A Look Back At 2019

Happy New Year!

Can you believe it’s already 2020? Wow!

In some ways it feels like it’s only been a few months since last January when we were all saying this same thing, but on the other hand so much has happened and so many things have changed since last January.

What could be better than a trip down memory lane? Let’s visit some of the high points of the year, shall we?

A Look Back

This is what my fireplace and mantel looked like for Christmas 2018.
….but not for long!

My first major project of the year was to give a whole new look to my already recently built mantel taking it from this…

…to this! It really wasn’t my fault though….The Corbels Made Me Do It!

Shortly thereafter I decided to change things up just a little in my kitchen to maybe satisfy just a little of the urges I was having to majorly change my kitchen, but without the price tag that would incur. I took the doors off one of my upper cabinets and painted the inside of it bright and white.

Here is my kitchen last Christmas, 2018, before I took those doors off.

And then after….it’s been so much fun to have these open cabinets to display some of my fun vintage finds. This was one of the 5 most nagging unfinished projects that Emily and I completed this past year too! Project #2

The next big project was my Powder Room. I’ve been wanting to change this space since I moved into this house because it is so tiny and it was dark and ugly and resembled an elevator shaft more than a space you’d want to have to use on a regular basis.

Gorgeous, right?

Well after a very long time and lots and lots of work (and still a couple things I want to do like a new faucet and adding a chandelier) at long last my Powder Room was fit to be seen.

It’s still really tricky to take pictures of this space because it’s so tiny but now that’s the only reason that prevents me from showing it off more than I do 😁. The entire makeover process is outlined in Project #3 of our nagging list.

Suddenly out of the blue my Kitchen Started To Renovate Itself!

My kitchen was going along, minding its business, quite happy with itself. Or so I thought. Next thing I know I’m the owner of some secondhand granite countertops from my neighbor whose kitchen layout is identical to mine and who was putting in an all new kitchen!

And just like that my kitchen renovation had started! Now my dark cabinets and dark wood floors did nothing to compliment the dark granite which continued to annoy me on a daily basis! 😡

However, after 5 years of searching for an old home to buy, we fell in love with a 1906 Farmhouse loaded with original details that was just begging to be restored to its original glory and so we quickly listed our house for sale and had it sold within 3 days of listing it!

July was the month we were to move into our “new home” and I couldn’t have been more excited. I had every detail of every room designed in my head and everything was packed and ready to go. Alas, 2 days before closing our buyers lost their financing and so we ended up losing the home we had fallen in love with because it’s current owners declined to postpone the closing for us to secure new buyers.

Needless to say I sort of sulked through the remaining few days of July and most of August and we decided to unpack and stay here since no other houses in the area appealed at all.

That meant it was on with my kitchen! Time was up. No more fooling around. I was determined that I would have my kitchen looking quite different before I put up any winter decor and so I secretly set to work.

This was what I got done before putting up my Christmas decor. I’m absolutely loving the changes and how much brighter it is as well as how much more it is fitting my style the more I change it. I’ll be publishing a blog post soon, I hope, covering everything I’ve done on the kitchen so far in detail.

The Readers Digest version is that I painted and antiqued the cabinets and re-did the floors as well as adding some vintage hardware to the cabinets.

Now it’s even more fun to play around with my open cabinet!

Favorite Blog Post

I asked Emily what her favorite blog post of mine was from the past year and the first thing she said was the 5 Fun Fall DIYs that I shared a couple months ago. That was a fun one, for sure!

Some Instagram Stats

Most liked post of 2019 goes to….(drumroll please)

Most commented on post goes to…..

And the post seen by the most people not already following me goes to….

Now I’m very sure those bits of information have just changed your entire life for the better! I’m not sure how I could top any of that and I’m also not sure why all of those for the entire year are my fall decor but if anyone can figure out the answer to that please let me know.

Emily’s favorite Instagram post for 2019 was my Christmas mantel…..

I’d dearly love to hear from y’all! What was your favorite project this past year? What would you like to see me work on next?

Until next time, sweet friends!

Emily’s Look Back