Some goals for 2010...

I thought that, given it’s the beginning of a new year, I should outline some of my goals for the home for the next 12 months. I’m certainly not the resolution type, but I figured that making a public declaration about these things would mean that all (or at least some) of them would get done!

Goal number 1: Learn how to sew
I’ll be getting a few beginner lessons from a friend (thanks Shilo!), and then hopefully once I’m confident I’ll dare to make some cushions with my Florence Broadhurst ‘Spring Floral’ fabric.

Image: Signature Prints

Goal number 2: Get plantation shutters installed
This goal doesn’t really require a lot of effort on my part, since all I have to do is wait for the installation guy to show up in March. Thanks to a pre-wedding gift from my parents, we’ll be getting shutters a lot sooner than we anticipated, so it’s very exciting indeed! We’ll be getting the white sliding version from Cosmopolitan Shutters.

Image: Cosmopolitan Shutters

Goal number 3: Have some art works framed
As mentioned back in November, I’ve unframed, limited-edition prints by Kozyndan and Shepard Fairey that I would dearly love to hang on my walls. Of course, professional conservation framing is expensive, but I’m committed to getting them done this year!

Goal number 4: Finish the bathroom
Although the structural renovations are complete, there are still jobs to be done! As the bathroom was the first room in the apartment that we painted (not to mention the first time either of us had really painted walls at all!), we didn’t do a brilliant job. We’ll keep the 'Desert Bake' colour on most of the walls, but will re-paint the main wall in the complementary colour of 'Cherokee Smoke' (it’s a kind of smoky cream/white). Then, we’ll hopefully had some nice new towel rails and get rid of the ugly portable one that we’re currently using.

Goal number 5: Paint the cupboard doors
Some of the gloss-white paint is peeling to reveal, you guessed it, beige. Yuck. There’s a couple of weekends’ worth of work to do, but it’s not a big deal.

Goal number 6: Finally, learn to take better photos
I’m considering buying a better camera, perhaps a digital SLR, at some point in the future, but for now I’d like to get better at using the one I have. I think I have improved over the past six months, but more improvement is needed (and an improvement in photos will improve Flying Ducks as well!). I actually quite like these few shots that I took recently for Apartment Therapy.