Monthly Roundups
January Superlatives
January was one of those you-sneeze-and-you’ll-miss-it months for us. It just flew by! Is it really already February? Crazyville. So before our behind-the-scenes-book-stuff threatens to completely erase our memory of this month, we like to take a moment to look back on all that we’ve done at a glance (and gather all the links in one handy place for ya). And of course we tossed in some never-before-seen stuff for kicks. This month we were all over the place as usual, but focused a lot of our time on the kitchen along with making a mini kitchen for Clara and tackling some random stuff that we’ve been hoarding in the playroom in what we affectionately like to call our “Dude, Get On That Already” Challenge. So let’s take a walk down memory lane, with yearbook-esque superlatives, shall we?
Future Top Chef: Clara, considering the amount of time she spends using the play kitchen we made for her for Christmas. Although the thing she “cooks” most is a bunch of toy animals (they also get lots of fake baths in the sink).
Most Gifted: Us, at least when it comes to recapping all of our Christmas gifts – like earrings, art, art supplies, buttons and this cheeky t-shirt.
Most Secretive: All of the lady-bloggers (including Sherry) who participated in a Secret Santa gift exchange last month. January meant they could finally reveal their identities and the deets behind the gifts.
Most Likely To Be In The Dark: Clara, thanks to her new blackout curtains. They’re still not officially sewed, but that doesn’t keep us from getting some rock star naps lately! Thank goodness. It’s like she knows we’re trying to knock out five secret book shots in a two hour period so she gives us an extra half hour just to be sweet.
Most Artistic: The wall in our living room, which got a small little art switcheroo (color mats became more muted linen ones). Oh and we shared a behind-the-scenes glimpse into our ottoman. Our over-sharing spirit knows no bounds, apparently.
Class Stud: This stool that we made over for a feature in a recent issue of Do It Yourself magazine (after we gave it a little paint and fabric update with some nail heads).
Most Deranged Re-Arranged: Clara’s room, which is on its third layout in one year. I guess that’s what you get when you try to configure furniture meant for a smaller differently-shaped room into a new space.
Best Couple: The new sheer curtain panels that joined the existing printed panels (well, half panels) in our living room to beef up their visual presence a bit.
Book Worm: Our family yearbooks! Our big photobook featuring all of the highlights from 2011 arrived in January (and Clara has already learned to request “look at pictures” to go through it together – awwww).
Most Faux-Real: The antlers we sprayed white and hung atop Sherry’s noggin in the kitchen as our first “Dude, Get On That Already” project where we have vowed to use things or lose them donate/craigslist them.
Best Tour Guide: Burger, for showing you around his “room” in our post about hanging a new light fixture in our master closet.
Least Upright: Me, while snagging a few new closet chandelier pics while Burger supervised.
Most Dramatic: The transformation of our cabinets, having (finally) gotten their paint makeover.
Most Tedious: Installing our penny tile in the kitchen, which required a fair bit of time and concentration – so much so that the process spanned three whole posts. Including this one (where we covered how we figured out how to cut the penny tile)…
… this one all about how we planned and executed our first (small) wall of tile…
… and this one about finishing up the whole thing (including a video of the thinsetting process). Fortunately it was all totally worth it in the end. We still find ourselves petting it every now and then.
Most Annoying: Me, for getting a Tears for Fears song stuck in lots of your heads thanks to my post entitled “Grout, Grout, Let It All Out.” Uh oh, did I just do it again?
Most Swiss Cheese-esque: The ceiling in our kitchen, which was rocking quite a few holes following a visit from the electrician.
Most Well-Rounded: Our new globe pendant lights over the peninsula in the kitchen.
Little Miss Perfect Award: Definitely not Sherry, who owned up to the fact that life isn’t always rainbows and unicorns at Chez Petersik in her “The Real $her-dog” post. But that’s why we love her.
Mr. Mom: me (I’m feeling better about accepting this title thanks to lots of encouraging comments on my “The Real J-Boom” post where I talked about my insecurity about being a work-at-home-dad). Aw, shucks.
