Best of 2011

We haven't been in this house long (just a little over seven months to be exact) but I feel like we have made some good progress. Here are some of my favorite projects and events from the last few months.

1.  Guest Bed Makeover. This was the first project I tackled in our new home and my first foray in to painting. I love that I took a risk on the color and I think it turned out great! (Thanks again Amy for all your painting help!)

2. Stenciling my front porch. Getting rid of the AstroTurf was priority one when we moved in and I am happy to say we now live in an AstroTurf free home. 

3. Making over the back yard. This was by far the most ambitious projects of the year. You know the kind. Where you go in thinking it will take a few days and three months later you are finally done. **sigh** but so worth it. 

4. Putting in my gallery wall. I had a friend comment on the fact that I had absolutely no pictures of Daniel and myself up in the house and I knew I had to change this. The gallery wall has morphed in to a fun mix of family and travel and everything that represents us. 

5. Creating new traditions. Starting our Good Eats Challenge has been my favorite non house related thing of the year. Daniel and I look forward to it all week and it is great to have another night that we focus on us and being together.

6. Getting a new addition to our Family. Miss Honey Bunch has certainly brought life and light to our every day. It has been so fun watching her grow and change (and watching Norman come to like her a bit more).

Here she is now after 3 months of having her. 

7. Adding more art to the house. I hate bare walls but art is expensive. We've manged to gets some up in a few places though. The entry, the library, the dining room, the bathroom.  My favorite though is our hallway art made using the stack of Realtor cards from when our house was on the market. 

8. Celebrating Christmas in our new home

There you have it, some of my favorite projects and events of 2011. I'm actually surprised at how much we accomplished in the last seven months. You can check out my project page and see all of the other 33 big and little projects I completed this year. 

Here is to next year and all the fun it will bring. 

Cheers!

New Years Resolutions House Edition

When we bought the place last May we didn't really have a plan for house renovations. We just kind of attacked things randomly and some even got done (as evidenced here). But, after looking back over last year I realized that if we wanted to complete some of the big changes (that require a larger budget) we would have to go in to the new year with a plan. So we stayed up late talking about it and planning out how everything would be funded and came up with a list of what we think is reasonable to complete in 2012. So not really resolutions, more the plan (though in no particular order).


1. Renovate kitchen

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2. Paint stairs

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3. Remodel master closet

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4. Create reading nook in Library

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5. Paint trim and doors in entire house

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6. Remove wallpaper in Library

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7. Remove all carpet- upstairs and down

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8. Plant a vegetable garden

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9. Give my house some curb appeal

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10. Build bookshelves next to fireplace

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11. Build shed

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11. Install a rain barrel

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12. Refinish (or replace) all the painted doorknobs in the house. 

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So there you have it. It is a mix of big money projects and hard work/time which I think will keep me busy most of the year. There are other things I am sure I will work on as well but these are the things I have decided to focus on for now. Hope you'll join me for the whole process. It should be a wild ride.

Cheers!