Goals? What goals?

I've been seeing lots of blog posts about goals lately. Makes sense as it's the New Year. And we all know New Year and goals go together like toast and jelly (mmmm, jelly). So I've been taking some time to review what we have outstanding on the house and what we might like to get accomplished this year.

Since the house is far from finished, just saying "complete house build" is far too broad of a goal (and totally ridiculous). After all, according to my annual performance evaluation, goals should be specific, measurable, and actionable. So here we go, the Beech House goals for 2014, in no particular order:

1. Install closet space -  this means the linen/utility closet, the stairwell closet, and the upstairs wardrobes. We've already begun the stairwell closet and the linen/utility closet so we're off to a good start.

2. Create a functional mudroom with seasonal storage, dog crate, bench, and anything else I can think of that will fit and add function so I'm not constantly tripping over our winter boots.

3. Design and plant a potager. I had tomatoes and basil last year. Let's see if I can get a whole Italian meal going. While planning this one out I think I'll add designing the Eastside patio & grill area (since I intend for all of them to be connected).

4. Stain interior windows and add trim.

5. Finish the exterior siding, including window and door trim. Probably ought to paint the doors while we're at it.

6. Tile the Bridge and install walls and ceiling (oh boy, getting ambitious).

7. Finish painting the interior walls rather than waiting for baseboards and ceiling trim to be installed.

8. Install railings for real (we have safety railings up right now).

9. Finish the stairwell by adding permanent treads and a pretty landing.

10. Finish the downstairs bathroom sink cabinet.

11. Build and populate a chicken coop. Not sure if I want layers or meats at this point. I'm leaning toward meats since we're not sharing a beef cow this year and we'll need to fill the freezer with something.

Several of these goals are dependent on us getting our hardwood logs sawn into boards this summer. And all of them would go much easier if we got this next one done:

12. Build Chris's woodworking shop. A project that would smooth the way for pretty much all of the goals mentioned above.

Whew! I'm going to stop there. There are so many more things that need to be done, but ultimately, this house is a journey for us. And we're not in an all fired rush to get to the end of it. So we'll get started on these and see where we are by year's end.