Reflection: Top Ten Home Projects

(Disclaimer - i have no idea why my html is all screwy and shows me using a variety of fonts, colours, etc - I apologize, I simply do not have the time...I've already spent over two hours trying to fix this... sincerely T)

Ah, the time of year for serious reflection. All over the blog-sphere, there are these "Top Ten" party or linky-links. So in my efforts to blog more frequently, I shall attempt a few of these top tens over the next few days. Here are my favorite home projects from 2010, the ones that gave me the most satisfaction, taught me something new, or simply made my world a better place.

Last Winter

I had a lot of "internal" design work between January and March last year... it was very healthy, but it was an emotionally, physically and spiritually demanding season...so therefore, not much got done around the house. I did however add to our ever-expanding home library.

Ugh - this area actually looks even worse now.

I think it's in dire need of a do-over in 2011 for sure.

Last Spring

The work that God and I were doing together inspired a strong desire for order. Order in areas that were "dark" and scary in the home needed to be brought to the light.

Like our craft/activity closet. (1)

Thanks to a trip to IKEA and some elbow grease, it is no longer dark or scary.

We turned our attention to our "outdoor rooms" in the late spring.

As a family we did some demo on the eyesore of a brick oven (2) in the CENTER of the backyard. I have no idea WHY it was built there,

but it needed to go.

We cleaned up all the flower beds, walkways and the sunroom (3) got a makeover (for now, new paint on the floor and replacing the roof are in the plans for 2011)

I added a bistro table (4) onto our balcony for breakfasts

and late afternoon iced teas.

Last Summer

Our home took a backseat to all of our activities outside the home - camping, travelling, soccer, etc. We weren't home long enough each day to do more than eat, play and work in the veggie garden. Due to my summer hour switcharoo, at work, the kids’ clubhouse (5) got a face lift. We painted a faux rock design on the floor, added the wooden staging area and painted the walls with leaves and a sky scape. The nursery and preschooler rooms were re-organized as well.

The one indoor project that I did get to, thanks to a house-guests unexpected help, was uncovering my stairs (6) - they still have to be finished, but this still looks WAY better than the nasty hospital green carpet they were covered with.

Last Autumn

In preparing for the new school year, I decided that mom needed a work area too.

This is MOM CENTRAL (7) - yes it is in our kitchen, and yes it doesn't really go with the decor, but it goes with our life and a saner mom, so, I love it. I simply moved the desk that was not being used in our guest room (formerly where our border stayed), added the Accountable Kids plaques andcalendar that I made at the OEYC and voila.

In the late fall, our master bedroom (8) finally got a do-over. My love, for my birthday (in Feb) told me to re-do the bedroom, so took my time, gathered bargains and a plan and voila – I picked a shade of grey called “overcoat” – I found the bedframe and head/footboards on Kijiji, the bedding at HomeSense on clearance, the iron décor piece at Winners for $10; the lamps at Bouclair for $5 each on clearance, pulled pieces from other rooms and goodwill, rearranged the furniture – I found the yellow chair buried in our office, added the purple accents (the feather fronds are from Indonesia) and there you have it, a new room.

On the heels of the bedroom and just before the holidays our front entrance (9) got paintedfinally. (It had never been finished after we installed a door to the basement apartment… so the decor for 3 years includeddrywall/plaster splotches mismtached everything.)

O.

Just as the holiday season began, I took a couple hours and seriously purged and cleaned my china hutch (10) - what a difference!

I only kept clear glass and white pieces (that we actually use) - and tada!

What a year! After going through all my old posts and pictures, wow, a lot of work really did get done in 2010. I realized how inspired I have been by this online community, and I look forward to much more growth andinspiration in the New Year too!

Viva!!! (Greek) to yet another amazing year in 2011!