Happy New Year & The Best of 2015

Happy New Year, friends!  Did you make it to midnight?  That gets harder and harder for me, I won’t lie.  I love my sleep!

We always make a habit of taking stock around the blog at the beginning of a new year, just like we all do in our personal lives.  It’s a great opportunity to note what works and most importantly, what you–our readers–enjoy the most.

Here’s a brief recap of 2015.  First, I (Christy) moved with my family from Savannah to North Carolina.  {Our Savannah house is here and our NC house is here}.   It was a cruddy move with lots of damage {read about that here}, but we are finally settled and having so much fun making it home.

Amy and her family didn’t move this year (yay!) and she continued to work on making her house gorgeous with lots of projects.  One of my favorites–and definitely the most labor-intensive one–was updating her kitchen with paint (walls AND cabinets), a marble backsplash, and DIY built in open shelves and under-counter bookcases {see it all here}.

But none of those posts made our top ten for 2015, believe it or not!  Here they are–check them out; you might find something new to you!

 

 How to Paint Upholstery and Completely Transform a Chair 

This was our most-read post of last year, too, and second-most popular post of 2013 (the year I did the project), so clearly it continues to be a big hit because of Pinterest.  For those of you who are wondering how it’s held up over two years later, this is a recent shot in the reading nook in our master bedroom:

 

Cancer and Chemo Care Package Ideas

I was an oncology and hospice nurse for years, and I love that this post (compiled with the input of some of our readers who are cancer survivors) is still so popular.  I hope you’ll never need it, but pin it for later in case you need ideas of how to help a friend or family member who’s going through chemo.

 

How to Create Round Vinyl Monograms Using the Silhouette CAMEO

I adore my Silhouette CAMEO and use it constantly for gifts and crafts (and to create items for our Etsy shop).  This easy tutorial shows CAMEO users how to create the round vinyl monograms that are so popular right now, and also tells you where to find the very best gold vinyl.  I wrote a companion post on creating monograms using the Vines font; it’s {here} if you’re interested.

 

Small Laundry Room With Vintage Touches

This is one of those posts that’s popular due to the power of Pinterest and a single image.  Although this laundry room in our Savannah house is not the cutest one we’ve ever shared (see our other laundry rooms here), it’s been pinned and read a ton because of one image, that shows how I used a scrap of fabric to cover up the washing machine faucets and hoses. Go figure!

 

Painted Tile Backsplash in My Kitchen (A Year Later)

DIY’ers want to know if you can paint unsightly tile (you can) and how (we tell you) and then they want to know how it holds up over time (really well!).  The details are in this post.

 

Outside Entertaining Rack

Amy gave an old baker’s rack a coat of sassy green spray paint and repurposed it as an entertaining station–such a great way to serve drinks!

 

 How to Make That Boring Rental House (or Military Housing) Into a Home

I understand why this is a popular post; those of us who move frequently and live in rentals are always looking for creative ways to make our spaces look and feel like home without spending a ton of money.  If you’re a renter, check out Amy’s companion post {here} and be sure to read about the trick I use to find beautiful homes {here}.

Salted Caramel Martini Recipe

Do I even need to say more?  I didn’t think so.

Tutorial:  How to Hang an Antique or Vintage Window for Display
 

It’s not a particularly glamorous post (or as fun as the salted caramel martini recipe), but it’s definitely news you can use!

And last, but not least:

Tutorial:  How to Make a No-Sew DIY Window Valance

This was one of my favorite window treatments ever–perfect for rentals and SO inexpensive.  You can hang these up in minutes!

Happy New Year, everyone, and please know how thankful we are for our readers.  Sometimes I still shake my head at the fact that people actually care about what we write on this blog or do in our homes.  We’ve made some wonderful friends over the past five years–fellow bloggers and awesome readers both–and that’s the very best thing about this business!  Hang around in 2016; we’ve got lots of fun stuff planned!

Thanks for stopping by!

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