This blog – should it stay, or should it go? Along with resolutions, January also brings the renewal bills for keeping this blog up and running. It’s pretty expensive, and while there are a few ads running on the page, they don’t even cover 10% of the cost of keeping this blog up (and since I haven’t met the payment threshold I’ve actually received no money). So my intention for this year is to decide once and for all if I should keep it, or delete it.

When I first started blogging I really enjoyed it – I enjoyed sharing what I was doing, and getting feedback from readers, but over the years blogging as an medium has changed. Blogging used to be about sharing with the world because you’re proud of your craft or DIY, or because you really enjoyed the work of someone else.Now, in some cases, it’s all about the $$ and the lack of ethics on the part of some bloggers/sites has left me wondering if I really want to revive my blog. I didn’t write a single post in 2016 - time will tell if this is my sole post in 2017, and if it is I’ll have my answer.

Reading 40 books in 2017. I travel part of the way to work each day via the subway and, like a lot of people, I spend most of the time underground staring at my phone. Unlike some others though, I don’t play the newest addictive game, I read. Ebooks are a genius invention.

My goal for 2017 is the read 40 books. Originally it was 100, but then I did the math and realised that would be almost two books a week. While I love reading, I don’t love it above eating and sleeping and all the other things that take up some of my time. I pondered reading 50 books – a nice, round number I thought manageable given the speed I can finish a book (normally approx. one a week), but finally settled on 40 in case there are some books that are a bit of a slog to get through (we’re nearing the end of January and I’m starting to wonder if 40 was even a bit ambitious – I’ve only managed two books so far). The rules for this goal are simple – the books can be new, or ones I’ve read before, in any genre, but I have to read the whole thing. If you have any books to recommend please let me know – I need some ideas as my hold list at the library is currently empty.

Running a 10K in under an hour. I always seem to make resolutions about running, and they’re usually not successful.

This year I’m making a pretty audacious goal – I hope to finish a 10k race in under an hour. This is big. HUGE. Did I mention that I’m not a fast runner? My best ever 10k time was about 1 hour and 4 minutes. That was 12 years ago. Twelve. Paul Martin was the Prime Minister of Canada, GW Bush was the President of the USA, and I was more than a decade younger. Yikes.

To put this a bit more in perspective, last year I ran one 10K race and finished it with a chip time of 1:19:47. Oy – now that I’ve actually written that out I’m freaking out a bit – I basically have to cut 20 minutes of my most recent time to meet this goal. That’s a lot. Send help in the form of a personal masseuse, and maybe a truckload of anti-inflammatories. Also, a pry-bar to peel me off my couch and out to actually train might be helpful as well.

Try new things and put myself out there more. I’m a bit (ahem – a lot) of an introvert. I find it hard to put myself out there and meet new people. This year I’m aiming to try to fight that. I know I won’t be able to change my inherent nature, but my goal is to attend and participate in a few different things.

This goal has already netted some results – I attended the Woman’s March in Toronto on Jan 21st by myself, and I’ve signed up to take an ‘Intro to everything’ course at the Art Gallery of Ontario – again by myself. Hopefully I can find a few more things this year to attend to help expand my horizons a bit, meet some new people, and learn some new things.

Renovate my Bathroom. I had actually hoped to do this last year but I’m completely intimidated by the idea and to be perfectly honest I got lazy. But it NEEDS to be done, so it’s on the list for this year (and by NEEDS I’m not exaggerating – the grout if falling out in my shower so God only knows how much moisture has seeped into the walls – it has to be fixed).

This goal might be tough too as I’m still completely intimidated by the idea. Where the heck do I start? What do I do when I’m renovating given I live in a one-bathroom apartment? How do I find a contractor? HELP!! Any good tips on where to start? Have the name of a great contractor in the GTA? Please share them. Please.

After piles of work, and more than a few setbacks I’m pleased to present my new site - Eamonn & Jack. A huge thanks to Brittany Douglas for the beautiful logo she created for me – I couldn’t be more pleased with it.

What do you think of my new site?

After the teaser in my last post I’m beyond excited (and a little relieved) to let you know that my new site - Eamonnandjack.com is now live and it looks like this:

Make sure you subscribe to Eamonn & Jack via email or by RSS, or like Eamonn & Jack on Facebook or Google+.

