Here’s a list of things (big and small, in no particular order) that we’d like to tackle in our apartment. Someday. Some might not be feasible, (like changing the french doors to the patio for sliding doors) but I’ve added them to the list anyway. It might take a few years to get them all covered though!

• Change the kitchen countertops for something that’s easy to clean like Silestone, Compaq or Caesarstone. (Update: right now we’re leaning towards micro-concrete instead).
• DIY a busroll sign. Here’s how I did it.
• Add a board & batten treatment to the living room.  Check out the result here. I love how it turned out!
• Hang art on top of said board & batten treatment – we plan on framing some of the photographs I took in Paris and Chicago. We decided to open up a passthrough to the kitchen instead. Check out part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5 (reveal) and part 6 (adding barn doors) of the pass-through project.
• Finish the doors of the outdoor kitchen. (F-i-n-a-l-l-y!)
• Build a wood chest/trunk that holds all of our outdoor cushions. Finally done!
• Install a huge canopy on the patio.
• Add chairs to the outdoor dining area – they’re more comfortable than benches (but more expensive since we can’t build them!) We found 5€ outdoor chairs at Ikea, although I’m not sold on the color. Update: They got rusty after approximately 6 months and they replaced them for us.
• Buy a big freezer trunk for the patio (our friends gave one as a wedding gift) and cover it up with wood.
• Organize the storage room next to our parking space. Phase 1 is complete, and Phase 2.
• Modify our bed so the foot of the bed isn’t as tall as it is right now. Or change the bed entirely, who knows. We removed the foot of the bed and built another (hidden) one, and we’re thrilled with how open the space feels now.
• Frame a world map, with push pins to mark the places we’ve been to together. I did this as a birthday gift for my boyfriend.
• Add a small chest of drawers to the hallway corner. (Done! Ikea Rast Chest of Drawers, hacked.)
• Switch the 5 euro Lack table from Ikea with another small chest of drawers, or a custom built cabinet to hold our liquor and wine bottles.  We’re not doing this because the built-ins have enough storage space for now.
• Paint the living room and kitchen window frames white (or maybe not… we’re not sure about this one yet).
• If we don’t paint the frames white, change the window treatments in the living room. Or change the curtains even if we do paint, since they’re building right next to us and now people can see us… sigh.
• Add door handles to the patio doors (right now they only have handles from the inside, so when people enter the living room and kitchen from the patio, they push the glass and it gets fingerprints all over it. So a handle would be welcome)
• Organize the  drying rack area and add a clothesline to air dry our clothes.  How to DIY a drying rack and the reveal.
• Cover up the heater that we have right next to our washing machine, and cover up the plumbing.
• Add molding to the closet doors in our bedroom, spare bedroom and hallway.
• Order a slipcover for our couch. Check out the cover by Comfort Works, and how to put it on.
• Finish spraypainting our coffee table (maybe even replace the glass top with wood. I love the way the glass looks, but it’s a pain to keep clean). I painted the metal frames, and we’re keeping the glass tops for now.
• Make our living room cabinets built in (we have to move a radiator down the wall for this to work first, though). We’ve moved the radiator and added new outlets, then added drywall, painted it, and it’s done!
• Add lamp shades to one of our living room chandeliers (After thinking about it for months, I finally picked something from the Ikea catalog, but when I went to buy them I found out they had been discontinued…).  We switched the chandeliers for two more industrial looking pendants.
• Sand and paint our ceilings – we still have marks from when we installed recessed lighting (I’m not looking forward to this one).
• Fix the DIY lampshade from the spare bedroom so that it is finally hanging straight.  We removed the DIY lampshade and added one of the chandeliers formerly in the living room.
• Modify the filing cabinet in the spare bedroom so that it fits below the desk.
• Organize the broom closet.  Now it’s a lot more functional, and it was very cheap.
• Change the kitchen cabinets’ doors (they’re covered by warranty so we didn’t actually have to do this ourselves).
• Switch the current chair in the spare bedroom for something smaller/without casters (they scratch the floor) but that is still comfortable. We bought a Parsons chair and gave the old one to my aunt & uncle.
• Paint the kitchen stools we built (or just give up and buy new ones).
• Frost the glass fronts of the kitchen cabinets and convert them to sliding doors.
• Change the pedestal sinks in both bathrooms for vanities. (One down, done!)
• Buy or DIY a skyline of Chicago.  This was an awesome Christmas gift from my boyfriend!
• Change the living room rug for something bigger. We added a sisal rug for easier cleanup.
• Add a motor to our black out shades, so I can use a remote to open them from the bed. Yes, I’m very lazy. No, please don’t judge.
• Switch the living room doors to the patio for sliding doors (I’m not even sure this is possible) We decided sliding doors wasn’t useful because it would mean not being able to open both of them at the same time, but we did switch them out so they opened the other way (for a better flow).
• Build a round bistro-like table for the patio. (Okay, so we didn’t build this one, but for 9€ it works in the meantime)
• Redo the pallet seating area (the wood was rotting, but hopefully the new one will hold up way better since it’s made from “real” wood!)
• Build shelves for the master bedroom and hang more art.
• Sand and paint/stain the bar height tables we bought for the wedding so that they hold up outdoors.
• Switch the vent hood we have for a chimney-style one, and reuse the current cabinet door to build a cabinet on top of the fridge.
• Convert the tub we have in the master bathroom to a walk-in shower.
• Redo the TV area by hanging the TV from the wall and building a wood+metal TV unit.
• Switch the console table in the entryway for a credenza that offers more concealed storage.
• Try a different layout in the living room – maybe a round coffee table, moving the sofa around, etc.
• Start a raised planter vegetable garden in the patio.
• Find a way to conceal/add a door to the drying rack area.
• Switch the kitchen door for a sliding one.