Cheapest: Our Jenn-Air range hood found on Craigslist for $60 (after we talked them down from 65). I’d say it’s our best deal of the year, but it doesn’t mean much considering we’re just one month in. It’s like seeing a movie preview these days that says “Critics are calling it the best film of the year.”
Most Supported: The aforementioned vent hood, which you saw us hang earlier this week (and a bit later – though technically in February – you saw it get all covered up too).
Most Commented: Our post about how we handle less-than-kind feedback (wowsa, it wracked up over 1000 comments in one weekend). Must have been this picture…
Most Chaotic: Our house, as the perfect storm of kitchen renovations and book photo shoots converge in one typhoon of craziness. Hey, on the bright side – one week of three is officially complete! And we have over 35 projects fully shot (before, progress, and afters) and in the can. Go team!
Biggest Chicken: Jarvis, the oversized ceramic rooster that we amped up with some aubergine spray paint.
Most Dated: Our page o’ monthly round ups that we finally organized (so you can see virtually all our 2011 projects in 12 posts). Guess we gotta go add this guy now…
What did you guys squeak out in the first month of 2012? Have you ever made a list of accomplishments to look back on? Feel free to use the comment section of this post to list what you’ve done (or just toss out a few highlights). It’s so nice to take a break from adding things to the to-do list for a second, just to look back and appreciate the things you can mark “done!”
December Superlatives
Holy cow, is it really going to be 2012 on Sunday? December flew by. So before it scoots away for good, we like to take a moment to look back on all that we’ve done at a glance (and gather all the links in one handy place for ya). And of course we tossed in some never-before-seen stuff for kicks. This month we were all over the place as usual, but focused a lot of our time on the kitchen along with tackling a few other projects in rooms like the living room and the hallway while shoving a decent portion of holiday fun in there too. So let’s take a walk down memory lane, with yearbook-esque superlatives, shall we?
Most Improved: The three switcheroos in our living room that made a big difference (a larger rug, square ottoman, and more refined office chair).
Most Memorable: Looking back at moving day 2010 in celebration of our one year anniversary of living in this house. Oh how far we’ve come… and oh how far we still have to go.
Most Artistic: Clara, after we repurposed our old desk into a toddler-sized drawing table for her.
Most Artistic (Runner-Up): Sherry’s Dad, who sketched this owl back in the 1970′s and sent it to us so it could be framed in our hallway.
Least Artistic: Us, since doing some minor paint touch-ups in the kitchen before the counters arrived required little artistic talent. At least there was a paint brush involved.
Craftiest: The vendors at the Richmond Handmade Holiday event that we hit up (which explains why we didn’t leave empty handed).
Most Advent-urous: Our homemade advent calendar that turned an Ikea scarf hanger into an ornament-a-day countdown to Christmas.
Cheeriest: The ribbon covered stars of our 2011 Christmas card. Burger should also win the award for “Best Tongue”… if there were such an award.
Merriest (Tall Edition): Our toddler-friendly Christmas tree that’s decked out in paint swatches, ribbon, and other unbreakables (see updated photos of it here as the added advent ornaments filled things in each day).
Merriest (Short Edition): Our lil’ table-top tree that brought some sparkle into the living room, loaded up with the Pinterest Challenge ornaments that we made in November.
Brightest: Our first go at exterior holiday decorating. Hello candy cane lights, Moravian stars, big glowing lanterns, and some all-red (you know, as opposed to just red-nosed) reindeer.
Brightest (Runner-Up): The twenty-something tweaks to our hallway frame wall to bring a bit of the holiday cheer to this tiny space.
Brightest (Second Runner-Up): Our new countertops! Bright white Corian landed in Casa Petersik before we knew it. Though “landing” involved a few crazy contraptions, including this device that eliminated seams.
Most Free Spirited: Okay, it’s not really spirited – but this microwave was basically free (we bought it for $84 after selling our kitchen’s original over-the-cooktop one for $90). And working with our existing cabinets (like repurposing this one to house it) allowed for splurges in other areas – like new counters, backsplash tile, a giant wall opening, and cork floors.
