#(it was fun too to draw their Horrors here and the mental img of a pair of angry animals circling and sizing each other up) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

endlessarchite · 7 years ago

Text

Best Reveals of 2017

I hope you all had an AMAZING holiday break! I have definitely used it to take some time off and simply relax. And holy cow, did the switch go off for me to take ALL of my Christmas decor down the second Christmas was over. My brain is already bubbling with tons of goals for 2018, and I need a clean slate!

Today, just as a way to give myself a little boost for the coming year, I thought it best to recap some of the changes that 2017 brought to the UDH. I often feel like the house makes such slow progress, and that can start to weigh on you after a while. So, recaps like these help to remind myself that even when I’m up to my ankles in sawdust, I DO have something to show for it!

I’m not going to base this list on anything other than my own opinion on what I liked best about 2017. I’m not looking at traffic stats or any of the usual bloggery yard sticks to say what was and was not “best” for the year. Instead, I am looking at what made the biggest impact to how I live everyday, what made me more confident with DIY, or things that taught me most. I think, realistically, that’s a much bigger deal than what was popular. So, here we go!

The Laundry Room Reveal and Plywood Countertop

I kicked off 2017 with a bang: my new, organized laundry room! I’ve done things like installing a new tile floor in previous years, but the laundry room got its finishing touches with lots of new plants, better storage, and even a new plywood countertop (as well as cleaning product storage that looks like decor).

Laying a Concrete Slab

Every year, I learn something new that makes me feel kinda badass. So even though it wasn’t really a huge transformation, my new concrete slab on the side of the house is worthy of recognition on this list. The fence that surrounds it was also finished in 2017 but not shared (in fact, there are a few things I always meant to post about but didn’t), so that will be something I will be revisiting soon.

Speaking of concrete and learning new things…

My Most Controversial Post – ??

Strangely, 2017 also included one of the most controversial posts I’ve ever written: trying out a product after one of my fence posts got knocked out of its footing (I know, *gasp* not a review!! the horror!). Not every new product to market performs to expectations, and DIY is all about experimenting and learning new things. I’ve shared posts like these several times over the years, but what surprised me about this one was the rampant, condescending (coughcoughsexistcough) comments from new visitors to the blog who didn’t appear to actually read the post. Definitely an unexpected result, to say the least, but it also taught me a lot on what I will (insightful questions) and won’t (posturing bullshit) make time for in the day.

5-Ingredient Spicy Chicken Quesadillas

For years, I’ve been averse to sharing recipes on the blog except for a few Christmas-related ones and family memories. But 2017 also spurred a new interested in nixing my pizza-ordering habit and eating a little better. That meant also cooking more at home. To kick off my new recipes section, I shared one of my easiest dinner/appetizer ideas with this 5-ingredient chicken quesadilla. I also introduced my contributor team around this time, which included more recipes!

Sooooo many backyard changes!

One of the most significant things that came from 2016 was a flatter backyard. So, after the sinkhole was filled in, it was like a lightbulb of inspiration: creating the new fire pit, adding a beautiful little corner garden of hydrangeas, ripping out the chain link fence, and the new addition for 2018: my pub shed! I have made a little more progress on it, so I’ll be sharing a new post on it and the goal is to finish in the first half of 2018. I am looking forward to year 2 and seeing how everything fills in this coming year… it will add SO much color!

DIY 2×4 Coffee Table (Cut in about 15 Minutes!)

I got rid of some old furniture this year, especially in the living room. So, along with my new sectional, I needed a new coffee table. Instead of buying, I chose to DIY as part of a fun 2×4 challenge. While this may not be my forever table (I’m holding out for a thick live-edge slab, but that is an investment), I loved how it turned out!

The Master Bathroom Shower Reveal and Crown Molding Hack

Guys, this was SO HUGE for me. The master bathroom has been a pain in the ass for years. I almost want to laugh at myself that a sponsor was responsible for kicking me into gear with more motivation to make some progress. Sometimes, you need an outside force to breathe new life into a project that frustrates you. As a result, I got a shimmery, beautiful new shower and learned a lot more about renovating a shower from start to finish. I’m also pretty proud with the outside-the-box (to me) shower curtain I DIY’d and the creative solution for the crown molding I figured out. Honestly, that’s another post I’m pretty proud of; but if it’s anything like several other tutorials I’ve created regarding home hacks, it will take a while before that one gets more eyeballs!

