’ll get to that in this year’s goals…

# 2 – Make the kitchen more efficient.

Though there isn’t much space to work with, well, there isn’t much space to work in either!  Before we added this wall-mounted cutting board counter surface, we were limited to that tiny leaf in-front of the microwave and the dinner-plate wide space between the fridge and the sink.  That space cuts it for making a drink and nothing more.  This leaf more than doubled our work-surface!  And it surely came in handy when we made our first Thanksgiving Dinner together this past fall!

#4 Create an Entryway.

Though the initial desire to create an entry area was to organize shoes, in reality my motives were to get the coats out of the hall closet so that I could take it over for my belongings.  But in the end we have a sharp looking coat and cubby organizer, AND I have my own(ish) closet.

As for the Desk plan….. welllll.  We did buy an old table to build into a desk.  Buuut we just haven’t gotten around to that yet.

And finally,  that crazy wall-monster photo above?  Yeah, we weren’t so good about hanging art.  Though I did re-do the bedroom a bit and made this piece for Bill for Valentine’s….

And I did finally get around to popping a few little pieces collected over time to balance our Intercom Artwork…

So, I suppose you could cross that one off the list then.

As for 2014’s Goals…

1. Continue feeding the walls!  The dining nook still lacks vertical character, and we have a big open space above the TV that could use some variety too.  And of course the wall beside our bed as featured in the comical image above.
2. Actually BLOG.  Let’s set a goal of at least 1 post a week.  Work, like I mentioned above, has left me both with less physical time to complete projects, but also a bit less energy for them.  But that’s no excuse for neglect!
3. Create a balance between workspace and dressing space.  I’m the ‘pull out a few things to plan an outfit’ type, which requires some pile-space for my process.  That space tends to be the desk, which creates some friction between Bill and I.  But I don’t really have anywhere IN the closet to do that, so I’ll need to create some sort of surface solution in there.
4. Desk.  Yup, it’s going back on the list.  In conjunction with the surface solution in the closet.
5. Share more of our travels.  I love the crafty stuff, I really do, but we have such fun on our adventures, and especially our National Parks trips, it would be nice to get back into that.

So there’s a little snapshot of what will hopefully be instore in 2014.

What goals have you set for yourself?

~ Beth