Diciest: Cutting up a few leftover cabinet doors so they’d fit a few rebuilt or secondhand cabinets that we added to tweak the layout. It was a bit touch and go there for a moment, but after some pro pocket holes and some heavy duty screws, they turned out totally solid. The jury’s still out on the final result (we don’t want to jinx ourselves, so we’re waiting until all the paint is cured before saying they’re seamless).
Best Backside: Our new industrial-inspired stools for the peninsula scored for $33 a piece at a school supply site (they’re actually meant for a science lab). Geek is the new black.
Most Tedious: Little pre-painting projects in the kitchen, like recreating the windowsill, adding some toekick and trim, cleaning the sunroom, and finally picking a cabinet paint color.
Sandiest (TIE): John and the kitchen, after going on a putty-sanding-deglossing spree in preparation for priming and painting.
Biggest Tool: Our tool-tastic list of gift ideas for the DIYer in your life. Maybe it’ll help you spend some holiday cash or those lingering gift cards.
Most Date-d: Our homemade 2012 calendar (you can still download a free template of it if you want to customize a version for your family).
Most Resolute: Tossing a few 2012 resolutions out there into the world, in the hope that it’ll light a fire under us to get ‘em done!
Most Transformative: Priming the cabinet doors and frames. Sing it with me: it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas a new kitchen…
Cutest Hat: Clara, who after opening this leopard print cap from my godmother on Christmas morning, refused to take it off for the rest of the day. Once we get around to posting Christmas photos on Young House Life, you’ll be seeing a lot of it. In the meantime you can check out Clara’s fun with letters and numbers here.
So there’s our last month of 2011 at a glance. Can you believe it’s about to be ’12? What did you guys eke out in December? Have you ever made a list of accomplishments to look back on? Feel free to use the comment section of this post to list what you’ve done (or just toss out a few highlights). It’s so nice to take a break from adding things to the ol’ to-do list for a second, just to look in the rear view mirror and appreciate the crossed-off tasks. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERY LAST ONE OF YA! We love you. Really. We do.
Psst- You can check out July’s superlatives here, August’s here, September’s here, October’s here, and November’s here.
November Superlatives
So yeah… it’s suddenly December? Guess that means it’s time to take a moment to look back on all that we’ve done in the past month at a glance (and gather all the links in one handy place for ya). And of course we tossed in some never-before-seen stuff to keep things spicy. This month we were all over the place as usual, from doing some exterior, nursery, office, ornament, and place-setting stuff to a bunch of kitchen things. So let’s take a walk down memory lane, with yearbook-esque superlatives (you know, just for giggles).
Oddest Couple: Little ol’ Sherry and this tall built-in that we made to give our fridge a more finished look in the new kitchen. It’ll look even more finish once we get around to adding doors and painting it…
Cutest Couple: Me and the giant 7 (actually an L from a Dollar Tree sign) that a reader picked up for us in Maryland after we lamented leaving it behind. Best $25 we ever spent. Thanks again Lesley!
Most Shocking: The fact that our grass looked this green (and leaf free) just one month ago when we did a little mum-ification to our mailbox area. Let’s just say everything is looking a lot more “wintery” (aka: faded and brown) these days.
Handiest: The newest member of Sherry’s ceramic animal collection (Henrietta is rocking eight hands, which makes her the envy of all DIYers).
Most Pin-able: The results of our Pinterest Challenge, Fall Edition. We’re not talking about the 38 DIY ornaments that we made, but rather the awesome 800+ projects that folks linked to at the bottom of the post. Wow.
Easiest: Painting a few test swatches on our front porch… and then not doing anything else about them all month (we fear that it’s now getting too cold at night to paint until spring). Oops. At least we picked a color.
Strangest: Pictures from posts like this one about choosing a contractor. It’s so weird to see the opening between the kitchen and the dining room as just an idea outlined in green painters tape. Now that it’s done, we can hardly remember the room without it.