How I Create My Own Cross Stitch Patterns

Before this year, I didn’t really share that I love to cross stitch. But in this post, I covered a new fall pattern I created as well as my quick-and-dirty process for how I generate patterns. Note: I have a new Christmas one also starring my pup Charlie, but that will be shared soon! You can also subscribe to have access to my free patterns library where I add all the new patterns!

A Most Thankful Year

One of the best things you can do for yourself is to reflect on what you’re most thankful for. I did that in this post while celebrating the vow renewal of two of my closest friends in St. Lucia. Broken hearts, mental health, self-care, the value of true friendship, and more were touched on here. I think it’s one of my personal favorites of 2017 because it was so tough to find the right words. And I loved the way you guys responded to it and shared your own stories. Thank you for that. <3

DIY Plywood Wine Rack

It’s art. It’s woodworking. It’s functional. My wine rack is so many things that it was hard to figure out the title for the post! But my new wood-art-slash-wine-rack in the dining room was one of those projects where I worked hard on a single project for several weeks, learned new skills, and came out on the other side with something I’m really proud of. You can get the recap and download the free plans from my new woodworking plans library.

What was your favorite post that I shared in 2017? I can’t wait to share what’s in store for 2018. This time, I’m breaking out my colored pencils to draw up some of the makeover ideas. Art is going to be a considerable part of 2018!

Come back this weekend, too. I have a few posts to get under the wire before the new year. Happy holidays, friends!

You'll Also Love

Quick Ikea Hack: Barometer Work Lamp

Home Styling Ideas

Dining Room Mood Board

Nate Berkus Knockoff with East Coast Creative

.yuzo_related_post img{width:170px !important; height:170px !important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{line-height:14px;background:#ffffff !important;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover{background:#ffffff !important; -webkit-transition: background 0.2s linear; -moz-transition: background 0.2s linear; -o-transition: background 0.2s linear; transition: background 0.2s linear;;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a{color:#102a3b!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a:hover{ color:#113f5e}!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover a{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo__text--title{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post:hover .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{ margin: 0px 6px 0px 6px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; } jQuery(document).ready(function( $ ){ jQuery('.yuzo_related_post .yuzo_wraps').equalizer({ columns : '> div' }); });

The post Best Reveals of 2017 appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Best Reveals of 2017 published first on http://ift.tt/2qxZz2j

0 notes

bespokekitchesldn · 7 years ago

Text

Best Reveals of 2017

The Laundry Room Reveal and Plywood Countertop

Laying a Concrete Slab

Speaking of concrete and learning new things…

My Most Controversial Post – ??

5-Ingredient Spicy Chicken Quesadillas

Sooooo many backyard changes!

DIY 2×4 Coffee Table (Cut in about 15 Minutes!)

The Master Bathroom Shower Reveal and Crown Molding Hack

How I Create My Own Cross Stitch Patterns

A Most Thankful Year

DIY Plywood Wine Rack

Come back this weekend, too. I have a few posts to get under the wire before the new year. Happy holidays, friends!

You'll Also Love

Quick Ikea Hack: Barometer Work Lamp

Home Styling Ideas

Dining Room Mood Board

Nate Berkus Knockoff with East Coast Creative

The post Best Reveals of 2017 appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

from The Ugly Duckling House https://www.uglyducklinghouse.com/best-reveals-of-2017/

#The Ugly Duckling House

0 notes

soft-demon-bitch · 8 years ago

Text

I’ve been dabbling in visual art, music and writing all at once lately since I have no classes to keep busy with, and it’s been fun; however, in a week and a half, my class will start and I may have to cut back on my projects a bit. So, I’d like to offer a brief description of my current projects, and I will separate them by medium.

