Best of 2016

2016 was quite the year!  Everyone it seems is bashing how much 2016 was pretty lame….but political happenings aside, 2016 was not my least favorite year.  I mean…I hardly peed myself from sneezing….I finally managed to squeeze into my pre-maternity jeans…and there wasn’t a single lima bean that found its way into my mouth.  #allidoiswin  Seriously though…I’m a silver linings kinda girl and 2016 seemed like a pretty amazing year in my mind.  My sister and my brother both welcomed new babies, we got to work on one of my best friend’s houses to ready it for an upcoming adoption, I’m still completely head over heels for the world’s greatest guy who has one of the most attractive beards ever and my brother in law got married so I got a huge new bunch of family members that are pretty amazing.  If 2016 was a show called Oprah, I heard “everybody gets a blessing!” yelled from the rooftops.

And that is exactly what this post is all about….the best of 2016.  A recap post all about the best parts of the past 12 months in one place.  We had some major highlights both with the blog and with personal life, with transformations and personal accomplishments.  And we want to celebrate those with you guys because you do feel like friends and family to us.  2016 was no different than years past in a lot of ways – we still read every single word, comment and emoji on this blog and on our social media.  We still take 100% of the photos and I still write 100% of the content.  We rarely hire anything out because we truly are passionate about DIY.  We try to share with you guys the stuff that makes up our lives….we live, breath and eat DIY, photography, style, and family events…..oh and food….because you know, it tastes good 🙂  The topics on this blog are what makes our world go round and we are so thankful that you guys dig it.

So I thought it would be fun to break up this post into some fun recaps.  I went through every single post I wrote in 2016 and it was a walk down memory lane.  I broke it into some of my favorite categories – I’m sure that some of you may have missed these amazing projects, tips and renovations….so feel free to peruse all the past posts and take notes.  I love sharing what I have learned and I would LOVE to see new comments pop up on old posts.  The first category up is 2016’s transformations!

 

BEST TRANSFORMATIONS

These reveals are some of our favorite things and the thing that we live for!  We had a personal goal of NINE transformations this past year and we missed it by 1 – the Pedraza kitchen….boo!  hiss!  That will be coming at you soon!  Here is what we did manage to tackle or share in 2016…

   

• Pedraza Laundry Room
• Our Patio Clean Up Makeover
• Laundry Room Reveal
• Garage & Gym Reveal

   

• My Brother’s Foyer Makeover
• Basement Tour
• Our Basement Kitchen Reveal
• Curb Appeal Makeover

 

2016’s FURNITURE BUILDS

Twenty sixteen was a year full of new builds for us.  With the garage workshop, we were able to tackle some of our biggest furniture builds with ease!  It literally felt like an HGTV show or something…where you are able to make over a whole house in 12 hours.  #bliss  Our goal for the year was to build at least 12 pieces and we definitely accomplished that even though we did not blog about them all yet!  In 2017 we have big plans for a bunch more DIY furniture….just gotta stay tuned!

   

• X-Based console table
• Kids Lemonade stand
• Laundry room shelving
• Geometric console unit

   

• Faux Card Catalog Cabinet
• Industrial Standing Fan
• Kids Art Table
• Concrete outdoor side table

 

• DIY Cornhole
• Rustic shelving unit – COMING SOON!

 

PHOTOGRAPHY POSTS

Photography is one of my passions and I always say that if you want to give someone a gift….take a good photo of them 🙂  Nothing speaks to me like a good picture.  It truly is a hobby that I will do as long as I have eyes….which hopefully is a very long time.  I still have so much to learn and I would love to share more of this topic in the future.  Here are eight of the photography-related or inspired posts of 2016.

  

• Camera info & Tips
• My sister-in-laws maternity photos
• My boys in the woods
• 10-18mm lens review

 

• DIYing your newborn photos
• Levi Cruise newborn photo shoot
• Strawberry field photos

 

TRAVEL & TRIPS

2016 felt full of trips and it really did leave us wanting more!  We realize that as our kids get older, they get more involved and opportunities to travel more seem to become few.  Through making a list of places we wanted to go and through blog related trips – we actually got to hit up some REALLY amazing places this past year!

• Fixer Upper’s Magnolia Market
• Ft Worth Water Gardens
• Ft Worth Stockyards
• Fort Worth Wedding

 

• Hotel Pools
• Jekyll Island
• Driftwood Beach
• Yurt Camping – with VIDEO!

 

• Chicago Bean
• Downtown Chicago walking tour
• Pennsylvania with grandparents
• Disney World – COMING SOON!

 

PERSONAL POSTS

I love personal posts and I know many of you come here for nothing else.  You want to follow along our family and see these boys grow and celebrate life along with Jeremy and me!  We love sharing little bits of our life with you and we truly feel blessed to get to do our days with these kids and with you.  Here are some of the highlights we shared!

• Max’s first birthday party
• Visiting the pumpkin patch
• Going to the fair
• Nana Camp

• Max’s first haircut
• Fourth of July with Family
• Random family stuff
• Will graduates kindergarten

 

• Visiting a local nature center
• LJ turns 2
• Easter with the Bowers
• My sister in laws baby shower

 

SPONSORED POSTS & BRAND OPPORTUNITIES

Blogging is the weirdest business ever and I never imagined that my little hobby would turn into something I would consider a job.  But it is.  And I am ridiculously humbled by the fact that so many of you come back every day to check in with us.  You literally make this thing run.  Behind the scenes, I am just a mom who struggles with the mountains of laundry on the floor, the daily trials of four little kiddos and really enjoys taking too many photos and building things with my hands.  I like to feel human once in a while so I will do my hair on occasion and get out of the house to visit with friends…but really, I am probably like 99% of you all in some way or another.  I tend to be a very generic human 🙂  That being said – the fact that this little site enables me to do what I love makes me enormously grateful.  I could never express how truly honored I am to be your daily read.  And I can’t tell you how proud it makes me that I get to work with THE BEST brands out there.  Thank you for supporting me and supporting the brands that we partnered with in 2016.  Here are some of my very favorite posts made possible by brand relationships…

   

• Anthro inspired vase in partnership with Bouqs
• Spa Day ideas in partnership with Honest
• Intro to Beachmate bags
• Visiting the Art Museum with Bitsy Brainfood

 

• Our garage floor makeover with RockSolid
• Updating our garage door opener with Ryobi
• Taking up Birding with Ace
• Creating a toddler friendly home with Crate & Barrel

    

• Our first time speaking at a conference with Rust-Oleum
• Putting the vacuum to the mess test with Oreck
• Chicken wire picture holder with Canon
• Installing upper cabinets with RTA Cabinets

  

• Our new christmas tree with Tree Classics
• How to tile a stacked stone fireplace with Floor & Decor
• Decorating for fall with Pier 1
• Date night with Toyota Camry

 

This post doesn’t even touch on the projects that we made this year!  There were 55 of my favorite project posts that I bookmarked to share with you from 2016 and they are all fun!  Maybe that is a post for another day 🙂  Also – I think it would be fun to do a stats post.  Like how many posts I did for 2016 and how many were table makeovers (hint hint – random fact but there were four table makeovers in 2016…not counting the new ones I built!) or a post all about what happens behind the scenes of a sponsored post (it’s way more than you think!) or a post all with goals for 2017.  That would be fun, right?!

But for now – I’d love to just say thank you.  And thank you.  And thanks.  And I appreciate you.  And I hope that we can all collectively raise our glass to 2017 and say “Bring it!” 🙂  Love you guys.  Hope this new year is everything you always hoped it would be!