Creepiest: My Dexter impersonation whilst (yep, I just whilst-ed y’all) prepping our house for wall demo.
Awesomest (it’s a word, okay): This.
More Awesomest: This.
Less Than Awesome: This little hiccup in drywalling the doorway. Don’t worry, it worked out okay in the end.
Okay, Now We’re Back On The Awesome Train: Installing trim around the doorway so it really started to look finished.
Most Likely To Die Happy: Me, since I accomplished a fair amount on my high school “Things to Do Before I’m 30″ list before turning 30 last month. You know… important things like living to see a Real World: Washington DC.
Most Likely To Say “Thanks”: Anyone who printed & shared our free Thanksgiving card download, which included one to fill out yourself and one to pass along blank (so the recipient could pay it forward).
Most Likely To Procrastinate: Our last minute table setting ideas for Thanksgiving… just in time for us to pack up and head to New Jersey for Turkey Day.
Most Mischievous: Burger, aka our resident baguette robber (as seen in our lil Thanksgiving greeting).
Most Likely To Be Misread… With Disgusting Results: Our post title “We’re Now Officially Sinkless” which was apparently seen as “We’re Now Officially Skinless” by many. Shudder. Let’s hope that never gets blogged about (or happens). Ever.
“It’s The Little Things” Award: Small touches to the kitchen, like filling some gaps next to the stove and putting a panel on the back of the peninsula, so that our counters could be accurately templated.
Least Accurate: Clara, at least when it comes to measuring for counters. Thank goodness the real professional showed up from the fabrication company to make sure our counters will fit.
Most Musical: Our ceramic pig speaker from West Elm (just one of the random things that we covered in a roundup of four little finds).
The “Here We Go Again” Award: Just when things were starting to get put back together in the kitchen, they came back apart as we removed our upper cabinets in preparation for our new counters (which are hopefully arriving sometime next week!).
Class Crybaby: This (sarcastic) tear-jerker of a video bidding farewell to the tile we had to demo, along with the plywood walls behind it.
Most Awkward People In A Checkout Line: Us, while buying a giant piece of throwback wood paneling. Let’s just say people looked at us as if we were committing some sort of decorating sin. But we had to install that new wood paneling to match some missing pieces where our tile and cabinets used to be (and can’t wait to paint it to match the rest of the room). Whatever it takes to inch closer to a finished kitchen…
Most Demonstrative: Burger and his superb posing skills in this play-by-play of how our book deal came to be and the progress that we’ve made on it so far.
The Daddy’s Girl Award: Doesn’t go to Clara, I guess. This post about some updates to our nursery frame collage turned into an overwhelming consensus that Clara looks like Sherry (which is funny because both of our families are on The John Train). It’s music to my ears since I love the idea of a mini Sherry. And I don’t think I’d make the prettiest lady…
The Momma’s Girl Award: Continuing the theme of being a clone of Sherry, Clara LOVES pickles (which I detest). In fact, on a recent dinner out she devoured an ENTIRE PICKLE. Like, not just a spear – a whole, oblong oversized uncut pickle. Sherry was seriously impressed. And I (predictably) was disgusted.
Woo-wee, so that’s what November looked like around here? What about in your neck of the woods. Did you guys accomplish any major projects or have an especially awesome holiday? We’re hoping to enjoy more of both in December. Happy (almost) holidays everyone!
Psst- You can check out July’s superlatives here, August’s here, September’s here, and October’s right here.
October Superlatives
It’s that time again! When we take a moment to look back on all that we’ve done in the past month at a glance (and gather all the links in one handy place for ya). And of course we tossed in some never-before-seen stuff to spice things up. This month we were all over the place as usual, from doing a bunch of kitchen things to dipping into a few office projects, some landscaping tasks, and even a few Halloween crafts. So let’s take a walk down memory lane, with yearbook-esque superlatives (you know, just for kicks).
