We’reeeee back! Bear with me as I filter through our 1,000 photographs and videos, and finish an unimaginable amount of laundry. I’ll share some bits and pieces of our first-ever trip to Morocco with you throughout the week. Serious vaca-squealing will ensue.
Why I’m really popping in today is to celebrate a little blogging milestone: My 500th post. Big deal to you or not, I’m 1) elated and 2) impressed that I like blogging enough to reach such a significant milestone. For almost two years I’ve been documenting my life filled with do-it-yourself home design challenges and projects. It’s not that I hadn’t been making dramatic home improvement updates without the presence of a blog (the bulk of the home transformation happened in 2009 when I moved in) but I really love the projects that I’ve been able to document digitally and share with others. It’s always fun to get notes from readers who were inspired by my projects, which means that my overall mission is on track.
Our home is a little happy space, and for the most part, it has been evolving in the right direction from a design standpoint. First, it had become a place that was mine, and now, in real time, it’s becoming a place for our family. I had a really hard time picking favorites, but without further ado, here are the top 5 from my first 500 posts.
1. So, so panel-icious.
Where would I be without thee, paneled walls? The paneling is possibly the most impacting feature inside of the house. There are three feature walls at the moment; the bedroom wall came first, serving as an anchoring wall for the bed. The dining room accent wall and entryway quickly followed, warming up our living space and helping to modernize an otherwise unadorned space.
The uniformity of the stained pine is something that’s still very appealing to me; more so than if I had sourced barn wood or reclaimed clapboards, each horizontal panel is smooth, evenly sized, evenly spaced, andevenly stained, and I don’t even mean to come across like an OCD-minded person, but it just looks good with my clean-lined furniture and the other colors in the house. It’s an interesting, warm, and contemporary detail that always gets noticed, and is bound to follow me into future homes.
2. Abstract Ski Art
I’ve made a few custom pieces of art that I really like and have left on display for some time (like this large scale ombre design, and my silver Rorschach print) but my ultimate favorite is one that I designed and created based on something much more personal – an interpretation of the trail map of my favorite childhood ski resort.
The thing is, if I didn’t tell you it was a trail map, you’d probably have no idea what it was. Some days it looks like a pumpkin. Other days, like something you’d see in a medical textbook about female anatomy. And that’s OK, because abstract/personal art doesn’t need to make sense to everyone, and more importantly, it’s not a uterus, ovaries, or endometriosis. But it was fun to make, is a great scale for the space it’s hung in the living room, and has been the perfect fit for our home.
3. An unexpected sunroom floor.
It’s one of the reasons I love working in the sunroom so much – the painted wooden sunburst floor makes me happy. It was an easy project, and still, a year later, it’s just as subtle and unexpected in the space. I love how it draws my eyes into the room without detracting from the table, chairs, and pendant, and quite simply, even though it’s gray, it’s my sunshine on a cloudy day.
4. Succulent Wreath
I still love how this faux-succulent wreath looks hung on the door. It’s spot-on to my tastes, looks wonderful during the lush summer months, and has held up really well despite being bombarded by sunlight and the extreme heat that gathers between the entry door and the storm door.
5. Shaggy Bear Rug
A true product of joy and pain (sing it with me now), the big shaggy bear rug is still one of my favorite crafty DIY projects. Right now it’s being used in Julia’s room as the area rug next to the bed, a charming and well-proportioned accent for our home. 9-months in, and it shows no wear, no tear, and has been surprisingly easy to vacuum and shake clean when needed. And gosh, it’s cute.
What have your favorite projects on merrypad been? Cheers to the next 500.
12 Comments
Congrats on this milestone!!
Thanks for being a dedicated blog buddy, Staci!
I LOVE the shout out to Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock — my cousin had that tape and, many, many years later, it still gets stuck in my head! And I am totally in love with the shiplap, too. I think it’s what brought me to merrypad, actually!
Rock on, Katharine. :)
I love them ALL!
Recently I have been contemplating your shiplap idea for our back porch ceiling recently (although painted Haint blue). I might wimp out and use bead board though.
Aww, thanks Cait. Bead board would definitely be easier on a ceiling I think, unless you could source some really thin single-board panels!
Yeah, I think I’ll probably end up going with bead board, but I have GOT to do shiplap somewhere! Maybe in the future garage/studio of my dreams. Or if I can convince R the laundry needs to be a laundry/mud room (which requires adding a door). Hmmm…
Or a bathroom, or a bedroom, or a living room, or the closet… If you can’t tell, I’m itchin’ for more.
I love your shiplap and briefly considered the idea for my mantel wall, but decided in the end it didn’t fit with the overall character of the condo. So I got my shiplap fix by making wooden storage crates and staining them similar colors to your walls. It seemed almost silly to have spent $30 on materials for making something that is stored under the bed and nobody else will see (and admire), but I guess the point is *I* will know it’s there instead of an ugly cardboard box.
Love that idea for under-bed storage! Plus, if they do peek out, it’s such a pretty accent color!
Congrats on reaching such a huge milestone!
Thanks Kate!!