The Best And Worst Of 2012

I wasn’t going to do this post this year.  Truth.  I just going to slink away from 2012 and ring in 2013 without giving even a tip of my trendy fedora to the year in passing.  Bah humbug!  Then I started reading last year’s “Best And Worst of 2011” post and got super stoked about everything we’ve accomplished (and messed up) this past year and was inspired to write this post again.  So without further ado, I bring you The Best And Worst Of 2012 here at Angie’s Roost.

Best Day Ever:  Our wedding day.  No brainer right?  Or as we say here in Maine (and on those annoying Quality Jewelers commercials) a “no brain-ah”.  But yes, Colby and I bit the bullet and after four years of dating got hitched.  But this made me realize I still owe you all a big whopping wedding post to recap everything.

Best Way To Commemorate The Best Day Ever:  The wedding art gallery that we put together for our bedroom.  It’s full of mementos like our wedding invitations, favorite photos from the big day, and even our wedding date made from repurposed table numbers.

Worst Mess We’ve Ever Made:  Thanks to the gut job we performed on our master and guest bedrooms.  Thank goodness that’s over!  Old horsehair plaster and lath removal is dirty…dusty…and just plain ol’ messy.  We have our master bedroom pseudo done but haven’t really started reassembling the guest bedroom.  We’ve only gotten as far as sheet rocking it.

Best Use Of Blue:  The ombre staircase baluster project, which is still my favorite project to date.  And the blue shades have turned out to be a jumping off point for the color scheme of our house.

Best Use Of $1,300:  Purchasing the new energy efficient washer and dryer set.  They were certainly a splurge for us but we figured they would pay for themselves in energy cost savings (and the savings from not having to replace all the sheets our old washer ate).  They’re already saving us between $50 and $100 per month in water and electricity.

Worst Floor Finishing Experience:  The peeling hall floor which we just recently fixed back here.  Apparently you need to wait for the stain to DRY before you apply the POLY.  Lesson learned.

Best Use Of Chevron:  The blue chevron Flor Tile rug we added to our office space in the parlor.  I love me a good chevron…especially a blue chevron.  And the rug looks mah-velous darling in the parlor.  Now if only I can get our dog to stop eating meaty bones on it and staining it.  I think he does it on purpose.

Best Scrap Wood Art Project That Involved A Deer Head:  The deer head silhouette art.  It took a whopping fifteen minutes…tops…to complete and it’s adorable and free (we used scrap wood to make it and leftover floor paint to paint it).  Huzzah!

The Worst Hammocking Moment:  The day the hammock died.  But it was time, it was old, it had seen better days, and it had been overused.

Best “We Finally Finished It” Moment:  After letting this project drag out…way…too…long…finally staining the DIY wine rack.  It was our first use of the gray stain in the house which has been repeated in a few other locations since.

Best Use Of Index Cards To Help Me Remember Things:  And no…I’m not talking about flash cards.  Although those did get me through my undergraduate years…not so much in grad school.  I’m talking about the one liner a day journal I started using index cards.  Essentially…I write down the date, then the year, then one thing that happened that day (it can be a big event like a wedding or a small thing like taking the dog for a run).  I can’t wait until I’m five or six years into this daily task and can look back and see all the old journal posts.

Worst DIY Cleaning Treatment:  Using vinegar to clean my old paint riddled brushes.  Now my paint brushes just smell like vinegar.  I gave it the old college try, but it just didn’t work for my brushes.  Maybe there was just too much paint on them.  Just one more project to add to the good ol’ fail list.

Best Sense Of Well Roundedness:  The 30 Before 30 Challenge where I charged myself to accomplish 30 things I’ve been wanting to do before my 30th birthday.

Worst Follow Through:  Accomplishing things on the 30 Before 30 list.  After the most recent task was completed (making our own Christmas cards), I’ve only completed 7 things out of 30…in six months…with only seven more months to go.  Uh-oh.  Crunch time.  My worried face is officially on.

Best Use Of A “Came With The House” Corner China Cabinet:  Putting it on casters to create and secret closet door and then painting it.  It’s one of the coolest things we’ve done to date.

Worst Follow Through:  Finishing the refinishing of my $5 thrift store chair find.  It’s about half unassembled out on the front porch.  And I have precisely zero point zero motivation to finish it.  The chair has about a gazillion and a half (technical reupholstering figure there) staples in it that are rusted and break instead of coming out.  I’ll finish the chair eventually, it just needs a timeout for bad behavior for the next six to eight months.  The chair was real bad apparently.

Best Risque Moment:  Otherwise known as making my momma proud…putting my DIY wedding undies out there on the blogosphere.  Enough said.  Sorry mom!

Best Spoof On A Blog Turned TV Show:  The $#*! My Husband Says series that I started here.  I seriously can’t believe some of the things that come out of my husband’s mouth (most of which are too non PG to share).  So I decided to chronicle them.  And share my favorite spit-laugh moments with you all.  Here’s my favorite:

Best Use Of Rope:  Roping a lamp shade to use as a pendant in our hallway.  I’m addicted to rope.  And jute and twine and other natural and natural-like fibers.  So much addicted that I even started a rope themed Pinterest board.  Sheesh!  I loved this roping the lampshade project and I can’t wait to integrate rope into our decor more often.  Look for a roping of the headboard project coming to you soon-ish.  Emphasis on “ish”.

Best Yard Sale Find:  A Pottery Barn like buffet.  It’s actually an old hardware store display shelf/table that was rescued from a store in August, Maine.  It set us back $50 but yielded TONS of storage for our lack of storage kitchen.

Worst Enemy A Gardner Could Have:  The corn squirrel.  Who DESTROYED our garden one corn stalk at a time.  Evil little squirrel.  Next year…we will have words.

Best (And Pretty Much Only) Outdoor Project:  The four raised beds we built for our ever expanding vegetable garden.  Sadly, towards the end of May, wedding panic set in and the amount of time we spent working out in the yard diminished.  This summer will be different.  Gardening is about to be my middle name.  I Angie…do solemnly swear…to get my garden on this year.

And I’m going to leave our recap right there.  There are A TON of other projects that we completed this year.  These are just a few of our favorites.  But if you’re jonesing for more, check out our Monthly Roundups for month by month recaps of all our projects.  You can check out 12 months of projects and posts in just 12 short posts.

Pssst…And just to keep it real and keep you all in the loop, I’m trying to cut back on projects/blogging just a smidge.  I’ve got a problem…I’ll paint, DIY and blog all weekend if I let myself but I’m aiming for more balance in life (including more gym time and Zumba).  But I’m committing to a regular, every other day schedule with a few extra posts thrown in there every once in awhile to keep you on your toes.

Pssst…Peace out 2012!  See you in 2013!