A Year in Review - Favorite Projects and Posts of 2012

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas this year!  We had a great time around here with a full house for Christmas dinner and out-of-town guests for several days.  Before I start breaking down the Christmas decorations, I wanted to share a recap of some of the favorite and most popular posts of 2012. Since I started blogging regularly during the 2011 holiday season, 2012 is pretty much my first full year of blogging and sharing projects.

Personalizing Store-Bought Holiday Plants

As I was entering the garden section of the store last week, I noticed a huge amount of fresh plants wrapped in cellophane and decorated for Christmas, but what really caught my eye, was the clearance prices on these healthy, beautiful plants!  While there is nothing wrong with how these plants are themed for Christmas, they did not specifically go with how my house is decorated for Christmas.  With a little imagination, it's easy to take home some inexpensive store-bought plants and transform them to work in your decor.

Christmas Home Tour 2012

I thought I'd share a quick round-up of my home decorated for Christmas and pull together some highlights of the Christmas posts from the past month, so pull up a chair and get comfy...

How to Make a Garland with Magnolia Leaves

A few weeks ago, I shared my garden-inspired Christmas mantel with my handmade magnolia garland and I promised I'd share how to make one with you.  It just took longer than I thought to get the tutorial done and thanks for being patient if you happened to be waiting for it!

Christmas Stairs and Entryway

Before I share anymore Christmas decorations or projects in my home, I feel the need to express deep sorrow for the loss of all those beautiful children and staff in Newtown, CT.  I know it is on all of our minds and as a mother of three children (one being a first grader that turned 7 on the day of the tragedy), it is so hard to wrap our minds around this event.  I can't help but wipe back tears when I watch the news and think of all those families.  I cannot imagine how they feel and our prayers are with the entire community.

Kid's Candy Tree & DIY Sprinkles Ornaments

If you've been following my blog a while, you'll notice that my Christmas decorations are generally neutral in color and not something a child would have picked out...

Garden-Inspired Christmas Tree

If you recall my Garden-Inspired Christmas Mantel, I've decorated my front living room for Christmas around the colors and existing decor of the room (pale blues, neutrals, birds and nests).  I didn't stop at the mantel with the garden theme...

Coco Dresser Redux

Last summer, I repainted an old dresser that I used as a child to go in my master bedroom makeover...

An Easy Christmas Centerpiece

Since painting up my long wood box a few months ago, I've enjoyed decorating it for Fall and now for Christmas!  

A Christmas Cabinet and a Story...

Out of all the furniture that I currently own, as well as all the furniture that I've bought and sold over the last six years, this rustic antique cabinet is my favorite...

Christmas Dough Bowl

Who doesn't love those classic antique wooden dough bowls?  I've certainly been a fan of them for a while, but didn't come across any I was willing to plunk down the cash for. Well, if you look long enough, you'll eventually find a deal... I now have a really large one (it's almost like a small canoe!) and most recently came across a perfectly-sized round one on my Greensboro shopping trip...

Great Room Rustic Christmas

Our great room is really the heart of our home, but I've rarely shared much of the room because it is still a work in progress and since it's the main hangout for our TV, video games, etc, it's generally full of kids and their toys. Well, I cleaned it up and took some pictures of the Christmas decor before the kids threw all the pillows on the floor and sprawled out on the sofa!

Simple Garden-Inspired Christmas Mantel

The Christmas mantels at my home were kept fairly simple and as natural as possible this year.  I love fresh greenery and try to use it in place of artificial greens as much as I can because not only is it less expensive, it's prettier too!
 

A Bit of Christmas Past - Part Two

I'm up to my eyeballs in Christmas decorations around my house right now.  I have my tree and stairs done as well as several wreaths for inside and outside, but still have much to do!  In the meantime, I'm sharing some of my last year's decorations until I finish up (you can see part one here)

A Bit of Christmas Past - Part One

I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving yesterday!  We have almost the whole family visiting here in NC and I finally got to meet my new little nephew yesterday.  It was a great day!

Flower Ad Dresser...Fresh and Green

It's been a while, hasn't it?  Right after the holiday craft fair with Shirley, my family took a very, very impromptu trip out of town for the week and just returned late Sunday.  While it was nice to be away, I'm playing catch-up now!  I started this dresser before I left and just finished it up this morning...

Getting Ready for Holiday Events

I've been painting and crafting up a storm this week in preparation for some upcoming local events that I'll be participating in...

