Best of 2014: A year in review

With just two days left of this year, I can't help but look back and reflect on how much has changed in our home. We've been busier and accomplished more in the past 363 days than all our prior days of home ownership combined. There have been so many ups and downs on this roller coaster ride, but going into 2015 we both feel more confident and ready to take on bigger and better challenges.

Let's start with a recap of our Room Makeover Reveals...

April: Foyer

April: Kitchen

May: Home Theater Room

May: Studio

August: Master Bedroom

October: Backyard Deck

October: Living Room

Whew... that was a lot of work for one year! Now let's move on to my personal favorite DIY projects. It was difficult to narrow these down as each project came with its own set of pros and cons, but I'd do any of these ones again in a heartbeat.

1. Building this living room cabinet:

 2. Transforming this Ikea floor mirror:

 3. Creating this paneled wall:

 4. This entire wardrobe vanity:

Bonus: Favorite post in general award goes to our Christmas home tour...

And most exciting news of the year would have to be our BHG features!

And finally, here are your favorites from the year based on views:

1. DIY plain to paneled door (this also has to be in my top 5 favorite projects)

2. Kitchen Source List & Budget Breakdown

3. DIY Salvaged Door

4. Ikea Pax Pantry (one of my favorite features of our kitchen)

Some of you have been on this ride with us since our Florida home and remember these posts, while others have recently joined and will discover some new content—either way, we truly appreciate everyone's support and thank you for checking in to follow our progress this year!

So what's in store for 2015? Some of you sleuths who follow me on Pinterest already figured it out after I posted this on instagram a few days ago...

It's laundry room makeover! And not just a makeover—we're completely creating a new laundry room from scratch. Relocating our current washer and dryer from an upstairs pass through to an empty room downstairs. We've been planning for a couple weeks and I have a fairly good idea of colors, layout and materials but if you have any dedicated laundry boards on Pinterest, please link to them in the comments below! I need all the inspiration I can get as we lock down our sources over the next few weeks.

I have so much to share but will have to save it for a dedicated post next week, so don't go anywhere! I hope you all have a happy and safe NYE and a virtual Cheers to 2015... see you next year!

5 Days of Holiday DIY's: JOY Chalkboard

Happy Friday! It's the last day of my 5 Days of holiday DIY's...

Here's a recap of this week if you missed anything:

Day 1: Branchlers + free printables
Day 2: Quick + easy tree ornaments
Day 3: No sew sweater stocking
Day 4: 1 minute mini wreath and DIY garland

Today I'm sharing how I made this JOY chalkboard for $0 using materials I had on hand:

I had a few of these wood panels lying around in the garage (not entirely sure what their purpose was but I knew I could make it into something fun).

Aiming for a shabby look, I gave it a quick sanding expose some of the wood underneath with my Mouse (one of my favorite things from 2014):

Instead of painting the inside, I thought it would be neat to turn it into a chalkboard so I could switch it up if needed. I found a simple chalkboard paint recipe online—2 tbsp of unsanded grout (mixed with water) and 1 cup of paint (I used leftover Valspar paint in eggshell). I actually just eyeballed the measurements—I only needed a tiny bit.

Because there's grout in it, this stuff takes a very long time to dry. Around an hour for a thick coat—I gave it three coats since I had a lot of extra paint.

For the "O", I made another 1 minute mini wreath and secured it with a small clear command hook, then freehanded the J and Y in chalk. And that's it—such an easy project!

You could use any board you have lying around for this, or add trim around the edges for a framed look. A very inexpensive project even if you're starting from scratch, and it really livens up any space.

And that's a wrap for my 5 Days of Holiday DIY's! I hope you were able to take away some new ideas and inspiration to use in your own home this year or in seasons to come. Next year I'll definitely get started earlier so I don't have to cram it all into one weekend :)

We'll be spending the next week enjoying time with family, but I'll be back before the new year to reveal plans for our next renovation—I can't wait to share what's in store! In the meantime, let's keep in touch on Facebook and Instagram!

Happy holidays to you and your family from Brad, Jenna, Susie & Biscuit,

5 Days of Holiday DIY's: 1 minute mini-wreath and DIY pine garland

Welcome to Day 4 of my 5 Days of Holiday DIY's!

If you missed anything this week, make sure to get caught up now:

Day 1: Branchlers + free printables
Day 2: Quick + easy tree ornaments
Day 3: No sew sweater stocking

Today I'm excited to share how I added lots of fresh greenery to our home (for free!) and a new mini-wreath DIY I discovered that might be my favorite holiday trick yet.

First, we have the garland.

A large banister and staircase calls for a massive garland, and a ton of evergreen clippings. Luckily, our front yard is covered in evergreen bushes so I spent about an hour gathering clippings one day...

Larger peices make this easier and faster, so I'd recommend cutting at least 1 foot sections.

I read somewhere that you should hammer the ends of the stalks so they absorb more water and soak them overnight before assembling so they'll last longer. It has been over three weeks and they're still green, so I'm glad I followed that advice!

My supplies were simply floral wire and a spool of twine.

I had two different species of evergreen so I ended up alternating them both for a more organic/layered look.

Starting with my first piece, I wrapped the stem around the twine a couple times then wrapped that with the floral wire near the base. About halfway down my stalk I added another branch and did the same.

If your branches aren't very full, you may need to add more.

The twine just helped to keep everything in line while the floral wire actually secured them so they wouldn't fall off.

Keep in mind you don't need to cut the twine or floral wire until the very end—just keep wrapping. It went by faster than I thought!

To keep it fuller looking, be careful to wrap the wire under the smaller branches instead of gathering it all underneath the wire—try to keep it as close to the stalk as possible so the pine needles can hang freely.

I only attached most of them about halfway to let the tops hang loose.

I think this photo was taken after only 30 minutes or so—I thought it was going to be a pain but it was actually enjoyable and went by fast!

I had to make over 30 feet though, so it still ended up taking at least a couple hours.

Once I was happy with the length, I found this sticky-back plastic apparatus in the garage and sec it to the end of my banister, along with some floral wire to secure the garland.

That was all I needed—the weight of the garland wrapped around the banister held the rest of it in place.

To finish it off, I bought a few spools of wired burlap ribbon and made a large bow for each post (four in total).

Can't get enough of bows this year!

Okay, ready for the easiest wreath you'll ever make in your life? All you need is just one evergreen clipping, some floral wire and ribbon (optional).

Step 1: Cut the branches off the main stalk of your clipping.

Step 2: Take your floral wire and make a circle (then cut the wire and wrap the two ends to secure). It doesn't have to be perfect.

Step 3: Place your first branchlet along the hoop and tightly wrap it (in the center) a couple times with your wire.

Step 4: Take the middle of your second piece and join it with the stalk end of your first, and wrap it a couple times around your hoop (don't cut the wire when you're done wrapping, just keep going!)

Step 5: Repeat until you make your way back to the first piece, being careful to wrap only stem so the pine needles hang free.

How easy is that? It literally takes just one minute.

Of course I had to put a bow on it.

I hung them to the front and back of our bedroom door using small clear command hooks. I love it against the black and think it's the cutest thing ever—one day after all of my doors have been remodeled they'll each get two for Christmas :)

You could put them on anything though—kitchen cabinets, coat hooks, backs of chairs, mirrors—you name it. Find an evergreen near you and go crazy.

Check back tomorrow for the final installment of my last minute DIY holiday projects! Next up is another one that cost me $0 to make... stay tuned!