Hello hello hello lovely and dear friends! I hope you all had an absolutely wonderful Christmas, and HAPPY BEAUTIFUL NEW YEAR!!
I totally fell off the face of the earth, or at least the face of the blogosphere! Way back on December 11 I drove up to Vermont to pick up my son Peter for Christmas break (8 hours driving time round trip) and on the way home I was struck like lightning with the flu. I completely lost my voice for 6 days and was forced to be quiet and lay low for once – surely a heaven sent intermission from my normal pace of working late into the night, getting up early and fueling my days with lots of coffee! Online shopping and choosing to let some things go were saving graces (like sending out Christmas cards – the first time I skipped this tradition in 19 years of motherhood, and we all survived without them!)
Our family from New York came to stay with us for Christmas and our house was filled with lots of laughter, shenanigans, eating and drinking. DIY projects were put on the back burner and I took a little vacation from blogging (and social media, which I cannot recommend enough!!)
After that much needed break I am SO fired up for the new year and some really fun projects on the horizon, starting with a makeover of this little blog that is currently underway!! Before we get to 2018 though, an ode to the past year here on Shine Your Light!
My personal favorite DIY “project” of the year was helping my beloved niece Angela and her now husband Chad with some of the details for their beautiful Cape Cod wedding last summer! I love this girl so much and it was a joy to plan and celebrate this day with her.
Photo by Matt Surette (such a talented photographer – more to come of his work.)
I painted and relined my mom’s old silverware box for my mom to give Angela for her bridal shower along with this stamped vintage flatware we found on Etsy.
Read the step-by-step tutorial for making over an musty old wooden box here:
The new soft navy lining now holds Angela and Chad’s serving pieces.
I also put my old event planning skills to use and created a framed seating chart, table name cards, and gilded programs and menus for each place setting – I’ll share all the tutorials soon!
Now onto reader favorites for posts this year!
The Exterior Before & Afters Our 80s House
How To Give An Ikea Lantern A Brass And Mercury Glass Makeover
The Best Products To Buy At Ikea
The Fall Into The Holidays series was fun in October and November!
Creating A Coffee Station In The Kitchen
And I always look forward to the monthly My Five Favorites posts!!
5 Ways To Organize Your Garage
Catch up on all the MFF posts here and don’t miss a new one next week on organizing room by room, with a super fun guest host you are going to love!!!!
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Coastal-Inspired Bathroom Reveal
My 6 week One Room Challenge turned into 14 weeks, but it was worth it to get this room done! A couple of popular tutorials from this makeover:
Marble Herringbone Tiled Bathroom Floor
How To Make An Oyster Shell Mirror
How To Makeover A Coffee Table – Another Liming Technique
Stripping and refinishing the top gave one of my favorite pieces of furniture a new lease on life!
How To Adapt Ikea Lampshades To Non-Ikea Lamps (and fix other crooked lampshades too!)
How To Make A Ginormous Piece Of Art With Your Own Photo
It’s been a fun year of big and little projects and I’m excited for what we’ve got cooking for the new year!I am so very grateful to each and every one of you for stopping by from time to time, leaving kind comments and making Shine Your Light such a happy little place!
Wishing you and your loved ones a year ahead filled with good health, new adventures, laughter and peace!
Love to you all,
Jillian says
Such great work, Lisa! I can’t wait to see what 2018 holds for Shine Your Light!
Lisa says
Thanks so much Jillian! Hope to see you this year!
cassie bustamante says
so many awesome projects, lisa! i loved the bathroom!!! can’t wait to kick some booty in 2018!
Lisa says
The beginning of the year is so full of new adventures and ideas isn’t it? I just love how much possibility January holds!
Stacy says
Happy New Year! Welcome Back.
Can’t wait to see what 2018 has waiting for you…
Lisa says
Thank you Stacy and HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Julia@Cuckoo4Design says
So many great projects. How did I miss that amazing silverware box? I also skipped Christmas cards for the first time ever. Happy New Year and cheers to 2018
Lisa says
I must admit I was a little sad about not pulling together Christmas cards…..I promised myself I’d get them done early this year…..like in August 🙂 Happy New Year Julia! Look forward to seeing what you’re up to this year!