Fun fact: The very first post on this little ol’ blog was published on January 31, 2011. Which means that we just passed our two year blogging anniversary, and that calls for a celebratory post, no?

So, today I’m going to round up some of my favorite projects and posts over the last year. We accomplished quite a bit this year and if you’re new, this is a great way to get the Reader’s Digest version of the last 12 months! Let’s jump right in.

In February, I had an “Organize-a-Thon,” where I posted a new organizing project every week throughout the month (apparently, I get into an organizing kick at the beginning of every year!) – one of my favorite projects? I took our guest room from this…

to this.

So! Much! Better! It’s still looking nice and clean like this (though it has an extra kennel thanks to Hadley!), and I’m excited to see what we can tackle with this year’s Organize-a-Thon (oh, just wait – it’s coming!).

In February, I also did a quick tutorial of how I browse Craigslist – I’ve had quite a bit of luck over the years at finding good things, so I shared the knowledge after many of you asked me how I find so many great pieces.

Next up is what is still one of my favorite projects I’ve ever done (yours too, since it’s still one of my most viewed posts ever!) – my “Home Sweet Home” art that I did for the upstairs hallway. It still makes me smile every time I see it.

And, since I was apparently on an art kick this time of year, I also created some DIY silhouettes for the guest room – they’re still hanging in there, and I need to update ‘em so that Hadley can be represented too!

Later in the year, over the summer, we took on a project that I’m still so glad every day that we did – the chalkboard door in our kitchen. I absolutely love the dramatic pop of black in there, and the chalkboard is such a handy feature for writing our weekly menu or random notes as we need to.

Also over the summer, we took on my favorite project we’ve ever done. It’s by far the most popular post I’ve ever written here on the blog, and it’s the project I’m most proud of out of everything we’ve ever done. Our dining room chandelier has made such a huge impact on the entire house, and it still makes me giddy to look at. Love, love, love, love.

We also went on a wonderful and relaxing vacation over the summer with my sister and her family. I’m a big cruising fan, and it was fabulous to take a week off, rest, and just enjoy ourselves. Sigh – I wouldn’t mind being back on that boat right about now.

In August, we hit the one-year anniversary of living in our house here in Austin. To celebrate, I took y’all on a quick house tour so you could see the changes we had made since we first moved in. It was fun to see how much our house had already evolved, and it’s also fun to look at those photos and see how our house has changed since then!

Shortly after that, we added a gorgeous, graphic stencil to our living room staircase wall. It made a huge impact in our living room and I’m obsessed with how it looks. And I still can’t get over how easy it was!

In September, we adopted our sweet, sweet puppy, Hadley. She’s changed our whole world (in a good way) and I am so glad we have her in our lives. Ranger and Cullen are pretty fond of her, too. And, um, seriously – look at how tiny she was!

And, last but not least, I can’t resist including the post where we talked about meeting the biggest blog-celebrities out there, John and Sherry Petersik! We had so much fun going to their book signing, and I’m still so excited that we got to meet them. They also happened to give us a shout out in their book tour recap, which was hugely exciting for us!

And with that, you’ve got my favorite posts from the second year of our little blog! There were a ton more projects and posts this past year,  but these are the best of the best (in my humble opinion). I’m excited to get started on year three of blogging, and I can’t wait to see what the year has in store for us!

What are some things you accomplished in 2012?

Related posts: