• Home
  • about emily
  • before + after
  • HGTV + DIY Network
  • good press
  • contact
  • Let’s Organize These Posts:

    • Art Attack
    • Backyard
    • Barn
    • Basement
    • Bathroom
    • Beach
    • Bedrooms
    • Being Thrifty
    • Business-y
    • Buying and Renting and Selling
    • Casual Celebrations
    • Closets
    • Curb Appeal
    • Dainty Details
    • Deck
    • Decor
    • Dining Room
    • DIY
    • Dog-Related
    • Entryway
    • Flooring
    • For the Kids
    • Garage
    • Gardening
    • Helping The Economy
    • HGTV + DIY Network Projects
    • Holiday-Related Projects
    • Home Safety
    • Kitchen
    • Lighting
    • Living Room
    • Merry Travels
    • Office Space
    • Organized
    • Other Pads
    • Outdoor Living
    • Scooter Fun
    • Stairwell
    • Sunroom
    • Supporting Sponsors
    • The Art Room
    • Tools
    • Uncategorizable
    • Wedding
    • Windows
    • Work-pads
  • Search

  • Hi, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

    I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle.

    You can find me writing for HGTV and DIY Network, follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note if you'd like. I love notes.

    Thanks for visiting!

  • BROWSE POSTS BY CATEGORY:

    • Art Attack (7)
    • Backyard (92)
    • Barn (8)
    • Basement (27)
    • Bathroom (43)
    • Beach (13)
    • Bedrooms (73)
    • Being Thrifty (53)
    • Business-y (12)
    • Buying and Renting and Selling (23)
    • Casual Celebrations (36)
    • Closets (17)
    • Curb Appeal (44)
    • Dainty Details (8)
    • Deck (23)
    • Decor (286)
    • Dining Room (37)
    • DIY (577)
    • Dog-Related (24)
    • Entryway (59)
    • Flooring (58)
    • For the Kids (32)
    • Garage (17)
    • Gardening (70)
    • Helping The Economy (30)
    • HGTV + DIY Network Projects (283)
    • Holiday-Related Projects (80)
    • Home Safety (12)
    • Kitchen (84)
    • Lighting (31)
    • Living Room (77)
    • Merry Travels (21)
    • Office Space (21)
    • Organized (41)
    • Other Pads (14)
    • Outdoor Living (12)
    • Scooter Fun (8)
    • Stairwell (20)
    • Sunroom (22)
    • Supporting Sponsors (43)
    • The Art Room (3)
    • Tools (43)
    • Uncategorizable (1)
    • Wedding (28)
    • Windows (14)
    • Work-pads (10)
  • Search

  • Pages

    • blog
    • Good Press: Special Features, Freelance Projects, and Long-Term Clients
    • Privacy Policy
    • about emily
    • before + after
      • before + after – transforming my first home
      • before + after, our current home
    • contact me
    • choose a badge and share the merrypad.com love
  • Home
  • about emily
  • before + after
  • HGTV + DIY Network
  • good press
  • contact

Memory Lane

March 19, 2013

Making over a website takes a lot of time and work. In my case, I’ve been trying to fit in the updates whenever I can spare an hour here and there. And that’s why we set out to build the new merrypad.com last September and today, on the brink of April, I’m still weaseling my way through behind the scenes adjustments almost daily. I’m not one of those let’s-just-pull-three-consecutive-all-nighters-and-finish-it kind of people, I love my regularly scheduled sleep, so hopefully you haven’t much been hindered by my slow pace.

One of the most tedious tasks totally could have been avoided if I had selected a different WordPress theme: I’ve been required to go back into each of the 640+ posts and make coding and photo adjustments. For a long while I was convinced that this would take the rest of my life, but I’m starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Along the way, I’ve been able to relive these hundreds of activities projects that I’ve done, and been able to compare how things looked years ago with how they look today. I thought it might be fun to show you some of these posts and projects:

1. Unless you followed me way early on, you probably have no idea that the flooring in the entryway was a stubborn vinyl tile, laid viciously over stamped concrete. This was a photo I snapped on the day before I moved into the house. The entryway was not a selling point.

The entryway before, coated with faux-pebble vinyl tile.

I’ve done a lot since that day; after living with the tiles for over 18-months, I tore them up and painted the concrete a neutral gray. Add another 15-months to that, and I found myself tiling the floor with mortar and pebbles by hand.

The yummy pebble shale floor, hand laid by me.

2. It’s only been a year and a half since I beat 150 sq. ft. of asphalt driveway to it’s demise with a small sledgehammer while wearing wellies. We don’t miss that extra 8′ of width at all. I do miss the arms I had that fall, though, can you see those muscles?

Sledgehammering the asphalt driveway.

3. The glass paned door that separates our sunroom and living room cost me $2. It was broken, both fractured at the top of the frame and without several panes, but it didn’t stop me from lugging it back to the apartment I lived at a few months before I closed on my house. I chiseled away at the loose paint slowly with razor blades to pass time. It was also probably my first unsafe encounter with lead paint, I never tested, I’ll never know.

Rehabbing a broken paned door in my apartment garage.

Best $2 ever spent.

Opening up the living room with a bright paned glass door.

4. Remember when my stairs were white? Because I had forgotten how different it looked.

Our white and wood staircase, pre-painting.

And then remember when I tried painting them the first time, and they ended up looking like a choppy gradient? Ombre is hard.

That time I messed up painting the stairs ombre.

They’ve retained their current stripes for the last 21 months. I love them.

The stairs in their current state.

5. I have no recollection of how long I had these IKEA pendant lights installed in the living room. It was a little too much for the small space, that I can tell by the photo. Those lights were moved into the dining room when I came upon the Crate & Barrel chandelier that now hangs (much higher) above the coffee table. In a related note, remember when all of my photos were terrible?

A terrible photo of my living room with pendant lights.

 

Reliving your home renovation photos can be just as fun as looking back through family photos, right? Do it, if you haven’t taken a trip back through time recently.

Share

Business-y

Emily
I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle. I've been a freelancer writer for 10+ years and you can find my work on popular home and garden sites, like HGTV.com. Follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note.

3 Comments


Rachel
March 19, 2013 at 10:23 am
Reply

Still love your stairs and its easy to forget how awesome that door is because it looks so fab!



    Emily
    March 19, 2013 at 10:41 am

    Thanks Rachel!

Cait @ Hernando House
March 19, 2013 at 11:02 am
Reply

Such a fun trip down memory lane! Love how far you’ve come. Apparently I have either followed you from the very beginning, or I have read all your archives, because I do remember that entryway floor AND your white stairs. I think I started reading in the IKEA-pendants-in-the-living-room-but-brighter-photos era.

I still swoon over your entryway floor. I was just trying to source materials to do something similar in our laundry room yesterday (though Robert may kill me if I start/plan ANOTHER project).



Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • HI, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

    I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle. Follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note if you'd like. I love notes.

    Thanks for visiting!

  • Instagram

    merrypad

    Merrypad // Emily Fazio
    pumpkin patch is doing great✌️#year1 #squashbl pumpkin patch is doing great✌️#year1 #squashblossoms #pumpkinpatch
    I’ve overdone it. #2023gardennotes I’ve overdone it. #2023gardennotes
    I’m not great at weeding my mulched beds, but I I’m not great at weeding my mulched beds, but I am very good at transplanting thousands of pachysandra like little bouquets so within 3 years they’ll consume the entire area ✌️ #earnyourallowance #pachysandra #gardening #merrypadathome
    One magic blossom from the peony roots transplante One magic blossom from the peony roots transplanted in April ❤️
    IT’S SCAPE SZN! IT’S SCAPE SZN!
    The biggest learning from my first year of pumpkin The biggest learning from my first year of pumpkin farming: no need to start seeds weeks in advance. These sprouted in 3 days indoors, and I was able to easily move them to the farm with minimal disturbance before they outgrew their tiny little upcycled egg carton pods. The seedlings I started in April in larger containers were very lanky at transplant and do not seem as hearty. They THRIVE when transplanted at this size! 📓 #gardennotes #garden2023 #pumpkinfarming #gourdfarming
    #2023garden pathways sponsored by pine tree bark 👩‍🌾👍 

#repurposedwood #merrypadathome
    Load More... follow emily: @merrypad



  • Like Us On Facebook

    Facebook Pagelike Widget



  • Popular Posts

    • How to fix an IKEA drawer. The Easy Fix For Broken IKEA Drawers 74.2k views
    • DIY sideboard rehab. 7 Steps for Restoring an Old Midcentury Sideboard Buffet 62.7k views
    • How to design and make a barn quilt. How to Make Your Own Barn Quilt 55.2k views
    • How to hang art on brick surfaces using specialty clips. The Easy Way to Hang Art on Brick or Stone 44.6k views
    • Our DIY flagstone patio. Building a Flagstone Patio in One Day 40.4k views
    • DIY driveway removal. How to Remove an Old Asphalt Driveway 36.9k views
    • Fix an ikea dresser drawer. Life Support For An IKEA Dresser 35.7k views
    • Tips for dying pasta different colors, and a Halloween Recipe for the kids. How to Dye Pasta Different Colors (Halloween Recipe) 35.2k views
    • Goodbye, gold fireplace covering. Less Is More: How to Remove a Fireplace Surround 31.6k views
    • After: Custom wooden garden fence. Designing a Durable Wooden Fence For Our Beautiful Backyard Garden 29.6k views



  • BROWSE POSTS BY CATEGORY:

    • Art Attack (7)
    • Backyard (92)
    • Barn (8)
    • Basement (27)
    • Bathroom (43)
    • Beach (13)
    • Bedrooms (73)
    • Being Thrifty (53)
    • Business-y (12)
    • Buying and Renting and Selling (23)
    • Casual Celebrations (36)
    • Closets (17)
    • Curb Appeal (44)
    • Dainty Details (8)
    • Deck (23)
    • Decor (286)
    • Dining Room (37)
    • DIY (577)
    • Dog-Related (24)
    • Entryway (59)
    • Flooring (58)
    • For the Kids (32)
    • Garage (17)
    • Gardening (70)
    • Helping The Economy (30)
    • HGTV + DIY Network Projects (283)
    • Holiday-Related Projects (80)
    • Home Safety (12)
    • Kitchen (84)
    • Lighting (31)
    • Living Room (77)
    • Merry Travels (21)
    • Office Space (21)
    • Organized (41)
    • Other Pads (14)
    • Outdoor Living (12)
    • Scooter Fun (8)
    • Stairwell (20)
    • Sunroom (22)
    • Supporting Sponsors (43)
    • The Art Room (3)
    • Tools (43)
    • Uncategorizable (1)
    • Wedding (28)
    • Windows (14)
    • Work-pads (10)





  • a little bit of everything, friends, DIY, and inspiration

    • Dadand.com < My husband and his BFF
    • HGTV
  • Some Legal

    Merrypad incorporates the occasional affiliate link to Amazon.com and Minted; we link to many other websites and products, but if it is in context of a paid sponsorship, it is always noted as such. Please review the privacy policy and contact me if you have any additional questions.

    Theme customized by Pete Fazio Creative, the guy from dadand.com.


© Copyright Merrypad