Thanksgiving Table Setting

Now that Halloween has past, are you thinking about how you will set the table for Thanksgiving?

Southern Snow

I admit it...there have been many times in the past year since moving to the south that I get homesick.  It's been a big change...like living in another world.

White-Glazed Chateau Grey Cabinet and Recent Finds

I love finding these tall graceful cabinets with all their incredible details when I'm out and about.  I picked up this gem from Craig's List after seeing several unpainted (and pricier) versions in some antique shops.  The wood was dried and tired and had a bit of veneer damage so I didn't feel bad about  giving it a second life with a little paint (sorry no before pic on this one).  

A Blogiversary...of Sorts

I can't believe it's already been a year since I shared a peek of my brand new home just outside of Raleigh, NC and entryway table with a fall vignette!  I'm declaring it a "blogiversary", but in reality, I really started my blog all the way back in 2009!

Kitchen Scale Milk Paint Sideboard

I've been on a milk paint kick lately!  I just love trying out Miss Mustard Seed's colors in her new line of paint and "Kitchen Scale" has been at the top of my list....

Southern Bloggers Conference Recap

Wow...I think I've finally recovered enough from this last weekend...not sure if my house is fully recovered yet from me being gone, but it's getting there.  For 14 weeks, a wonderful group of women...Barb from The Everyday Home, Shirley from Housepitality Designs, Amy from Atta Girl Says, Suzy from Worthing Court, Cindy from Living on the Bliss, and myself had been planning the first ever Southern Bloggers Conference here in Raleigh, NC for this past weekend.  Here's a brief recap of the weekend...

Houndstooth Coffee Table

One of the quickest and easiest ways to add a graphic punch to outdated furniture or walls is to use a stencil.  With so many great stencils out there, the possibilities are endless.  When I picked up this outdated and tired coffee table (sorry, no before picture), it was just begging for a new look. You've probably seen this style of coffee table around with it's shiny, cherry factory finish...it's a perfect size table to experiment with some stenciling.

Luckett's Green Milk Paint Cabinet

I've been dying to try Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint in Luckett's Green.  I seem to stick to safer, muted colors and even though I love green, my stand-by paint colors are usually some shade of blue.  Nailing just the right shade of green is pretty challenging, but Marian came up with just the perfect hue...a bright, spring green or Luckett's Green inspired by the Old Luckett's Store in VA.

When I picked this cabinet up, it immediately reminded me of a 40's-50's style kitchen hutch and thought it would be fun to try out the new color with.  The cabinet was definitely dreary before (sorry for the bad phone pic)...

Craft Room - Office Reveal

I feel like a very lucky girl... You see, I haven't always had an entire room, filled with my favorite things, to escape to and create.  It's been quite the opposite for the last 5-6 years of my creative journey!  I used to dream of a space like this...

...A place to store all my jewelry-makings, paint and paper supplies, decorating books and publications, favorite vintage finds, but I honestly never thought I'd ever have "my own room".

I started off long ago with a can of paint, paintbrush, and a piece of furniture and a desire to decorate my first  small home for as thrifty as I could.  It slowly grew into a small business to keep me busy after leaving my career to stay home with my little ones.  I would sell out of shops and set up booths at local vintage/antique shows, all the while I was working late nights and a few nap times from my tiny dining table and the three-foot section between my bed and the wall!  A family of five in a 1,900 sq ft. home with a creative, inventory-based business wasn't always easy.  There were many times before big shows that my house looked like a store itself!

Classic Cottage Sideboard

It's been a while since I've painted a distressed white piece of furniture... When I first started painting furniture 5-6 years ago, I painted most pieces white or off-white and distressed them.  While not everything was painted this way, I started veering away to experiment and try new "looks". I'll go through phases of paint...like black furniture, a favorite paint color, etc.    

I usually have a vision in my head of what I want a piece of furniture to look like before I start painting and I didn't plan on painting this sideboard white, but I knew that I wanted to distress it and/or use dark wax or glaze to bring out all the details.  I started off mixing some custom colors with my paints and tried them out on some areas and just didn't like anything!

My Fall Mantels of 2012

Alright, I'm a little crazy...at least my family probably thinks so when they watch me shuffle decor around the house and changing things out here and there.  You see... I have a lot of "props", or home decor accessories, that I've accumulated over the years of antiquing and vintage shopping and selling at shows and shops.  Thank goodness for some big china hutches and a house with quite a bit of storage.  It's nice to be able to "shop" around the house for things to put new vignettes together, which is what I did for my fall mantels this year.

