Can you believe it’s already 2012 on Sunday? December flew by, so before the month disappears we wanted to take a moment to look back at everything we tackled—gathering the highlights and links in one convenient place and sharing a few never-before-seen bits for fun. This month we were all over the house, spending lots of time in the kitchen while also tackling projects in the living room, hallway, and adding a healthy dose of holiday cheer. Here’s a yearbook-style roundup of December’s highlights.
Most Improved: The three switcheroos in our living room that made a big difference: a larger rug, a square ottoman, and a more refined office chair.
Most Memorable: Celebrating our one-year anniversary in the house and looking back at moving day 2010. It’s wild to see how far we’ve come—and how much is still left to do.
Most Artistic: Clara, after we repurposed our old desk into a toddler-sized drawing table for her.
Most Artistic (Runner-Up): Sherry’s dad, who sketched an owl in the 1970s that we framed for our hallway.
Least Artistic: Us—touching up paint in the kitchen before the counters arrived didn’t require artistic talent, but at least there was a paintbrush involved.
Craftiest: The vendors at the Richmond Handmade Holiday event—we definitely didn’t leave empty-handed.
Most Advent-urous: Our homemade advent calendar that turned an Ikea scarf hanger into a daily ornament countdown to Christmas.
Cheeriest: The ribbon-covered stars from our 2011 Christmas card. Also, Burger deserves an award for “Best Tongue” if such a thing existed.
Merriest (Tall Edition): Our toddler-friendly Christmas tree, decorated with paint swatches, ribbon, and unbreakable ornaments. The advent calendar filled it in day by day.
Merriest (Short Edition): Our little table-top tree, which brightened the living room with handmade Pinterest Challenge ornaments we made in November.
Brightest: Our first attempt at exterior holiday decorating: candy cane lights, Moravian stars, big glowing lanterns, and an all-red reindeer or two.
Brightest (Runner-Up): The holiday tweaks to our hallway frame wall that brought seasonal cheer to a small space.
Brightest (Second Runner-Up): Our new countertops—bright white Corian transformed the kitchen and required some interesting equipment to create seamless results.
Most Free Spirited: Our nearly free microwave—bought for $84 after selling the previous one for $90. Reusing the existing cabinet to house it let us splurge elsewhere, like countertops, backsplash tile, a large wall opening, and cork floors.
Diciest: Cutting up a few leftover cabinet doors to fit rebuilt or secondhand cabinets in the new layout. It was nerve-wracking for a bit, but with proper joinery and heavy-duty screws they ended up solid. We’re waiting until paint cures to declare them seamless.
Best Backside: The industrial-inspired stools for the peninsula that we scored for $33 apiece—actually designed for a science lab, but perfectly at home in our kitchen.
Most Tedious: The pre-painting tasks in the kitchen: rebuilding a windowsill, adding toe kick and trim, cleaning the sunroom, and finally choosing a cabinet paint color.
Sandiest (TIE): John and the kitchen, after a putty-sanding-deglossing spree to prepare the cabinets for primer and paint.
Biggest Tool: Our holiday gift list of tools and gear for the DIYer in your life—perfect for spending gift cards or treating a handy friend.
Most Date-d: Our homemade 2012 calendar—still available as a free template if you want to customize one for your family.
Most Transformative: Priming cabinet doors and frames—suddenly it’s beginning to look a lot like not Christmas, but a brand-new kitchen.
Cutest Hat: Clara, who after opening a leopard-print cap on Christmas morning refused to take it off all day. You’ll be seeing that hat a lot in upcoming family photos.
That’s our December at a glance. Can you believe it’s almost ’12? What did you accomplish in December? Do you make a list of highlights to look back on? Use the comments to share a few wins—big or small. It’s refreshing to pause and appreciate the crossed-off tasks instead of always adding new ones. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE—we love you. Really.
Psst—If you want to see past months’ roundups, we shared July’s superlatives, August’s, September’s, October’s, and November’s earlier this year.