Have you seen this video yet? It showed up a couple of times on my Facebook feed today and it struck a chord with me – it made me wonder how much time I spend sitting in front of a screen everyday instead or interacting with real people. The answer is easy - too much (and no, the irony of learning about this video via Facebook does not escape me).

On Sunday I was up WAY too early, so I did something I haven’t done in ages – I went for a walk. Not just a small walk – I was out for hours. Yes I took my phone, and yes I took pictures of the interesting things I saw as I went and shared them via social media, but here’s the thing – the only reason I was able to see different/interesting/beautiful things was I was looking up – I didn’t have my head down as I madly tweeted about whatever random thing that just popped into my head. And I liked it.

I did a sort of meandering loop from my place, and in all I probably walked about 10km. In that time I saw some things I likely wouldn’t have seen in my everyday life, and I know I never would have seen if I’d been looking down. What I did find really interesting however is that when I tried to make eye contact with some of the people I passed and say ‘hi’ more often than not I was ignored or given a strange look.

Are we so used to communicating electronically that simple face to face interaction between strangers is completely foreign? We think nothing of interacting with complete strangers over social media – is doing the same thing in person really all that different?

Maybe it’s a Toronto thing? My mom says that she finds a huge difference when she comes to visit – but she lives in a town that’s significantly smaller. Is it the pace of life in the ‘Big City’ that makes us all slaves to technology?

No matter the reason I’m going to set myself a bit of a 30 day social challenge (if you’re on social media of any sort these days you’ll know that 30 (or 100) day challenges are all the rage – there’s the 30x30 nature challenge or the 100 Happy Days challenge, and any number of fitness and diet related challenges, so really I’m just following the trend). Anyways, starting tomorrow (May 6) I’m going to look up and try to say ‘Hello’ or ‘good morning’ or something similar to at least one stranger a day, and maybe, if I’m very lucky, they’ll also be looking up and will say hello back.

By the way - here are some of the interesting things I spotted on my walk while I was looking up:

Wow – it’s been over two months since I took pen to paper (fingers to keyboard?) and wrote a post here. My apologies in advance for this post - it's a bit of a mishmash of topics and thoughts, but it is a reflection of my life lately.

The past two-plus months have been a bit of a rollercoaster ride – speeding along on a straightaway before suddenly plummeting to earth, only to be jerked sideways right before hitting the ground. The ride continues for a bit with many ups and downs, and then you suddenly come to a stop only to realize you’re pretty much back where you started but some of the people around you have changed, and you're wondering where to go next.

This winter has been a rough one. I’m not a winter person by any stretch of the imagination, but I know most Torontonians will agree that this was one of the coldest, longest winters in quite some time. I’m not ashamed to admit the cold and the grey got to me, and the joy I once felt when composing something for this blog disappeared, leaving me uninspired and frankly unwilling to put in the time necessary to write a post when there was serious hibernating to be done.

Adding to my winter blues, the past two months also saw the end of my four year relationship. It’s so odd that something you were once so sure of can become something you can no longer see continuing. How does that happen? How do you go from having things mapped out, to floundering in a sea of uncertainty - unsure of what direction is the best one to go? I wonder have I changed that much, or has what I want to achieve and accomplish with my life changed so drastically that what I thought was a clear path has suddenly become a foggy road full of twists and turns?

A year ago I don’t think I ever thought I’d be here – 35(yup – I hit this milestone in the past two months as well), single, and strangely back at school. Those who’ve known me for years know that I’ve never been that academically inclined. I coasted through grade school with barely a thought and (let’s be honest) minimal effort. My first go-round at post-secondary schooling was a rather dismal failure (seriously – whose genius idea was it to major in Political Science?), and I’m quite determined that this time will be a different story.

The part-time Interior Decorating program I’m enrolled in comprises of 14 courses which are meant to be completed within 3 years. I’m so determined to get this done I’ve decided (wisely or not) to fast track – taking 3 courses at a time. Hopefully this means I’ll be finished them all by next Christmas – just 1.5 years after I started. At times it’s overwhelming. I figured it out the other day – I’m in class on average 12hrs a week on top of my 40hr work week. Did you know that full-time post-secondary schooling is considered 12 or more hours a week? Neither did I, but apparently I’ve been working full time while attending class full time for the past 12 weeks. No wonder I’m tired.