The first mantel I put together is one my favorite styles...mixing soothing neutrals with silver accents adds a little bit sophistication to the normal fall color palette...

Inside Spoonflower - Custom Fabric Printing

Have you ever searched high and low for that perfect fabric only to come up short?  You have this picture in your head of the fabric or a design that you love, but just can't find what you want...

An Old Oak Table Transformation

Back in my post about my silver dresser, I mentioned that I was able to go to a local auction and picked up a few pieces.  My mom and I spotted this table before the auction started and we both wanted it...

Fall Table Centerpiece

A few weeks ago I shared my new planter box centerpiece and that I was excited to decorate it all up for fall.  I didn't think I'd find any white pumpkins for a while and to be honest, the weather in North Carolina doesn't feel much like pumpkin weather.

Lily's Little Table

Quite a few months back I shared "An Art Desk for Lily" and that my six-year-old daughter wants to be an artist when she grows up.  Most kids I know change their minds everyday when you ask them what they intend to be when they grow up, but Lily's maintained her choice of occupation for the past couple years now.  She pretty much sticks to drawing and coloring, but I thought with the very "forgivable" chalk paint out there now, I'd introduce her to painting furniture....

Slate Blue Metallic Dresser Makeover

I've always loved going to auctions, but don't get the chance to go very often because they are just too long to attend with small kids.  My mother-in-law picked up the girls for an overnight this last Saturday and my husband and I were able to go and enjoy ourselves at a small local auction.  I brought home some new projects including this dresser...

Planter Box Centerpiece

I've always loved those beautiful holiday photos that have large tables with wood planter boxes filled with holiday trimmings, pumpkins for Fall, wheat grass and eggs for springtime, etc.  Now I'm excited that I finally have one! 

I never had a table long enough for one of these before we moved into our new house.  My trestle table is the perfect length for this rustic wood planter box that I picked up from a fellow Luckett's Market vendor.  Although it wouldn't be difficult to make one of these, I like how this one was a bit "pre-aged".

Vintage Phone Secretary

But here's my number...

...so call me maybe.  Ha!  I couldn't resist. No this funky little secretary was not inspired by that song, but more like this cute vintage telephone I picked up at the Raleigh flea market a few weeks back...

How to Make a Vintage Laundry Cart Liner

First off, I want to say thank you for all of your sweet comments on my newly re-decorated laundry room. You are all the best and yes, it does make laundry much more enjoyable! As promised, I wanted to share a how-to on creating these liners for vintage laundry carts and I'd like to introduce my wonderful mom to you as she's going to show you step-by-step...

Laundry Room Reveal



At last, I finally completed and put the finishing touches on my laundry room!  I've been picking away at it here and there all summer, but finally got things hung up and organized...

Thrift Store Chairs Makeover

Whew...I finally finished these chairs!  I picked two of these frenchy chairs up at the thrift store clear back in December for $20 each, but it took me this long to get both of them re-upholstered.  I quickly dove into working on one chair and completed it last winter, but then many of my home projects got pushed aside for finding and re-finishing pieces for the Luckett's Spring Market last May.

Organized Craft Cabinet

I've been a busy little bee lately!  With the heat of summertime, I've turned my attention to working on several rooms in my home these last couple months.  I literally have a dozen projects going at once right now, but I like it that way...I like to feel busy :) One project that I recently completed was long overdue!  Introducing the craft cabinet before...

Florence French Chair

I picked up this little french-inspired cane chair at a thrift store a few weeks ago...

An Antique Bed, Furniture Facelifts and a Blog Hop Party!

I've pretty much have always loved those old beds with curved footboards...aren't they so pretty!  I found this antique bed about a month ago when a few of us Raleigh thrifters got together for "I Love Thrifting Day".  I had a blast and found some great things, including this bed that I picked out for my pre-teen daughter's room...

Flea Market Faux Fireplace & Master Bedroom Update

I'm still plugging away on those last few projects in my master bedroom that I shared with you a few weeks back.  I've really been trying to tackle the last few rooms of my house this summer since it's just too hot to do much furniture painting outside and I'm really close to several rooms "done" (are rooms ever really done?).  Anyway, if you recall, I gave you a peek of a mantel in my bedroom...