It’s been a great Christmas vacation but I’m so glad to be back for my very first post of 2016!! How weird does that sound?
The best part of a new year is getting to see how much we accomplished in the last year! (Ok looking forward and making plans is fun too… but I really like reflecting!). We moved to our new house in 2015… and I’m proud to say we’re almost done unpacking! Only 3 boxes left…. I’ve got a slew of room reveals ready for y’all in the new year!
I started my new job one year ago… and working at Sherwin-Williams has taught me things about paint I never knew I needed to know! Haha! It’s great for projects though… keeps me inspired! I love seeing all the fun renovations my customers bring in every day!
Of course the best part of 2015 was working on this blog. 2015 was the first year we posted week in and week out… at least 3 times every single week. I’ve grown so much in the last year and I absolutely love all the progress we’ve made around our little corner of Happily Ever After! Plus I’ve met some pretty awesome blog friends… and maybe in 2016 I’ll be able to put names to faces at my very first blog conference!
Overall I had a great 2015! I married my best friend and we started our adventure together… May 2015 was our first wedding anniversary and I can’t wait for a million more (I’m optimistic like that!) hopefully this blog will continue to grow right along with us… as we continue to work on our very own Happily Ever After!
In the meantime… here are our Best 10 Posts of 2015!
Present Ideas for your Man… How to Go Completely Overboard!
I have the best husband in the whole world! Seriously this man puts up with A LOT from me… yet he still loves me and keeps coming back for more! 364 days out of the year he puts me first and even though I try to put him first he seems to be way better at it. I have no will power when it comes to letting him do sweet things for me. Oops!
So every year on his birthday we make a big deal of HIM! The whole day we do whatever he wants to do… and instead of him taking care of me I FINALLY get a chance to take care of him! This year my poor hubby is sad because we are going to be traveling on his birthday. We are still going to celebrate and I’ve told him that we will do his very special Trevor day twice… just so he gets the full effect ? .
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10 Ways to Make your Bed EXTRA Comfy!
We recently took a trip to Atlanta to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary, woot woot! The entire weekend was absolutely amazing… except for one teeny tiny little detail. The bed was hard as a rock! Instead of sleeping in and relaxing my hubby and I were up at 9am each morning… ready to face the day instead of spending one more minute in that horrible bed! We have worked hard to make our bed at home super soft and inviting… take it from us and try these ten tips to make your bed extra comfy cozy!
… read more!
The Thrift Store Swap
The THE THRIFT STORE SWAP is finally here! I know you’ve waited patiently… so let’s get started shall we? This swap was soooo much fun! I love re-purposing things and making them pretty again… so this swap was right up my ally. But can I tell you a secret? Shhh… don’t tell anybody!
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Ask Sherwin Williams… What are the most Popular Paint Colors?
Working at Sherwin Williams I get asked twenty times a day “What’s your most popular paint color?” or “What color do you sell the most of?” I spend many hours helping DIY guys and gals pick out colors for their homes… and so do my fellow Sherwin Williams employees! So I thought today we’d take a poll… to see which colors really are the most popular!
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How to Paint like a PRO… Tips and Tricks from Sherwin Williams University!
Remember that work conference a while back? Well when you work for Sherwin Williams you can expect at least 4 hours of that conference to be painting something! We had an excellent class full of tips and tricks…. which came in handy when the hubby decided we just had to paint! So here’s my best tips on how to paint like a pro… courtesy of SWU!
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What to do with EXTRA Paint!
Most of you know that I work at a little place called Sherwin-Williams… I’m actually still moving for my new promotion! Every day I have people say “A quart is the smallest size you can buy? What will I do with all the extra paint?” Well hundreds of customers who don’t even know my blog exists… this ones for you!
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How to Turn Your Antique Double Bed into a Queen
My mom bought our double size antique cast iron bed frame for me straight out of college. So that means I have been sleeping on my antique double bed for almost 5 years. We took it home and set it up in our guest room… I hadn’t moved out yet and we wanted to see how it looked. We knew right away that if we wanted it to work we would have to find a way to convert the rails to a queen size… a double just wouldn’t cut it.
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Space Planning… Where to Put Everything!
If you haven’t heard the hubby and I are in the middle of a move! That means a new town, new job, and a new house with NEW ROOMS! Now I grew up as an army brat so the never ending game of tetras that is moving to a new home and finding a new configuration for your furniture is fairly familiar… but familiar does not mean without challenges!
Now unless you’re a millionaire (um…. no) or really like to buy all new furniture (um… no! I like my things!) moving means the fun task of trying to fit all of your things in a new configuration. I know fancy smancy decor shows talk about measuring the room and finding the perfect sofa for your room size… nope we’re just going to make it work! So here’s my crash course in space planning, from a army brats perspective… aka where to put everything!
… read more!
An Easy Gift for the Whole Family!
You know me… I’m always up for a good craft and this one? It’s no exception! While I love traditional pictures I have really been loving the whole three-dimensional thing going on lately… canvas pictures? Hello! Awesome! So when I saw these little wooden blocks I knew exactly what I was going to do with them!
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Curtains for Everyone… 5 DIY Curtain Ideas!
I just spent the entire weekend packing and unloading a 26 foot moving truck… with copious amounts of help from my entire family (thanks y’all!). We are finally in our new house… if “in our new house” means surrounded by stacks of boxes! We are no where near unpacked yet! My mind is reeling with all of the ideas for projects, furniture arrangements and decorations… I am going to be very busy with this new house for a while!
The one thing I didn’t expect? How many WINDOWS our new house has! There are two in the master, two in the craft room (yes I’m getting a craft room!!! woot woot!!), one in the guest room, two in the office, two in the living room, and two in the kitchen. That’s a total of eleven windows… and I have a total of 3 solid curtain panels… and 3 sheers. Sheers are great for looks but not so hot for function.
So even if I use the sheers I have to spread my six curtain panels across 11 windows… or make new ones! So what’s a girl to do? Re-search curtains of course! Here’s the best ideas Pinterest had to offer!
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Christmas Dining Room with At Home!
I remember my very first At Home shopping experience… it was the week before I moved to Alabama. They had just built a brand new store and I had driven by the “coming soon” sign for months… they opened just in time for one visit before I made the big cross country move. I walked through the doors and my jaw hit the floor… it felt like paradise.
Did you see the extra special 11th post? I just had to include our Christmas Dining Room… I am so proud of that post!
I hope you all loved this fun little yearly recap… I can’t wait for all of our new projects in 2016 but it’s always fun to look back at the best of the year before! Thanks for sticking around y’all… I love hanging out with each and every one of you!
I can’t wait for all of the adventures we’ll have in the new year!