Most promising perhaps is the novel I have taken on along with a close friend. We’ve been sitting with the idea for about five years and we’ve decided to just go for it, since all these years later we are still in love with it. I am still trying to work out what my inspirations really are for the characters, but since it is a Young Adult novel I am trying to get back into reading a couple of those. I’m trying to avoid the more popular ones, however, such as the ones that now have movies based on them – ie, Paper Towns, the Perks of Being a Wallflower, or 13 Reasons Why. The themes in the novel most certainly will be similar, but I really don’t want to make something similar to any of these titles. They all have something about them that I really can’t stand, a sort of exaggerated quirkiness. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I do have critiques of the way these were written in particular:

-Paper Towns, I find the premise and the plot somewhat hard to believe and it therefore makes it hard for me to play along with, so to speak. I also find the main character a bit boring, and I know this can be done on purpose sometimes but it’s not a path I want to follow in my own writing.

-13 Reasons Why, I find it hard to explain why but I cannot stand this story or its characters, although to be fair I’ve only seen the show. It was poorly written in the sense that there was not enough shown about Hannah’s mental space leading up to her suicide,and she doesn’t really seem depressed, although I may be trying to project my own experiences too much in a place where they don’t fit. Boring main character, too.

-The Perks of Being a Wallflower, I actually quite like except I almost feel like the cultural references go overboard to the point where the hipsterism is stereotypical: they like the Smiths, the participate in Rocky Horror Picture Show every year, and the way the characters dress in the film, it’s all exactly the kind of quirkiness you can expect from a Tumblr user nowadays, not that that’s a bad thing. This one is more nit-picky and probably isn’t a real critique, but it was just an aspect of the story that I want to avoid recreating.

So, at its core, our novel – which for the time being is titled “Unravelled” although this may change as the book comes into existence – is another coming of age story, but written about the lives of three friends coming together and realizing that, though their lives were vastly different, they all dealt with some bad things in their past and had a lot in common and so they come together and form their own family. I’m very excited watching this story progress! I have a lot of editing and things that may need to be changed as we go on, but the fact that we’ve begun a first draft is still very exciting to me! Watching these characters come to life is honestly a privilege.

As for my music, I have finished one group of songs which I would consider an album I’ve lovingly called “Pluto in Scorpio.” I’ve already started writing lyrics for a new group of songs. I write lyrics first, since I’m not actually very musically inclined in terms of musical theory, although for my new group of songs I want to make them sound better. I feel like Pluto in Scorpio are the songs I just had to get off my chest, they’re very simple and a bit garage sounding. I had to make them to get them out of the way, and maybe now I’ll be able to put more effort into my next batch of songs.

The Pluto in Scorpio songs are currently set to private on my Bandcamp account as I wanted my favourites to hopefully premier in music videos, as part of a vision I have for the songs. Whether or not I get around to making videos, I’m not sure. If I do make videos or decide to release the album, I’ll make a post here to share them with my readers. I’ll also be making posts for what music I’m inspired by as I work on my songs, and maybe even one for what songs inspired Pluto in Scorpio.

Lastly, I have been doing some painting and drawing lately. I’d like to do a more in-depth post about my inspirations for my drawings and paintings in the future, so I won’t say too much now. I’ll just say I’m a big fan of Bob Ross’s the Joy of Painting, and of Frida Kahlo. Here’s a couple drawings and paintings from the past month though:

#gallery-0-4 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-4 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-4 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-4 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Girl with green hair smoking with smoke friend

Doodles for album cover of Pluto in Scorpio (these aren’t the final cuts, and may be the cover for the next album)

Sunset with pelicans and island

Caribbean sunset with palm trees and sea turtles

So, this is what I have going on at the moment. I’ll be updating my projects here as well as talking about my current inspirations for whatever I’m working on. My next post should be about inspirations, probably my drawing and painting ones will appear here first but I’ll have to see what I end up working on in the next few days.

Thanks for reading! Live well!

A-M

Where I’m At and With What I've been dabbling in visual art, music and writing all at once lately since I have no classes to keep busy with, and it's been fun; however, in a week and a half, my class will start and I may have to cut back on my projects a bit.

#art #featured #introduction #music #writing

0 notes