If you follow with me on Instagram, you may have seen that Justin and I are currently in the middle of our last project of 2020: building a play kitchen for our kids’ Christmas present! With only three days left until Christmas we’re definitely in crunch time; you can follow along @simplifythechaos to see if we pull it off in time. Fingers crossed!
2020 has been a year full of projects both big and small and I thought it’d be fun to spend some time today re-capping everything we did this year, One positive to all this time spent at home means we were able to tackle a few projects that we weren’t expecting to accomplish and it’s fun to look back and see all the changes our house went through!
It’s hard to count how many total things we did, because many rooms included multiple projects, but overall we addressed 11 different spaces in our house and also a DIY present for my baby niece. Let’s take a trip down memory lane!
Guest Bedroom + Bathroom
The very first project we completed was a huge renovation to our guest suite (little did we know just how few guests we would end up having in 2020!) We completely gutted the guest bathroom . . .
. . . and the guest bedroom got upgraded with a new window, fresh paint, updated trim, and a more functional linen cabinet!
Dresser Makeover
I love quick, inexpensive, and high impact projects so I loved this $50 dresser makeover I completed for my new baby niece’s bedroom!
Basement Refresh
Our basement has a very large living space and while I have more planned for the future, it was nice to spend some time on a few quick updates like removing old trim, painting, and adding some accent pieces.
Simple DIY Book Shelves
In the early days of social distancing, Justin and I had so much fun making these little bookshelves for our DIY Date Night!
Secret Nook
After finishing up those little shelves, I was inspired to give a little makeover to the little secret nook under the stairs. It may only be 7 square feet of space, but this little room now packs a big punch!
Scalloped Wall in Vi’s Room
When I was pregnant, we didn’t find out the sex of the baby so the nursery was just plain white walls that felt pretty lackluster. I enjoyed using leftover paint from the dresser project to create a simple scalloped accent wall for the nursery and it made a huge difference!
Basement Kitchen
I joined the One Room Challenge and spent 8 weeks renovating our basement kitchen. This was FULL of DIY projects: painting floor tiles, painting cabinets, installing a butcherblock countertop, painting laminate counters, and new window trim. It was a huge and incredibly rewarding project!
Patio Entryway
Directly to the left of the basement kitchen, the floor tile wraps around to the door out to our patio. Since I had painted the tile already, it made sense to give this entryway a much needed organizational and aesthetic refresh as well. My favorite part? That yellow door!
$0 Bathroom Makeover
We have an extra bathroom off our laundry room that doesn’t get regular use, but is visible from the door leading from the garage so it is seen every time we come in and out of the house. It was an eyesore! I didn’t want to put money into it since eventually I’d love to gut the space and extend the laundry room, so I did a makeover using only materials we already had. I LOVE how it turned out!
Basement Dining Room
For the space in the basement between the TV/lounge space and the kitchen, we created a little dining area. Justin built a table (I’m so impressed!) from scrap wood that was left from the previous homeowner and I spray painted some chairs I found for $2 each on Facebook marketplace.
Kids’ Bathroom
We gave a quick and easy cosmetic update to the bathroom that our kids share – a fun, bold paint color, a new light fixture and mirror, and functional updates like DIY shelves and towel hooks.
Home Office
And lastly, perhaps my favorite renovation so far, was our home office! This room was also full of DIY projects: the vertical shiplap, the trim and crown molding, and of course, those glorious built ins! I love, love, love this room!
WHEW! That’s a wrap on our 2020 projects. While I’m already dreaming of what we might do next in 2021, it’s nice to just take a minute to sit back, enjoy our home, and be grateful for all we were able to do this year.
simplify the chaos 