This blog has been shoved to the back burner of my very over-filled stove for the last little bit – a lot of that was due to my workload (did I mention the hours of homework, as well as the duties associated with being President of my condo Board?), but a portion was due to a general feeling of apathy towards it. The self-imposed expectation of a minimum of one home décor post a week is rather stifling – some weeks I just don’t have anything home décor related that I’m excited to share. Is there a rule somewhere that says since I’ve delared this to be a home decorating blog I should only share décor related things? While I love Interior decorating, that’s not all that I’m interested in – I love food, and travel, and humour, and wine, and current events, and all sorts of other things – why have I been restricting myself to sharing only one part of the things that interest me?

Don’t worry, this blog isn’t going to suddenly turn into a political commentary on the current status of Toronto’s City Hall (although, if Rob Ford is elected Mayor again I may have to move) but going forward I’m hoping to be able to unapologetically share some of the other things that catch my interest.

I’m working on some other changes to the blog (a new look, a name change perhaps?) which I hope to share in the next little bit (as well as a Para Paint Crew project next week) - but in the meantime I hope you’ll stick around as I strive to find my feet again after this latest rollercoaster ride and as I continue to muddle through this wonderful thing called life.

Happy New Year! I hope you spent the Holiday Season eating WAY too much with your family and friends – I know I did. Toronto was hit with a rather destructive ice storm the weekend before Christmas but I was lucky enough to have escaped to my parents early Saturday morning before the fun started. My building didn’t suffer too badly with only two large branches down on our property, one of which may have damaged the car port, but I’m hoping that when the limb is removed it’s a quick fix. Unfortunately the power was off for almost three days so I had the lovely task of emptying my fridge and freezer when I returned to Toronto. Mother Nature - you owe me a couple of hundred dollars.

With the arrival of 2014 I’ve been thinking a lot about what I did (or didn’t) accomplish in 2013 and what I hope to do in 2014.  I blogged about my favourite posts in 2011, and 2012 so here goes for 2013 even though the pickings were a bit slim as I didn’t blog as much as in previous years.

In February I completed my DIY foyer Rug, and I’m happy to report it’s holding up pretty well.

As for this blog? I’ve got some major plans for it as well which I hope to finish before the end of January. Here’s a hint – remember way back in 2011 when I wrote about not really loving the name of my blog? Well, I’ve made a decision.

In terms of ‘resolutions’ for 2014 I’ve again signed up for the Apartment Therapy January cure. If you remember I signed up last year and I made a big list of the things I wanted to complete. I was only somewhat successful, so I’ll work on the same list this year. If at first you don’t succeed – right?

Is anyone else working on some resolutions goals for the second time? Please tell me I’m not the only one.

Hi Guys. This post is not anything like what I normally post here, but I wanted to share my experiences at Camp Grounded in case anyone was interested. It's quite a long post - feel free to skip past it if you'd like - Michelle
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Camp. That one word for me means summer adventures in northern Quebec with loads of outdoor activities like swimming, canoeing, learning new skills and making friendships that survived the 11 months until we met again. I have incredibly great memories of my summers at camp, so when I saw this article on the CBC news website way back in March I was intrigued. Summer camp for adults? With the added incentive of forcing us off the digital grid for a few days? Having been accused by various loved ones that I spend a bit too much of my time glued to my phone or staring at a computer screen engrossed in some internet randomness, I thought this might be a wonderful way to really relive a cherished part of my childhood. Because I grew up in the dark ages, the ‘no digital anything’ rule would be just like those balmy summer days of yore, before we all had smartphones, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and various other digital necessities  procrastination tools. So, doing something completely out of character, I signed up for a summer camp for adults in the California redwoods at an old Boy Scout camp - I was going to Camp Grounded.

On arrival at camp we were met with bear hugs from greeters who directed us where to leave our luggage, and gave us paper bags in which we were to put all our digital paraphernalia (goodbye smartphone, e-reader and DSLR) as well as money, watches and other valuables. As w-talk (work-talk) and real names weren’t allowed I was then given a nickname in a naming ceremony by a guy who hadn’t worn a shirt in years. It was about this time that I had the first inkling that camp was more than likely not going to be anything like the one I so fondly remembered from my childhood.

