As another year draws to a close, I wanted to stop and take a look back on all the projects, both big and small, that we took on this year. Sometimes I look around my house and it seems like there are still so many things I’d like to address – it’s so nice to stop and reflect on how far we have already come! 2022 was an especially big year for changing the look of our main floor and it’s wild to remember how it looked at this time last year. I’m really proud of the transformations! There were also a few projects that we took on for other people, and it was satisfying to see them fall more in love with their own homes after some simple updates.
Here’s what we tackled in chronological order:
The first project of the year was giving a facelift to our dining room. New furniture wasn’t in the budget (nor did it make sense in this life stage when we are just as likely to have play doh, markers, and glue sticks all over the table as we are to have plates and food) but some paint, new curtains, updated trim, and a new light fixture made a huge difference!
DIY Date Night: Play Kitchen Shelf
Justin and I used some scrap wood to create a little shelf to hang above our DIY play kitchen – it made for such a fun date night at home!
I created three different gallery walls throughout the house this year. Each one is unique and each makes me so happy when I walk by!
Creating a functional and cute space for my friend who has a cookie business was such a fun challenge! Justin and I worked hard to make sure this space checked all her boxes and we all love how it turned out.
This was a small project Justin built, but I love it so so much. I was just telling him the other day how great it’s holding up and how glad I am that it’s an attractive solution to having our dog bowls in the main area of our house.
Justin and I tackled this geometric accent wall for someone else and it was a pretty straightforward and simple weekend DIY!
A fun Ikea hack to combine three tall Vittsjo shelves into one large storage unit was just what Justin’s ahh . . . lackluster . . . office needed to make it feel organized and professional.
I have so many dreams for this kitchen to improve the function for our family, but a full gut renovation is years and years away for us. In the meantime, it was WELL worth investing some time, effort, and about $1000 total to update this space to make it feel more like us.
I tackled this renovation for the Spring One Room Challenge and even though it took longer than the eight week challenge to complete, it was worth taking my time to make intentional choices in creating this little haven for Justin and me.
And speaking of my bedroom renovation, one of my favorite projects was transforming this plain Hemnes dresser from Ikea into a dupe of an $1800 dresser I fell in love with.
I created this simple clothing rack to store Vi’s dress up collection and it made for not only a fun project but a great 2nd birthday gift!
Jenni’s House: Built-ins + Kitchen Update!
One weekend and several gallons of paint and we transformed my sister’s kitchen cabinets and living room built-ins!
I started creating the look of wallpaper in our guest room with a stencil and took a pause from this project to decide if I wanted to leave it as an accent wall or continue all around the room. I’ve decided I want to continue around the room so stay tuned for that project in 2022!
My final project of the year was our laundry room update, complete with stenciled wallpaper, DIY shelving, painted trim, and some functional storage updates.
I’ll be taking a break from the blog for the rest of 2022 to enjoy the holidays with my family but I’ll be back in the new year ready to take on new projects!
simplify the chaos 
I love all your projects, thanks for sharing!
On Wed, Dec 22, 2021 at 7:22 AM simplify the chaos wrote:
> Sarah posted: ” As another year draws to a close, I wanted to stop and > take a look back on all the projects, both big and small, that we took on > this year. Sometimes I look around my house and it seems like there are > still so many things I’d like to address – it’s so ni” >