Most Destructive: Demoing out our fridge cabinet, which officially kicked off to the kitchen makeover madness.
Best Timing: Our long-awaited appliance purchases, which allowed us to save nearly 1,400 big ones.
Best Moves: Swapping the location of our fridge and pantry by moving them to opposite sides of the kitchen to improve the flow (look how intense Sherry is when she moves big things).
Best Removes: Taking out our wall oven, its cabinet, some counters, and our cooktop to make way for our new appliances.
Thriftiest: Fun secondhand finds from our road trip to Brevard, NC for my cousin’s wedding.
Cutest Couple: Clara and her BFF Gee (she named him herself) all packed and ready to go on our little weekend road trip. Sidenote: Good thing the cabinets are keeping an eye on them.
Cutest Couple (Runner Up): A tie between Sherry & Katie’s very giggly performance and me & Jeremy’s Sprite-tastic cameo in this Q&A video from the Bower’s visit to Richmond.
Worst Looking: Our kitchen in the midst of some electrical work so that our new appliances had a place to plug in.
Most Killer: Stenciling the walls of our office, which took Sherry three 4.5 hour installments to finish. A killer process, but we think it’s a killer result.
Most Likely To Include Ceramic Animals: The “Curator’s Collection” that we had the honor of creating over on Joss & Main (it’s completely normal to get hyper about dog lamps and map art, right?).
Cheekiest: Our office chairs, which got a few coats of green paint and bold new upholstery.
“Gone To the Dark Side” Award: The bottom half of our office walls, which look a lot more grounded now that we painted them a darker grey color.
Least Likely To Take Themselves Too Seriously: The personal, bright, and sentimental art solutions that we made for our office, which provide a nice visual break from the daily grind (and only set us back $13).
Sloppiest: Clara’s finger-painting skillz on our psychedelic kid-friendly Halloween pumpkins.
Spookiest: Our mildly creepy Halloween decorations, including bloody candles, white wooden snakes, and green apples and gourds.
Most Hair Raising: The spider that tried to thwart our quickie mum upgrade to our front porch. I’ll spare you guys the close up pic of our girl “Charlotte” again.
Most Open: The view of our front yard, now that our bush fence is gone.
Most Open (Runner Up): Outlining a few of our kitchen decisions (and indecisions) including the addition of some open shelving.
Most Grounded: The new flooring that we’ve chosen for our kitchen – some dark cork purchased on sale at Lumber Liquidators.
Most Well Rounded: The penny tile that we chose for our new kitchen backsplash (so glad Clara approves).
“The White Stuff” Award: Our decision to forgo granite and use white Corian counters in our kitchen.
Deal of the Month: Saving over $300 on cabinets by getting them at the ReStore instead of the home improvement store.
Most Likely To Catch Flies: KB & SP as they announced the return of the Pinterest Challenge, open mouths and all.
So there’s our October at a glance. Can you believe it’s already November? What did you guys knock out last month? Have you ever made a list of accomplishments to look back on? If not, feel free to use the comments of this post to break down what you’ve done. It’s so nice to take a break from adding things to The List while appreciating what we’ve completed. Just for a second. Then it’s back to the kitchen. By this time next week there should be a giant 8′ opening into the dining room. Raise your hand open your mouth if you’re excited.
Psst- You can check out July’s superlatives here, August’s here, and September’s here.
Pssst- We announced this week’s giveaway winners. Click here to see if you’re one of them.
September Superlatives
It’s that time again! When we take a moment to look back on all that we’ve done in the past month at a glance (and gather all the links in one handy place for ya). And of course we tossed in some never-before-seen stuff, just because we’re over-sharers. This month felt pretty scattered since we did everything from finding secondhand night stands and starting to stencil some walls to building a 13 foot desk, altering a light fixture, framing out a mirror, making free art, and beyond. So let’s take a walk down memory lane, with yearbook-esque superlatives. Why? Because that’s our idea of a good time.
Most Pro-Banquette: Starting off the month with a half-baked idea to add a kitchen banquette.
