antiques – emerald city diaries

highlights of 2013.

happy 2014!

i’ve said it before, & i’ll say it again!, yearly recaps are always my favorite kinds of blog posts. its a small way to sum up your year & to see how much the last 365 days have brought. as i look forward to the New Year, i am humbled & grateful by all of the wondrous events of 2013. here’s the rundown of ours:

january: I started out the new year with a bout of the flu. we hosted our first blog giveaway! we installed the west elm hanging capiz chandelier over our dining room table. I framed my diy polaroids for our bedroom walls. amanda & I met john & sherry from young house love during their book signing tour! I diy-ed campaign dressers for our bedroom.

february: I did lots of diy-ing for valentine’s day {here, here, & here} I celebrated my birthday! we bought a kitchen island. I tried to be better about getting in front of the camera!

march: I tried my hand at painting an antler {& was so impressed with the results!}. we took my 91-year-old grandmother to target for the first time! amanda & I diy-ed framed house keys on maps. we sold jez the jetta & bought a new car.

april: we updated our bathroom vanity with a converted antique sideboard. we updated the closet doors by stripping off the old paint in a crock pot. we celebrated our one year anniversary in our house & I reviewed all of the house diys!

may: we finally got some good weather in seattle! I painted the ceiling & hallway walls. we celebrated aaron’s thirtieth birthday with a beer tasting party! we had a fun-filled memorial day weekend. we were featured in west elm’s blog front & main.

june: aaron replaced our toilet. sadie was featured in the seattle dog spot blog. my parents visited for a long weekend en route to the olympic peninsula. my diy his & hers maps were featured. we finally got some summer weather!

july: we celebrated the long Fourth of July weekend with a holiday parade, fireworks, & time with friends. I made a nine layer ombre cake! we replaced our kitchen track lights with globe pendants from west elm. we road-tripped to idaho for my ten-year high school reunion. we started growing our first eggplant.

august: we celebrated our three year wedding anniversary. the blog got a Liebster Award Nomination. I diy-ed the tiniest baby hats for our friends’ new baby. we road-tripped to hood river, oregon to celebrate my cousin’s wedding.

september: we went to the husky vs. bronco game to kick-off labor day weekend complete with husky-style tailgating {via boat}. we took advantage of the warm weather & cleaned up the front yard with a fun game called love it or lose it. we celebrated sadie’s ninth birthday! I attended the Alt Summit for Everyone blog conference.

october: I attempted to start doing fashion posts again. we celebrated our two year blog anniversary at emerald city diaries! I finished up with the #embracethecamera challenge. we went to the pumpkin patch & carved pumpkins with friends.

november: aaron joined a team for movember 2013. we snuck off to hawaii for thanksgiving.

december: I reviewed some of my favorite weekend in pictures pics. I participated in A Pinterest Christmas for the third year {see this year’s projects here, here, here, here, & here}! we celebrated Christmas in indiana with aaron’s family.

reflecting back on this year, i am reminded how blessed we are & also how different this year has been than the year previous. it has been such a wonderful year & ringing in a new one is a bit bittersweet.

how was your 2013 – was it a year to remember, or are you itching to start 2014 already?

see past yearly highlights for 2011 & 2012.

updated closet doors.

now i am sure you are thinking “updated closet doors, doesn’t seem like much of a blog post.” am i right? well, you are. except that we have been “working” on the closet doors for some time now. remember back in november & december when we painted our bedroom? well, that is when we took off the closet doors & they haven’t been up since. needless to say it is a big deal around here that we have closet doors again!

as you can see from the pictures below {the befores} whoever had painted the doors before we moved in decided it would be wonderful to paint all of the hardware too. {seriously, who does that?} so when we took down the doors to be painted from their original yellow to white-ish {the color of our trim} we decided it would be lovely to restore the hardware. once we got the hardware off the doors {hinges, hinge pins, & faceplates} we soaked them in a crockpot full of water & a bit of laundry soap. {the crockpot was a $5 steal from the goodwill that we will only use to soak old metal hardware & other crafty things.} it took two rounds of a low crockpot, but we finally got all of that paint off!

{before}

{after}

what an improvement, huh? it is lovely to have the hardware back on as it should be. you know, all metal-y & not all paint-y. plus, a bonus because i got hooks in the inside of my closet – yay! we picked up three of these hooks from anthro & while they aren’t exactly the same metal as the door hardware, it keeps with the antique-y look. i do put my clothes away, but it is nice to have a place to hang your twice-worn jeans or put together an ensemble ahead of time, don’t you think?

have you been updating any of your hardware {buying new or refinishing old}?

my weekend in pictures.

{birthday dinner outfit. the best outfits include a cape & 5 inch heels!}

{commuting home with flowers aaron sent to the office on thursday.}

{sadie giving aaron a “welcome home” hug on friday evening.}

{valentine’s day celebrations thru-out the weekend included heart shaped pancakes from scratch!}

{saturday afternoon was spent antiquing with amanda in pioneer square!}

{my shopping finds: liquor “name tags” on chains – wodka, whisky, cognac & gin, & vintage indiana & idaho maps – like to become a pinterest craft.}

{it is still a thrill to see the space needle.}

{weekly trip to lowe’s. so excited for what is in that box! any guesses?}

{cupcakes!}

{these poor little bulbs didn’t get the memo that it is still mid-february. guess it is taking the groundhog too seriously this year.}

{a little yard clean-up as our flower beds were looking a bit unkempt.}

{assembled my awesome wooden moose head courtesy of amanda all the way from new zealand! thanks, i love him!}

{our house is stocked with fresh blooms in celebration of my birthday & valentine’s day. aaron was so sweet to send me flowers to the office & to the house on thursday!}

{sadie got a bath this weekend & has decided that the hair dryer is pretty neat when it is so cold outside!}

we had a wonderful weekend filled with continued birthday celebrations! thank you for all the sweet birthday wishes via various social media this week – i am feeling very loved. how was your weekend?