Top Projects of 2010

It’s that time again.  The end of the year.  Time to look back at what we all accomplished.  Doing projects during the year is not something that I always plan on ahead of time, but it’s fun to look back and see what all I did get completed during the year.

There’s always a feeling of accomplishment when you look around and see the results of hard work and yes, it makes me happy and proud too.  We all want to make our homes the very best they can be and that’s what I try to share here all the time.  Ways to improve our surroundings without spending a fortune.

Come along with me for the year in project review of 2010 from my casa to yours!

Last February, I kicked off the year with a master bathroom project.  I tiled the tub surround with white subway tile. It was something that had bounced around my head for awhile and it was nice to get that one crossed off the list.

And just as I had envisioned, the subway tile really made a huge difference for not a lot of money.  I DIY’d it myself, saving a bunch of $$ by borrowing my dad’s wetsaw, which is a must for this project.  Back in March, I painted some chairs black. I didn’t do a lot of furniture painting this year, but did manage to do a few furniture projects during the year.  It might be that I can’t fit anymore furniture in my house. 🙂

These harp back chairs went from plain brown to black and I loved the update.

Black is always a great choice for a piece of furniture.

Another chair that came home with me from a yardsale was this little beauty at only $15.  I loved the lines of it, even though at the time I didn’t know where it would go. But, after I brainstormed it and decided to give it to my hubby, I named it the Alabama Chair and it sits proudly in his office.  Roll Tide!  Definitely not an old lady chair anymore. Now for the biggest and baddest project of the year.

Those painted black stairs!

You’ll remember the ripping of the carpet off the stairs, with the realization that I did NOT have nice stair treads underneath.  That didn’t stop me, I dove right in and got this one finished and it went from boring and blah carpet.

To some stylin’ painted black stairs with a striped jute rug to dress it right up.  I’m in love with these stairs still and they look just as good as Day One. One more look at what I had to deal with and I think you’ll agree that I was slightly nutso to take this on.  Click here for all the details and how-to on this one.But, I managed to pull it off anyway.  Carpenter, I am not, but they certainly pass MY inspection and everyone who comes in to see them loves them too. I also did a few updates in the living room by bringing in some aqua accents.  I de-formalized the room by taking out my needlepoint rug and removing a tapestry I’ve had for many years and all of that really made a difference in the feel of the room.

I painted this yardsale find, a gold table.

And it went to a pretty aqua shade that really added to the new vibe of the living room.  Just what I was looking for.  More casual and less stuffy.   This gallery salon wall achieved the look I was going for too and I love the casual, vintage feel of it. In the master bathroom water closet, I used more of my beloved beadboard wallpaper to add some needed architectural interest in this tiny space. And it works once again to liven up a space without spending a lot of $$.  By adding molding along the bottom and chairrail at the top, it looks and feels like the real thing.

Happy Day!  If you are interested in purchasing this wallpaper, the OLD PRE-PASTED version is now available again in my shop, so hop on over. Out back on the deck, I decided it was time to take the deck back and really utilize it for living.  It looked like this when I started this project. By restaining the floor, adding some resin wicker and cushy pillows, I had myself a nice retreat, right out the back door.  I spent many afternoons on my loveseat, enjoying the sunshine last summer.

It was truly my cozy retreat of the year and I loved being outdoors this summer.  I made those shutters too out of fence parts, which added to the cozy feel.  Back inside the master bathroom, this DIY cornice was made by me and this one was a snap.  Made out of foamcore board, it’s a easy DIY project. Adding some pretty trim finished it off.

My cute and cozy office nook got it’s final facelift too.  As much as I loved it, there was one more thing that I wanted to do and that was add a pretty feature wall of wallpaper on the back wall.

I got just the look I was going for with this pretty green damask and I also painted the rest of the walls in this little space lime green to bring it all together.  With the addition of a new office chair, it’s my dream come true office nook. We finally got a flat screen TV in our master bedroom this year, so needed a piece of furniture to house it on.  Out to the antique mall I went and found this little chest,  formerly used in a child’s room. It was the perfect size for what I needed, so I looked past its childish exterior and knew that I could transform it into a TV cabinet with some paint and that’s just what I did.  Fresh paint and new knobs and it’s revived again. And the last big project of the year was in the kitchen.  Time to say goodbye to my red bunny fabric, I found the perfect fresh and modern fabrics to liven up my space.  The Queen Ann’s were perked up once again with new yellow lattice fabric, which further enhanced their black paint. The window treatment was not overlooked either and down came the red bunny fabric for something a little more modern.  Still colorful though, I love my colors! This sewing project was a DIY project too and I was happy to get it finished and up.  Love, love how it turned out and the punch of fresh color it brings to the kitchen. So, that is my countdown for the year.  Whewwwww, that was a pretty busy year, don’t you think?  As I mentioned, I never sit down and figure out what I’m going to do from year to year, but I usually manage to get a lot of projects crossed off. So, how about you?

Are you a high achiever in the project department?

Some of my bloggy friends are way busier than I am and seem to crank out the projects at lightening speed. I love sharing all these projects with so many of you too throughout the year.  It’s really fun to celebrate our successes together.

Me, I’m just happy to have accomplished all of this in one year!

And let me just take this time to thank ALL of you readers out there (and lurkers who never comment!) :), those that stop by faithfully and take a look at my posts every week.  Without you all coming by, it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun blogging, so thank you from the bottom of my heart. It’s like having a whole bunch of friends out there, even though we may  never meet in person.

Link up your Top Project too and it will be fun to share and share alike.