Camp Grounded was just a few hours north of the head offices of Google, Apple, Twitter and Facebook – so I naively assumed it would be full of tech geeks with that pasty white glow one gets after prolonged exposure to computer screens and no sunlight. While there were quite a number of people there who did work in Silicon Valley (and judging by the cars leaving camp on Monday had done rather well for themselves) there were also a number of people there who could be described as hippies. Later, while talking with some other campers they referred to camp as a ‘Burning Man’ reunion. I was unfamiliar with the term, but apparently it’s a yearly festival in the desert – some say a modern-day Woodstock but without the music. I also heard the camp atmosphere being referred to that of a cult, and jokes being made about not drinking the Kool-Aid.

I enjoyed some of the meals so much I even asked my camp counsellor if it might be possible to get some of the recipes. I didn’t hear anything back about that request which is unfortunate.

Over the weekend I didn’t really miss my phone other than wishing I had it to take pictures and check the time. I brought with me a disposable camera which as you can see from the pictures in this post wasn’t a great substitute for a phone’s camera or my absent DSLR. I was quite honestly surprised at how little I missed social media and easy internet access. Instead I had a lot more trouble with not being able to know in an instant what time it was. I’m not honestly sure if that’s because in real life I always need to know what time it is, or if it was because I wasn’t really enjoying myself at camp and wanted to know how much longer I had until it was time to leave.

When I was young, camp meant doing outdoor activities like canoeing, swimming, tennis and windsurfing. When I saw the Camp Grounded website I assumed that since it was a digital-free weekend the camp would encourage us to do active things – get us pale pasty office drones out there in the world and feel the sun on our skin, and the wind in our hair. While there were some interesting activities like archery, rock climbing, making art on wood using the sun and a magnifying glass, truffle making, tree drawing and bug eating (see this article here to find out why) there were only two activity sessions on the first day – one in the morning and one in the afternoon. That evening when I heard about other campers different experiences there were several activities I wanted to try. It was very unfortunate they were not repeated the next day.

Sunday was the camp-wide activity – Colour Wars, and this one activity completely ruined Camp Grounded for me. We were all divided into teams based on our favourite colour – mine was blue. I was looking forward to Colour Wars – my childhood camp was always divided into two tribes, and throughout the month you earned points for your tribe by doing individual activities, earning badges, and participating in camp-wide programs. At Camp Grounded there were about 10 different colours and after breakfast that morning we all met our groups and were tasked with coming up with cheers, chants, posters, slogans etc. This might have been fun, however the sheer volume of items they asked us to create seemingly took hours to finish. When all the teams reconvened on the parade ground we all had to present the judges with their various cheers and slogans, and we were to be judged on them. This again could have been fun, except the judging was a farce with the judges assigning points in a random manner that reflected only the level to which a team would, to put it bluntly, kiss ass for what seemed like hours as each team repeatedly went up to do their cheers, and fawn over the judges.

Eventually it was time for lunch and we all sat in our teams, and at least where I was sitting, the talk turned to how Camp Grounded was nothing like what had been expected by the campers. There was a general feeling of discontent with some comparing it to being in high-school – the popular kids were the councillors and the chosen few of the campers who knew them previously, and the rest of us were the wallflowers who were being asked to obey their every whim.

About halfway through lunch the judges decreed that as of that moment we were no longer able to feed ourselves, and had to find someone to pair with and feed each other. I, along with some of the campers around me, refused to participate, and continued to eat as before. If a plausible explanation had been given for the request, or if there had been a reasoning behind it, I would have more than likely participated, but the dictate simply to force us to do something for the councillors amusement was despicable.

Once the delay was called a bunch of us ended up at the Typewriter range (the Boy Scouts had a rifle range – at Camp Grounded there were typewriters set up) where we chatted about Camp Grounded, reminisced about our different camp experiences growing up, and when they found out I was going to be playing tourist in San Francisco later that week made numerous excellent suggestions of places to see and things to do. Strangely, along with trying my hand at archery for the first time, sitting around and simply chatting with a bunch of people I didn’t really know, and more than likely won’t see again was one of the best times I had at Camp Grounded. I truly enjoyed talking with them without the crutch of what we all did for a living or talking about current world events.

Perhaps if camp had been located a few hours from home the failings I perceived wouldn’t have bothered me so much, but I flew across country at no small cost for what I hoped would be an amazing experience. Being so completely disheartened and disappointed after spending so much money to get there has, I think, made the negative feelings a bit more acute. I wish it was different, but I wouldn’t recommend Camp Grounded to anyone.

