2019 house progress + favorite projects

Happy New Year!  I can’t believe it’s 2020 or even January again for that matter.  But I am excited about the fresh new start of a new year and all the possibilities ahead.  Before I jump into new projects I wanted to share my favorite projects from 2019 and do a recap of the year.   I even forgot about some of these that I worked on last year so I’m sure you’ll find something new or something maybe you want to add to your list to tackle in 2020.

In January I blogged all about my winter living room decorated almost completely with Christmas clearance finds.   Shopping after-Christmas clearance is one of my favorite times of the year and I love finding things I can use in my home all year long, or for winter, or even stocking up on gifts for upcoming birthdays.  I’ve been sharing lots on Instagram about all my Christmas clearance bargains this year so make sure you are following me there.

I also tackled the $100 room challenge in January starting with this before of our bonus room/nieces room.

I made DIY picket fence headboards, painted a hand me down desk, did lots of purging/organizing and this was the after at the end of the month.

As part of that makeover, I also repurposed an old wood TV stand into a huge American girl dollhouse – that was a huge project but so fun!! See lots more details here in this post.

In February I finally tackled a project in our laundry room that I had been wanting to do for a long time.  We have a long narrow hallway leading into our laundry room and no mudroom so I turned that long blank wall into a DIY shiplap mudroom bench with lots of storage for shoes, jackets, bookbags and more! 

In March I painted a $20 thrift store desk for my office. 

In April, I added character to my kitchen peninsula with some DIY shiplap and trim.  This made such a huge difference in our kitchen and was a project I had been wanting to tackle for a while.

In May I was busy working outside and spruced up the area around our shed with some new flower beds and also made a huge DIY flag out of fence pickets to add some decor to our backyard and the side of the shed. 

In June swim season was in full swing and I was needing a solution for all the wet pool towels, pool gear, and flip flops so I tackled my first big furniture build and built this DIY farmhouse hall tree with bench.  Learning how to build furniture was a huge goal of mine in 2019 and I tackled 3 big builds and can’t wait to build more!

In July I added this DIY jewelry storage to my bathroom wall – such an easy and quick project and it has been such a HUGE help in helping me keep my jewelry organized.

In August I tackled my next build and built this $60 farmhouse table completely out of 2×4 boards!  I love how this table came out and it completely transformed out back patio to a fun place to hang out and enjoy many summer/fall meals. 

I also was working on completing my office/craft room/homeschool room and created this DIY chalkboard to hang above my little girls desk so she could start K3 at the end of the month.

In September I shared the final reveal of my office/homeschool room along with a tutorial on how to make that DIY painted OFFICE sign.

I love how this room turned out and so glad to have another finished room completed in our home!

I also shared the news that I was featured in my first magazine!  My fall mantel/fireplace was featured in the Autumn Decorating issue of Country Sampler. 

In October I built some DIY farmhouse shutters to help frame out the tv and add some decor to this large wall.

I also shared my fall decor starting with my Farmer’s Market inspired fall front porch.

My fall mantel was one of my favorites this year with a simple layered look.

I have worked so hard on our living room in the last 3 years and I just love how cozy it feels now with the DIY german schmeared fireplace, IKEA couches, and some rearranging I did this summer.  

Mid-November I kicked off Christmas decorating with my first and probably favorite DIY decor of the season.  I created a huge DIY music sheet framed art print to hang above my nativity.

I also updated some old ornaments by chalk painting them.

My little girl and I had a fun baking day and created some Peanut Butter Rudolph Cookies and did a fun Christmas cookie blog hop with some other bloggers.

I shared my Ski Lodge inspired Christmas front porch…

and ski lodge inspired Christmas mantel!

I made a simple set of decorative skis out of some picket fence pieces too.

Our Christmas living room was super cozy too! I already miss the twinkling lights but I am loving the simplicity of the normal decor.

And my last project I blogged about was decorating my little girls room and her dollhouse for Christmas – such a fun post you have to go see all the miniature decor inside her dollhouse!

Behind the scenes in December I was busy working on my 3rd and biggest build yet (you can see a sneak peek here on Instagram) – a dining table for us to eat Christmas dinner around!  I’ll be sharing that next on the blog and hopefully finishing up some final projects in that room in January. 

Sometimes it seems like I haven’t accomplished a lot until I look back and see all of this in one post.  Can’t wait to see what we tackle in 2020  – definitely more building will be happening and I have some big home goals.  Thanks for taking your time to come check out what I am up and your sweet comments and messages all year long – I couldn’t do all of this without all of you!

I’d love to hear what your favorite projects were in your home this year!  Did you transform a room, tackle a big project, or learn a new DIY skill?