Wrapping Up 2017 – A Project Report

Hanukkah is behind us, and Christmas is knocking at the door.

During 2017, we passed the three-year mark of owning BHH. As far as planning went, my to-do list was not as well-formed as it was in past years. Still, we managed to make a dent in it, and I offer this post as a year-in-review.

Before I begin, I want to mention that this year, improving my photos on the blog and across social media was high on the list. While I still have a lot to learn, there is a marked difference between the images I took at the first of the year and now. Let’s not even talk about my photography skills when I started this blog. I cringe a bit when I see the earlier photos.

January 2017

In January, I got to work on the butler’s pantry. The highlights included stenciling the accent wall and restoring the beautiful old sconce.

February 2017

In February, I finished up the butler’s pantry and mapped out a plan for the rest of the year.

March 2017

Refreshing the guest room was on the docket for March, but I stopped mid-progress to focus on our most substantial DIY room renovation to date: The Library.

April & May 2017

Library Before:

Library After:

During the spring One Room Challenge, we restored the library windows, floors, and plaster, hung grasscloth wallpaper, painted everything, and paid for a new ceiling. The result was a complete transformation of our family’s favorite room.

June 2017

June was a rest month at BHH. I wrote some house tour posts and traveled too. I outlined our great big drainage project that sadly, never really happened.

July 2017

July was a wheel-spinning month. I half-heartedly glazed some windows…

and completely tore up the sleeping porch before realizing I was in way over my head.

August 2017

I entered August with renewed energy as I began to panic prepare for fall and finish all of our warm weather outdoor projects.

For the third season in a row, the painters came back to (mostly) wrap up the three-year process of transforming BHH from this:

to this:

The focus this year was on the back of the house.

I cried “uncle” and paid them to repair the sixteen(!) broken panes of glass too. It was worth every penny.

During this month, I snuck in a guest room reveal too. The guest room is still a work in progress, but it looks much better than it did.

September 2017

September was all about finishing up the little projects. I launched our first #30ProjectsIn30Days blog link-up to encourage people to knock out small things that had been on the to-do list for far too long. I don’t know about you, but I already have a list going for 2018.

Among other tasks, we finally painted the screen doors and put them back up. (Millie approved.)

And, M. and I planted a new hydrangea and some boxwood in the front flower bed.

October & November 2017

By the time October rolled around, it was One Room Challenge time again, and we finished what may be our most popular project yet.

We transformed a small, unusable enclosed porch off the kitchen:

Into a functional breakfast nook.

You all loved the stenciled floor, the fresh white paint, and the way the black trim made the windows pop. Seeing this finished room makes me happy every day.

In October, after searching all summer, we finally found someone to fix the rot and roof under the sleeping porch, and I began to sleep through the night again. This mess was taking up too much of my brain’s bandwidth.

Fun fact: A squirrel was sleeping under that rotten debris. I had no idea when I snapped this photo. We found him later, and he ran away. He probably just moved to our basement.

In unrelated news, November was also an exciting month because I ran the New York City Marathon. What a great day!

December 2017

Now, here we are in December, and instead of dreaming about presents under the tree, I am thinking about the upstairs bathroom refresh. This whole DIY thing is a sickness really.

Perhaps the best news of all is that we are so close to our podcast launch. Good grief this has been an undertaking and an adventure. If you haven’t done so already, be sure to sign up for our Podcast newsletter and updates. There is a link at the top of this page.

There won’t be any posts next week because Andy is on vacation, and maybe I can talk him into tearing the bathroom apart with me. I will still be around on Instagram and Facebook. If we start a little demo in there, I’ll put it on IG stories. I know you are just as excited to find out what’s underneath that pink plastic paneling as I am.

Cheers to 2017,