This post relates only my personal experiences at Camp Grounded. If you'd like to read other opinions here are articles from Mashable, The New Yorker, and The New York Times.

Wow - it's hard to believe it's been three whole months since I posted last. My apologies, but life sort of got in the way of blogging. Did you miss me? Please say yes ;)

While I've been away I've been working on some projects, and I hope to share them with you in the next little while (If I can find the pictures - more on this below). In order to catch you up on some of the stuff I've been doing I thought I'd share a few Instagram pictures.
Directly or indirectly this was the start of my blogging hiatus. I had a small computer malfunction which I though I fixed. A few days later and I was proved wrong and I had to format my hard drive. Luckily I think I was able to save all my pictures. Unfortunately they're currently on SD cards because I've been too busy/lazy to reorganize them on my computer.

Saw this at an antique store today - thoughts? Kinda cute, or bad art that was probably painted by someone's strange aunt #art #nofilter

A post shared by Michelle (@eamonnandjack) on Mar 21, 2013 at 8:26pm PDT

I bought a painting at an antique store on Queen east for $40. I love it, but like all my other pictures it's not yet hanging anywhere. At least this one is currently sitting on the back of my couch so I can see it instead of hiding in a corner with the rest of my stuff.

Sh!t - there seems to be a large chunk missing off the base of this hutch #DIYproblems

A post shared by Michelle (@eamonnandjack) on Mar 29, 2013 at 10:46am PDT

I started to work on my hutch only to discover the damage to the foot was a whole lot more extensive than I thought. This cheap and easy project got a lot more difficult and expensive.

I finally dropped my chairs off at @paintitlikenew Looking forward to their new look :-)

A post shared by Michelle (@eamonnandjack) on Mar 30, 2013 at 10:07am PDT

I finally did something with my Kijiji chairs - I took them to Paint it like New for a bit of paint.
At the end of March I celebrated 3 years of owning my condo - where has the time gone?

I think I need a haircut - it's way to long. Also, why did I spend 45 minutes straightening it if it's raining? #silly

A post shared by Michelle (@eamonnandjack) on Apr 13, 2013 at 9:32am PDT

I'm not a morning person, so it's very rare for me to do anything with my hair - I usually just tie it back. I was rather surprised how long it's gotten when I straightened it one day, and I've been plotting a cut since. How short should I go?

If anyone sees this rug in a 6x9 @Homesense can you let me know? #wantit #needit

A post shared by Michelle (@eamonnandjack) on Apr 29, 2013 at 3:38pm PDT

I found a lovely rug at HomeSense that I planned to use in my bedroom and then drove all over the city looking for the right size. I bought it, and before I could return with a bigger car to bring it home returned it when I couldn't justify the cost ($300 +tax) given I had some big expenses coming up (see the last three pictures).

For some strange reason I like this amature art. Am I nuts? #nofilter #cows

A post shared by Michelle (@eamonnandjack) on May 5, 2013 at 10:54am PDT

I bought more art simply because the cows are cute - is that weird? This piece cost just $18, but I'm going to have to find a frame for it.

What 27,000 people look like running down Yonge st. #SL10k #latergram

A post shared by Michelle (@eamonnandjack) on May 12, 2013 at 8:02am PDT

Without going out once to train, and with a doozy of a cough I ran the Camp Oochigeas 10K race down Yonge street. I didn't post a great finishing time, but I'm happy I completed it.

Who knew writing letters could be so darn hard? #homework #drafting #design #Ineedpractice

A post shared by Michelle (@eamonnandjack) on May 24, 2013 at 11:26am PDT

I decided that since I rather enjoy this interior decorating stuff that maybe I should learn more - I enrolled in my first course at Seneca college - intro to drafting. It's quite a bit more work than I thought, but I'm enjoying it. Who would have thought I'd go back to school?
I attended Camp Grounded in California for a long weekend, and then I played tourist in San Fransisco for a few days.

In front of the Golden Gate bridge #SanFransisco #latergram #nofilter

A post shared by Michelle (@eamonnandjack) on Jun 18, 2013 at 11:51pm PDT

Lastly, as of Monday, the new windows in my building are finally being installed after over a year of consultations and negotiations. The old windows are bright white aluminum sliders - the new ones are a dark brown fiberglass window with a double-hung cottage split with divided lights on top. Hopefully they're a bit more historically accurate, but no matter what I'm going to be so happy when they're complete - they were a lot of work.

