To Get to Your Goal, Envision It

To Get to Your Goal, Envision It

Goals. Important to help us make progress in our personal and professional lives, but at times they can just feel unattainable. We can tackle them in all sorts of ways, reading books and articles about how to get there, making lists of necessary steps, even setting out on paper the tangible and emotional barriers that are holding us back.

Maybe it’s just because I’m a pretty visually-oriented type of person, but I know I’m well on my way to achieving my goals when I successfully construct a mental image of what it will look like when I get there. Envisioning the achievement lets me see the gaps – the vision’s a bit blurry in those spots. It also gives me a good idea of how I’ll feel when I get there – which can provide major clues about what’s holding me back.

For example, a goal might be to redo a small kitchen. The cabinets are good and solid, but a little old fashioned, and the bottom cabinets are a little the worse for wear. The backsplash is an ugly, matte, builder’s grade white square tile – bland, cheap-looking, and boring. Worse, the countertops are laminate with a beveled front edge that is separating from the area in front of the sink. Never really attractive, this now looks sad and beat up.

How can I envision a small-budget redo of this space?


Cabinet  Refresh
First, I can see that the cabinets would look like new with some paint and/or stain. So I envision that the top cabinets will be painted a creamy off-white. Some contrast would be good, and the bottom cabinets would provide that if they are stained a dark espresso. Finished off with new brushed nickel hinges and pulls, the cabinets will look great.

Backsplash The ugly white tiles will have to go. In their place, a random-size rectangular glass tile in a cool blue or green will provide both texture and a subtle color to this once bland section of the kitchen.

The area to be tiled is small, so the cost shouldn’t break the budget, even when the cost of removing the old tile and prepping the walls is factored in. However, this is where my vision gets a little hazy, so I know I need to find and price the tiles, and then price the demo and installation costs.

Countertop
This is very hazy for me right now. I want something durable, a bit luxurious in feel, but not prohibitively expensive. And I’m not seeing the exact color I want here. To sharpen this vision, I’m going to need to do a little shopping and compare the glass tiles I see clearly with different forms of granite and manmade stone to find the perfect match.

Sink and Faucet
I know I want an undermount sink. And some sort of single-handle faucet. I’ll need to look at my choices here and then comparison shop on price.

What I do know is that I frequently need to turn the water on when my hands are sticky or I’ve just handled raw chicken, so I need something I can use with my wrist. I know that there are also faucets that turn on at a touch, but I suspect these will be out of my price range. But, since this part of my vision is blurry, I need to complete some homework before I can make any decisions.

Lighting
As in many older kitchens, there is a center ceiling fixture, which was recently replaced. There’s also a good light over the sink that might add a focal point to the kitchen if the recessed light were changed out to a beautiful single pendant.

And it would definitely be helpful to look into what’s available to retrofit under the upper cabinets so there’s light on the countertop as well. The haziness of this part of my vision comes from not knowing what would work, and what the potential cost would be.

Additional Storage and Seating
Any small kitchen can benefit from a bit more storage. There’s room for an L-shaped bench here, where items such as soda, bags of chips, and canned soups could be stored. This would have to be a custom made bench, especially because one arm of the L has to allow for a vent from the forced air heating and cooling system. While I have a fairly good idea of the look I’d like here, the cost and how the vent would be accommodated are still a bit blurry for me.

Flooring
The existing flooring is sheet vinyl that’s seen better days. Since we’re planning on making the kitchen look as good as possible, I need to consider the different flooring choices here. 

This becomes very blurry for me, because if I choose something that makes the floor higher than what it is now, I don’t know how that might affect how the dishwasher fits under the countertop. Is it possible that if I change the flooring this way, I might not be able to replace the dishwasher? This is a high level of blurry vision! I definitely need some help with this.

Paint and Window Treatment
This remains blurry only because I think I need to know what the countertop will look like before I can choose a color for the walls. The current window shade needs to be replaced, and I know what I want, but I have to decide if I can justify the price. So I’ll need to see several choices before deciding and budgeting for that. There’s a simple valance over the window now, and I think something similar will probably work, in colors and/or a pattern that complements the wall color yet to be decided.

So, while quite a few parts of my overall vision for this project are clear, the blurry parts really stand out, telling me I need to do more work.

Envisioning the Completed Project
The next part is envisioning myself standing in the completed kitchen. I realize as I do so that I feel a little bit of anxiety. Digging deeper, I understand that it’s because I can’t quite see everything clearly yet.  And there’s a little bit of wiggle in my decision to have the upper and lower cabinets in different colors.

This could be a bold design decision – or a stupid move. I can see that I need to look at more photos of finished kitchens, especially those with this type of design to see whether I like it as much as I think I do. Otherwise, I feel like having a redone kitchen will feel good – as long as I stay within my budget.

Envisioning works for me – it allows me to feel my way through every part of a project or the steps to achieving a goal.

Does envisioning work for you?  In your comment, I’d love to read about how you best tackle your goals and projects.

To Get to Your Goal, Envision It