Most Pro-Banquette (Runner-Up): The continued discussion on the topic in this follow-up post, which included a reader submitted rendering (where I looked a little bit like a receptionist).
Least Pro-Banquette: Ending the month with the exciting revelation that we’re over the banquette idea and happy to our true love: a peninsula.
Weirdest Giant Metal Chicken: This girl (aka Beyoncé) that we spotted on our way to Delaware (if you don’t know how she got her name, you must read this (warning: there’s profanity, but it might be the funniest thing on the interweb).
Best Deal: Our $11 yard sale night stands, which we added to our bedroom (along with a faux gold banding treatment on our bedposts).
Least Appetizing: Our empty fridge after Hurricane Irene, which we refilled with a coupon-tastic trip to the grocery store. (Update on that: we put in a $250 “spoiled food claim” with our electric company, who actually accepts those – so we don’t have to worry about insurance premiums going up or meeting a deductible at all – hooray!)
Most Improved: Our $1 (each) orange secondhand cabinets became slightly-taller, white office built-ins thanks to some wood and paint.
Most Tall, Long, Dark & Handsome: The 13-foot wood tabletop made for our built-in desk out of framing lumber and dark stain (for just 27 beans).
Most Inebriated: The walls in our office, after getting their Moonshine on (see what I did there? Moonshine is the name of the paint color, but also a reference to alcohol…).
The Josh Groban “You Raise Me Up” Award: Our office light fixture, which got hung higher (no more head bumps for me), sprayed indigo, and covered with a discounted drum shade.
Most Grounded: The trim that we added to the bottoms of our desk to give it a more built-in look.
Most Secretive: These never before seen parts of our house that we hadn’t highlighted before now, like our spaceship-like sunroom roof line:
The “You’ll Be Missed… But Not Much” Award: The tree growing on our house that we finally removed (to avoid any risk of foundation damage), along with trimming some overgrown shrubs nearby.
Most Persistent: Not giving up on this bathroom mirror framing project (even after a false start with too-small trim and, oh yeah, the whole thing crashing down after the first attempt).
Most Photogenic: Our television. Yes, we have a weird habit of taking pictures of the TV to document decor inspiration.
Easiest: Making a fast & free food coloring print for the hallway frame gallery.
Easiest (Runner Up): Sherry’s simple faux cross-stitch that she broke out to make a personalized anniversary gift for her brother and his wife.
Most Likely To Result In Claw-Hands: Stenciling the walls of the office, which isn’t exactly a quick project – but should be well worth it in the end (we hope to share final pics on Monday).
Best Sentence Ever Uttered By A Sixteen Month Old: “Iss my hoo hat.” Which was said by Clara after insisting that we help her put on a jacket and a crocheted hat (that looks like an owl) over her pajamas. Such a snappy dresser.
Most Three Dimensional: My take on the pros & cons of three different 3D interior design tools.
Most Intense: All of the Blogiversary posts last week…
… so if you missed any of those – here’s a quick recap of what was covered:
- An hour-by-hour look at a day in the life of us Petersiks
- Pie charts illustrating topics like how we spend our time & how we make money
- A breakdown of interesting (and weird) numerical stats about YHL
- A video response to various personal questions you asked us on Facebook
- A chance to talk about yourselves by answering our reader poll
- Setting goals for year 5, while evaluating how we did on year four’s
- Basic tips and advice on the coding side of blogging
- A play-by-play recap about how a post goes from concept to completion
- Ten lessons we’ve learned over our four years of blogging
So there you have it. September at a glance. What have you guys been up to this month? Have you ever made a list of accomplishments to look back on? It’s nice to take a break from adding things to our to-do list and take a moment to appreciate what we’ve accomplished. Just for a minute. Then it’s back to that $%@**&ing stencil…
Psst- You can check out July’s superlatives here and August’s here.
Pssssst- We’re so excited about the curated collection that we put together for Joss & Main (it comes out this Tuesday!). Click here to sign up and get alerted when the sale goes live!