*As a short PSA, for those of you who read this via an RSS feed remember that as of July 1st Google reader will be going the way of the dinosaurs. Please transfer your feeds over to a new reader like Feedly. For those of you who subscribe to this blog via email nothing will change.

I haven’t always loved thrifting. Growing up my mom would go to the thrift store every so often to drop off some stuff we didn’t need anymore, and while there she would normally browse the books since there were usually lots of read-only-once books for about $0.50. I didn’t like to go into the store with her because thrift stores have a certain smell that, as a child, I couldn’t stand.

Over the past year or so I’ve developed a deep love of thrifting which in all honesty I blame squarely on blogs. Before I started this one, and reading so many others, I never went thrifting. Now, every time I read a post about someone's wonderful find I find myself plotting my next thrifting adventure. I don’t know if it’s the thrill of not knowing what you’ll find, or the crazy belief that one day I’ll walk into a thrift store an discover an original Eames lounge chair and ottoman with pristine leather, but I now recognise that ‘Thrift store smell’ for what it really is – buried treasure.

The other day I was looking around my home and I realised that over the last few months I’ve collected a number of thrifty finds that I haven’t told you about, so I’m starting Thrifty Thursdays – where I blog about some of the random things I’ve found – some of which I’m leaving as is, and some I’ve made improvements to.

A few months ago I was in value village when I spotted this rather gaudy little guy for $2.

After my not so stellar attempt at resolutions in 2012 I vowed I wasn’t going to make that same mistake again. Nope – I wasn’t going to make any sort of resolution or list or mental note or anything related to things I wanted to get done in 2013. And then I got an email on January 2nd.

Apparently sometime in December Apartment Therapy posted that they would be running what they’re calling the January Cure, and I signed up. With statements like: ‘If you are ready to whip your home into shape, get it clean, organized and under control, we're here to help - let's do it together! … we'll send you emails from January 2 through February 1, giving you all the info you need to know to follow along, stay motivated and complete your assignments. By the end of January, you'll be sitting pretty in a clean, fresh, organized home’ can you really blame me? I mean who doesn’t want to live in a clean and organised home? I certainly do.

Anyways, I signed up and then kinda forgot about it, that is until I got my first email about it on January 2nd. The task? Make a list of the things in each of the rooms in your home that you want to change. Drat. My not-making-any-resolutions-or-lists-in-2013 vow lasted about 30hrs into the New Year. Oh well. I’m a glutton for punishment so I made my list of things I wanted to change in each of the rooms in my home, and unsurprisingly discovered that quite a number of them are the same as what was on my list from last year. What’s a little different this time is I was supposed to keep the number of to-do items per room to 3-5 which forces you to prioritise what’s most important – the changes that will make the most impact. Here’s my list:

Foyer

If you’d like to join Apartment Therapy’s January Cure you can click here, and in case you want to know what you’re getting yourself in for, here’s a schedule of everything you’ll be asked to do.

PS – Yesterday’s task was to create an ‘outbox’. Mine’s done, and I’m hoping it will soon be overflowing.

After my last post where I whined about not accomplishing too many of the things on my to-do list for 2012, my mom emailed to say she didn’t like the post. Since we should all try to keep our moms happy I thought I’d do a quick recap of some of the things I DID accomplish last year.

My first big project of 2012 was my Craigslist dresser rehabilitation, and I’m still in love with it. I still sometimes (ahem – yesterday) look at it and can’t believe that I did it all myself. 

For Valentine’s day I came up with some rather tasty looking heart-shaped cookies. It’s not so much my baking skills I'm proud of for this post, but it was my first attempt at food styling, and it’s not so bad. 

St. Patrick’s Day had me sharing with you a recipe for Irish brown bread. This was my second attempt at food styling, and yes, I did buy the smoked salmon and cream cheese specifically to take pictures. Don’t worry – I made sure to eat all the props once the pictures were taken – no point in wasting it. 

In April I shared the little Ikea table and chairs I customized for my boyfriend’s nephew. 

In June I made a little change in my kitchen by replacing the cabinet door handles. This is a favorite as I think it took a bit of mettle and moxie to attack my cabinet doors with a drill, and the new handles look SO much better.

My refinished media console was my next big project, and I’m happy to report it does a wonderful job at storing all my crafting supplies and other random things I can’t seem to find a place for.