Next steps addicted — a quick note to anchor this piece for readers.
Next steps addicted: Quick notes
Let me share with you the thoughts that I’ve been wrestling with over the last three or four weeks. I really don’t have a point in sharing this except that I like to be open with y’all about this DIY life I’ve chosen for myself. I’m not necessarily looking for input on what to do. I’m the only person who can figure this out for myself. But I do wonder if other people like me — people who have taken on DIY whole-house remodeling — have these same internal dialogues going in on their heads along the way.
First, I’m winding down my current bathroom makeover, and I’ve decided to hold off on showing any more of it until it’s finished. It’s such a tiny room, and the “to do” items on my list are so uninteresting on their own, that there’s really no need to show you daily updates on that project.
But I’ve been thinking a lot about my next steps. What I had planned is to jump right into the next big project, which is to turn the hallway bathroom into a storage room. That’s the bathroom behind these double doors in our bedroom suite foyer.
I still may do that because we really do need that storage room, and I’d like to have it sooner than later. But here’s the deal. I feel like I need a break from big projects. I’d love nothing more than to take a LONG break from big house projects.
It gets pretty exhausting doing all of these projects (mostly) by myself. I’ve been at this for a long time now, and the past few projects over the last year were pretty big. Last night, I went back and looked at the pictures of how these areas looked at the beginning of 2025. It was such a big project, and while I didn’t do 100% of it on my own, I’d say I did about 90-95% of it by myself.
And then I jumped immediately into this current bathroom project, and while it’s not nearly as involved as the bedroom, it has taken me a lot longer to do than I had expected because of the issue with the wallpaper leading to my decision to tackle a pretty labor-intensive wall design.
Anyway, don’t read this as me complaining, because I actually love what I do. Again, this is just me sharing this running dialogue that has been happening in my head over the last three or four weeks. I’d love nothing more than to finish up this bathroom and then take a long break from the big projects. I’d love to have a good chunk of time where I can just play, and I can do so without the pressure of “I need to get this project done.”
I have a big studio filled with art supplies, and a head filled with ideas of fun, crafty, artsy things I want to try just for the fun of doing them. They’re not even necessarily for my house. I just want to make them because I love creating and I think they’d be fun to make. I haven’t taken time to make fun, crafty, artsy projects just for the fun of it in a very long time. I miss that.
I also have a drawer filled to the brim with beads for necklaces and earrings that I want to make. They’ve been in that drawer for over a year now, and I haven’t had time to do anything with them. I’ve missed that so much. And I’d love to find other fun projects to do with beads other than jewelry as well. I have some ideas that I’d love to try just for the fun of doing them.
And then there are the smaller projects that I want to get done around the house. Remember that mural I bought a while back and couldn’t decide where I wanted to put it?
I’ve decided that I’m going to put it on the entryway wall. That’s my final answer. As much as I love the entryway as it is right now, I’m ready for a change.
But here’s the catch. As much as I’d love to stop pushing myself to do house projects, and just take a good, long break to do nothing but fun, crafty, artsy projects and small projects around the house, I find that I don’t have a good stopping point. And this is where that internal dialogue and that internal struggle comes in.
As soon as I convince myself that I can stop after this current bathroom project and take a long break to do fun things, I find myself thinking, “But you really need that storage space! Just get that done first! ” And that’s true. We really do need that storage space sooner than later.
And when I convince myself that I just need to power through and get the storage room finished and then I can take a long break to do fun, crafty things, I think to myself, “But wouldn’t it be better if you finish your workshop first so that your tools will be organized and available for some of those projects?” And, of course, the answer is yes. It would be so much easier to have my tools in the workshop rather than dragging them into the carport when I want to build something. And lots of those crafty projects that I want to do are small buidling projects, so they’ll require my tools.
And when I convince myself to just get the storage room and the workshop finished first, and then I can take a long break to do artsy things, I think to myself, “But don’t you want the workout equipment out of your studio?” And the answer to that is a resounding YES! I want Matt’s Theracycle, my treadmill, and my rebounder out of my studio so badly. They take up so much space and make my huge studio feel so cramped. So I really want to get them moved to the sunroom as soon as possible.
So that’s the storage room, workshop, and the sunroom that needs to be done, and then I can take some time to do my fun, crafty, artsy projects, right? But then I think to myself, “Why would you stop there? After all of that is done, that just leaves the breakfast room, and then you’ll have the whole inside of your home looking complete. Don’t you want to do that first?” And the answer, of course, is yes. I’d love to get to a stopping point, with all of the interior areas of our home in a state of completion, before I take a long break just to do fun stuff that has nothing to do with getting a room finished.
So I’ve kind of gotten myself into a bit of a quagmire here, and I’m not really sure how to get out of it. All of these things need to get done, and I’d love for all of them to get done ASAP. I know I would probably feel more enthusiasm to jump in and tackle them if Matt were able to help me. I’ve always envied those DIYing couples out there who work on their homes together. And, of course, if he were able to help me, the projects would go a lot faster as well. But, unfortunately, that’s not our situation, and I’m working by myself pretty much every single day.
I’m not going to hire out the projects, either, because that’s not what I do. I’m too cheap for that, and I’m a DIYer through and through. So for the most part, they need to be done by me. But at the same time, I’d love to finish the studio bathroom and then take two months to just play and create fun, artsy things that don’t necessarily serve a purpose, and that aren’t a means to an end (like finishing a room).
Maybe I just need to push through the rest of this year, get these big projects done, and then I can spend a good chunk of next year doing the fun, artsy things. If I can last that long. 😀 All I know is that at this very moment, the thought of finishing up the studio bathroom and then jumping right into tearing out the other bathroom exhausts me. I guess we’ll see how I feel about it next week when I wake up and that’s the next thing on my list to do. We’ll see which side of my brain wins this struggle — the pragmatic side or the artsy, crafty side. If I had to make that choice today, I know which side would win.
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
Next steps addicted comes up here to connect ideas for clarity.
A short mention of Next steps addicted helps readers follow the flow.
