Never before seen projects of 2011

Oh My. We survived Christmas and the New Year is almost upon us!! Does anyone out there make New Year's Resolutions? Mine are always super achievable, but I never can last the whole year. For example, one year I vowed to have my fingernails painted every day of the year... lasted about 2 months, which is quite a while! And last year, I decided my goal was to fill our wine cabinet up! That has been a fun task, which I've never given up on, but have never fulfilled either. The cabinet can hold 25 bottles, we usually sit somewhere around 12. Its a constantly rotating selection.

In honor of the end of 2011, I've decided to show off some things we accomplished, but never made an entire blog post for! Grab your coffee and get comfy, we've got some badass projects coming up!!

First off, I refinished a Craigslist desk. I bought it for 30 bucks, and it took about 10 hours of elbow grease, but the finished product is lovely no?

Here she is before... lots of wear in the frontal region, nothing a few rounds with the sander can't cure!!

And After!!!! Ahh... the power of white paint. The color is Oyster by Behr if anyone is interested. It has a hint of grayish purple to it. Lovely. I still haven't gotten a new chair... I did get a lamp though. I'd also like to DIY some industrial wood shelves for the wall space. Adding that to the 2012 project list.

Moving on, we sanded and stained our deck after the snowball of a repair in July. In person the difference is pretty dramatic, in pictures a little boring, but we did it nonetheless!

 

Here is a little in progress shot. On the left is the dirty side, right is after some scrubbing and deck cleaner. Kind of ridiculously amazing right? 

 Top is untreated, bottom is after one coat of stain and protectant. Incredible!!!

The finished product!!!! You can see the obvious difference of the boards we replaced, but at least now they are all protected from the elements, and not collapsing under foot.

I also sprayed some terra cotta pots with chalk paint, and planted some rosemary!!! It's dead now though... 

We also swapped out our house numbers, after our friends made fun of us relentlessly... Here is what the frumpy before looked like... 

 

And after!!! We had an old piece of wood in the garage that happened to be the perfect width for our new numbers, so we sprayed on some stain and away we went!! This change makes a huge difference in de-granny-fying our home. (Which is a great topic for a post... keep your eyes peeled!) 

 

Continuing around the outside of our home, we built in a firepit!! As discussed previously in our backyard tour, our home sits upon an ancient lava flow.  One area of it had a natural wall, which we decided would be the perfect backdrop for our firepit. Most of the other rocks were mined from around our yard and the rockpile aka Porcupine Butte that is right behind our property. Now James can build giant fires... he is so happy. 

The wonderful thing about building a firepit out of rocks is that the heat radiates out as the fire winds down, it seems to be much more efficient at warming up the surrounding area. We love it, and can't wait for it not to be 15 degrees at night anymore so we can enjoy it again. 

And finally, we gussied up our oak kitchen cabinets with some hardware. It makes such a difference, and I can't wait until we finally buck up and paint them. It will be a whole new kitchen!! 

They're even I swear. Its the camera angle!!

Whew! We did accomplish quite a bit, between both working full time, taking over a month of vacation, and raising our furry family. Here's to 2012, and all that we will accomplish in the new year! Like getting married!!! Any secret projects you accomplished? I'd love to hear all about it!!

I'm sharing these projects at Southern Hospitality's Top Projects Party!

Thankful in Fall

Once again, the oh-so-wonderful Interweb has informed me that today is Canada's Thanksgiving. As you may have noticed from our frequent trips to Whistler, and our recent engagement on a white mountaintop in Canada, we are pretty big fans of our neighbors to the North.

Summit of Whistler

The wonderful weather phenomenon known as an Inversion

So here is an abbreviated list of things I am thankful for at the moment.

- Canada, and all the wonderful memories we have made there.
- Our hobby of mountain biking and all the amazing places it has taken us.

- James, the most incredible person I have ever met. He keeps a smile on my face and in my heart, and I love him more than anything else in this world.
- Sammy... oh Sammy. How could I not be thankful for you? My partner in crime, my best friend, and my furry son.

- My friends, you all make my world go round. I tend to surround myself with people who inspire me and make me happy, and you all exemplify that. Love you!!! 

-Of course, my family. My parents are amazing people who support me in my decisions, and love without judging. I am proud to be their daughter. And my little brother, Tom, and new sister Sophie. You two are amazing and I am so thankful to call you my siblings. You can always put a smile, or smirk, on my face. 

 

- My job. Many people can't say this about their place of employment, so I think it is worth mentioning. Not only do I love my job as it is described on paper, I love my co-workers, my bosses, the customers I get to encounter on a daily basis, and all the fun places I get to go while representing my company. GABF anyone?

There are many, MANY more things I am thankful for, but this list is pretty much a constant. Life is pretty damn good. And speaking of GABF, I was planning on doing a 'what I learned while on a bender in Denver' post, but that title pretty much explains it. The trip was wonderful and full of fun and beer drinking. Lots of beer drinking. We will leave it at that. 

Sammy and I are off today to do a little exploring in the woods, and a first DIY project for the wedding. It will also be used to kick off our fall decor around the crib! 

Stay tuned for fun and thankfulness!! What are you feeling thankful for this October day?