Top Projects of 2009 Party

Since I tend to put a lot of projects on my plate every year, it isn’t too hard for me to come up with 10 things that I accomplished in 2009.  And I bet you have a lot too, when you went back through the months and looked at everything, didn’t you?  It’s fun to look back, pat yourself on the back and feel good about the rewards of DIY.

In January, I recovered the bulletin board that I originally made from a huge old frame that I found yardsaling. I finally got around to changing out the fabric to a snazzy zebra that I had picked up and it made all the difference in my cozy office nook.

BEFORE: In the red fabric from my kitchen…..

AFTER: Fun and funky zebra

That cute light fixture was a 2009 addition to the office nook, an $8 yardsale find.

BEFORE: Many of you were with me in February when I debated back and forth on whether to lighten up my dining room or not.  I went for it, along with adding picture frame molding below the chair rail and  it went from pretty in red to….

AFTER: WOW and classic in Antique White!  I got a lot of comments on this change and never regretted for a minute painting over the red.  I loved red for a long time, but I really love the lighter and airier feel of the Antique White. 

I did a complete tutorial on how I did these picture frame moldings all by myself with my handy-dandy miter box and many of you tried it too.  If I can do it, so can you!

Look at it with me again…BEFORE in RED. And you can really see some of the other major changes in here from when I first did this room.  Got rid of some of my dried flower arrangements, as well as the brass light fixture.  And I darkened that mirror too.

AFTER: Antique White.  I think you’ll all agree that this was a majorly huge improvement to the dining room.  I love this space completely  now.

BEFORE: Moving on, again in February, I finally tackled my guest bathroom mirrors and once and for all framed them out and painted the frames.  One bathroom got chocolate brown and the other black.  This is the downstairs guestbath with the black mirror.

AFTER: And see what a difference this makes, with the addition of the molding.  This tutorial post got a HUGE amount of comments too and many of you tried this one at home.  An easy project with a lot of bang for the buck.

This bathroom also got the addition of the shabby cabinet that was found for $25 at a yardsale and it was love at first sight.  Click that link for all the details on it and installation process.

BEFORE: In March, I decided to go on the hunt for a corner cabinet for my kitchen, so out to the antique malls I went and it wasn’t far from home that I found this beauty.  NOT really beautiful, you say!  Well, wait til you see her after I took her home and gave her some TLC…..

AFTER: With a new coat of Antique White paint, some burlap with stencils on the back walls and new knobs, this ugly duckling turned into a beautiful swan and now is one of the stars in my kitchen.  I showed all of the how-to’s here.

I can’t forget to mention the fun we had with the burlap party in May and many of you joined in and shared your projects for that.  Burlap was definitely the FUN fabric of 2009!

BEFORE: After a couple of months of deciding, looking and pondering some more, I finally got new granite countertops for our kitchen in May.   Out with the tumbled marble, which was looking pretty shabby.

AFTER: And in with the new Napoli granite counters, which I dearly love.  New hardware completed the transformation.

With a new granite sink and stainless steel faucet, I’m a happy cook now. 🙂  This wasn’t a DIY project, but it was a huge project at our house last year, so it makes the list.

BEFORE: Lighting in the newly up updated beachy guestroom got upgraded too in May of 2009, with the addition of a new chandelier.  Click on the above link if you’d like to see the true Before pics of this room and how I transformed it last year for under $500. 

The chandelier that looked like this when I found it at a thriftstore for $5.  But, it didn’t stay that way long.

AFTER: Here it is with a new black paint job and hanging in its new room.  This is one of my most favorite fixtures yet.

This wonderful beadboard wallpaper really got blogland talking back in June, when I tried it out on my kitchen and bathroom cabinets and loved it so  much.  Many of you ran out and bought it too and tried your own projects.

BEFORE: Just as a reminder of how great it looks, this is my plain Jane kitchen cabinet ends before I got ahold of them with the beadboard wallpaper.

AFTER: In the master bathroom, it really improved those too.

AFTER: In the  kitchen.  No one who sees this in person can believe it is wallpaper.  It really looks that real.

And later on, I did a single accent wall in one of my guest baths, when I did a redo in there too.  Blogland was buzzing over beadboard wallpaper, so we had a Beadboard Wallpaper party to celebrate and several of you showed off your projects too.  That was SO much fun!

In fact, I have my own online shop selling this wonderful Graham Brown beadboard wallpaper.  So, please…if you’re getting ready to buy some of this wonderful product, please shop with me. (I will make a commission off each sale, but prices are comparable to the other online sources for it also.)

BEFORE: Speaking of that bathroom, it got a huge makeover in September, when I was blessed to get to do a shopping spree from Homegoods and chose this room to make over.

AFTER:  And that was a lot of fun, as I repainted with Antique White, added new rugs in olive and chocolate brown and added several new pieces of artwork and accessories.

It got a whole new look!  You can see the whole transformation here.

BEORE: In July, I found this cute old mirror at a rummage sale and brought it home for $3, but you know it didn’t stay like that.  As cute as it was, it just got better…

AFTER: When I painted it white and sprayed it with chalkboard paint, it became a great meal planning board for the kitchen.  Now I use it every week for our Monday – Friday meals at a glance.  It really has helped me SO much with meal planning, a simple chalkboard.

BEFORE: Back to the beachy guestroom, in September, Grandma Eleanor helped me with this sewing project and the chair with fabric thrown on it for almost a year, finally got a real slipcover.

AFTER: I couldn’t have done this without Grandma’s help and you all shared in that project by watching her sewing videos, which were complete hilarity. You’ll also notice the little aqua side table changed from the Before to After pics.  I found the new one at a yardsale for $5 and painted it the same aqua color, since it was all wood and nicer than the first one.

So, that’s a wrap up of MY Top 10 Projects of 2009.  I had many more smaller DIY projects that I completed, but considered these the cream of the crop.  I can’t wait to see what all of YOU have been up to last year too.

Share away!  Please add a link back to the party on your post and only add your party post URL, please, not just a link to your blog!

I’m heading over to Atlanta on Thursday and will be going to the Gift Mart on Friday with my friend, Renae, and my sister, Renee.  Should be a LOT of fun and we’ll we walking our little feet off trying to take it all in.  And on Saturday, Renae and I will be hanging out with Eddie Ross and my sweet friend, Layla, too at the Tea at Two and framing workshop that Eddie is presenting, so if any of you are planning to be there, I can’t wait to meet you also!  Fun, fast and furious weekend, but I’ll share it all when I return!

Meanwhile, have fun looking at all these links (go, visit and comment, everyone likes a pat on the back!) and come back on Friday for a fun giveaway!

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