People are good at making New Year resolutions for themselves, and generally the resolutions are about personal maintenance. You know -- get in shape, color the hair, get organized. That sort of thing. Yet our homes (which also need fitness and color and organization) often don’t make the resolution cut.

We think, since home is the primary location of the rest of our resolution-filled lives, it warrants having a list of its own.

Here are nine things we’d put on it. It’s for you – a starter list, let’s say. Follow the ones you like, scrap the others. Then pop a cork. Your home might not drink champagne, but it won't mind if you do.

2010 Home Resolution List

1. Check the smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. No, it’s not sexy, like “paint the bedroom red” but it is far more important. Alarms and detectors need to be checked at least once a year, and doing it on January 1st makes it an easy date to remember. While you’re at it, make sure all the members of your family know the emergency “plan.” If you don’t have one, make one.

2. Prepare an emergency kit. Again, pretty practical stuff, but so very important. How many times have you said to yourself “I really should stash away some extra food and water," then, gazing out the window at the gorgeous, pleasantly uneventful day, promptly forgotten to? Here’s a crib sheet of what you'll need.

3. Paint the bedroom red. Or pink, or turquoise, or black for that matter. Just paint it. Your bedroom is your most private getaway, and its color should inspire you... to sleep, to be frisky, to wake up with a smile.

4. Organize your stuff. By stuff we mean both the visible items (stacks of books, magazines, bills) as well as that which you’ve cleverly hidden behind cupboards or in boxes (office paperwork, clothing, shoes). If you figure out what to keep and what to toss, and how best to store what remains, you will instantly become a clearer thinker and create mental space for all the other things you want to accomplish in 2010. That is our professional opinion.

5. Re-grout. Somewhere there’s grout that needs to be freshened. We'd bet money on it.

6. Save some energy (and some dollars). This might mean sealing a leaky window, or buying an energy efficient appliance. Or both. Mother Earth, and your wallet, will thank you.

7. Create a new space. Last year you got into yoga, but your home doesn’t have so much as a spare corner to do downward dogs in. Nor does it have a vanity where you can apply your lipstick. Or a proper play area for your kids. Fix that. A home should work with your life and interests, not against them.

8. Rearrange your artwork. It’s cheaper than rececorating, and has a strangely similar effect.

9. Garden. Even if it’s just in a windowsill, plant something. Watch it grow.

10. Ten? This one’s all yours.

Happy New Year!

[main image: Trendir]