Adios 2014 - Howdy Ho, 2015!

Wow, it's been a heck of a year. I started a new job, said goodbye to a beloved pet, and...wait, what else did I do?

Oh yeah. I started this little spot on the web. :)

Because I'm a nerd, I have been keeping track of the most popular posts over the past year. Well, ladies and gents, in case you were curious and want to relive them in all of their glory, here they are:


No-Sew Kitchen Curtains - by a landslide! Who knew my frustration with ugly curtains coupled with my lack of sewing ability would lead so many peeps here?

Re-Upholstering a Chair - this was one ugly chair when I got it. Some fabric, scissors and a staple gun later, it's far more presentable.

Creating a Reclaimed Wood Shelf (aka - the West Elm Hack) - I have expensive taste, but am pretty dang frugal, which is a constant source of frustration. So, instead of just buying the West Elm shelf I wanted, I made one.

Addressing the elephant in the room: I know I've been MIA lately. Work and the holidays have really sucked up a lot of my time. Oh, and a little secret project I can't share any info on yet (no, I'm not pregnant - we're happy to be One and Done for the foreseeable future). I'm hoping I can share more details soon, so please keep your fingers and toes crossed that it works out.

I'm no good at keeping resolutions, so I'm not going to proudly proclaim any. Really, being better is an ongoing process that doesn't need the start of a new year to kickstart. That's my excuse philosophy and I'm sticking to it.

More kitchen prettiness.

I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't stand another minute staring at the sad-looking, stained, and torn blue flowery kitchen curtains that looked like they were salvaged from an old lady's estate sale.

I've been searching for the perfect kitchen curtains for awhile now, and up until very recently it's been a fairly impossible task. This was mainly due to the size we needed, which apparently doesn't exist. Okay, I lied - it does exist, but basically everything we found in stores and online looked like it was cut from the same Old Lady Country Shag collection as our current ones.

One recent Saturday I took one look at them and knew their time was up. I grabbed the fam, hightailed it to Hobby Lobby and bought some cute fabric. Because I'm really not great at sewing, I cheated and got iron-on adhesive and clip-on rings.

I don't have any before shots - just take my word for it that you're not missing much.

Here's the after (you may have seen a sneak-peak of them in last week's post):

Here are the project details at-a-glance:

• Total cost: $30
• Time: 1.5 hours to measure and cut material, as well as iron the hem
• Other deets: I used a 1-inch hem all around, and on the bottom I did a 4-inch hem. The iron-on adhesive worked really well - just make sure you use the "steam" setting with a damp washcloth on top so it gets hot enough to set.

Not too shabby, eh? I still can't stop looking at them - they really brighten up the joint. :)