It’s that time again — a quick look back at everything we tackled this month, plus a few surprises and some links collected in one convenient place. This month felt especially busy: we painted, organized, built, rearranged, crafted, made art, upholstered furniture, installed light fixtures, coded, ORBed (yes, that’s a category now), and yes, broke a few things along the way. Here’s our month in superlatives — a little yearbook-style roundup of highlights and oddities.
Most Illuminating: Clipping 320 clothespins into place to create our laundry room’s clothespin chandelier for our first-ever Pinterest Challenge. Scroll to the bottom of that post to see over 500 other Pinterest Challenge projects submitted by readers — so much creativity!
Most Spoiled: Potato-stamping a playful pattern inside Clara’s closet-turned-reading-nook. A small project that brought big charm to her space.
Most Likely to Get Mariah Carey’s Approval: A free butterfly artwork I made from a flyer picked up on a trip to Natural Bridge, VA — simple materials, sweet result.
Most Likely to Win Carrie Bradshaw’s Approval: Adding shoe storage to our laundry room using Ikea recycling bins. Practical and stylish — though Carrie would probably need a hundred for all her Manolos.
So Fresh & So Clean: Completing our laundry room makeover. One room down and feeling accomplished.
Most Likely to Start a Pillow Addiction: Me — I scored striped pillows at HomeGoods for $9 each and couldn’t resist. I also made free art from paint chips, which felt delightfully therapeutic.
Clumsiest: John, who managed to break a light fixture cover while swapping a hallway fixture. Oops.
Most Hard-Working: Our new Effektiv storage unit from Ikea, now home to files, the printer, and various office supplies — small but mighty.
Most Debonair: Giving that Effektiv unit a grown-up finish with black glass handles. A subtle detail that elevated the whole piece.
ORB of the Month: Sprucing up our mailbox with an oil-rubbed bronze finish and tackling several outdoor maintenance tasks to make the yard look less neglected. Progress, not perfection.
ORB Runner-Up: Giving several door handles — including the front door hardware — a fresh look. Small changes, big difference.
Most Cheerful: Painting the front door a sunny yellow. It genuinely feels like the house is smiling when we pull up.
Most Likely to Stockpile Swedish Things: Us, after our first Ikea trip since John’s parents moved away. That store suddenly feels extra precious.
Worst Dressed: A candid video tour of our messy house — honest and unvarnished, with some old photos mixed in.
Most Likely to Get Worms: Building a compost bin from leftover shipping pallets. Our garden soil is already thanking us.
Most Likely to Rock: The rocking chair I finally painted and reupholstered after it sat unfinished for nearly a year. Persistence pays off.
Most Pictures in a Single Post: Our visual comparison of the new house versus the old one — so many images that the site briefly went down. Lesson learned about image-heavy posts.
Best “Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day” Reminder: A look back at our first house eight months in and how little we’d accomplished then. It’s good to remember progress takes time.
Best Moves: Rearranging Clara’s furniture to solve a crib-in-front-of-vent problem — a small change that made the room work better.
Worst Moves: Rearranging our office furniture in preparation for a makeover, which didn’t work as planned. It’s all part of the process; at least it pointed us in the right direction.
Thrill of the Hunt: Scouring stores for cabinets to turn into a built-in office desk — shopping with a dog and a baby in tow added to the adventure.
Petersik’s Believe It or Not!: Finding six cabinets at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Alexandria for the unbelievably low price of six dollars (technically $6.30 with tax). Score.
Most Destined for Greatness: Our office cabinets, which we sanded and primed and are preparing to paint glossy white. We can’t wait to show the finished result.
Most Likely to Be From New Jersey: Me, apparently, based on my fondness for glittery pine cones and crafting leaf-themed decorations for my cousin’s bridal shower. Also, I sorted M&Ms by color like a dedicated enthusiast.
Biggest Jerk: Hurricane Irene, which damaged our neighborhood. The fallen tree on our neighbor’s roof was finally removed and they’re in good spirits, but there’s still a lot of repair work ahead. Thanks to everyone who checked in.
Most Overdue: Updating our blog theme for the first time in over three years. We tried a few initial designs, ultimately choosing a gray heart background and a simplified header that felt cleaner and more timeless.
Cutest Couple: Clara and her cousin John cuddling up after the storm — sweetness in the middle of chaos.
So there you have it: August at a glance. This round of superlatives was just as fun as last month’s inaugural post. What did you do this month? Have you ever made a list of accomplishments to look back on? Taking a moment to celebrate what you’ve already done — even for a minute — feels good. We were all over the house this month (nearly every room got some attention). Call it spreading the love, or creative chaos — either way, we’ll take it.
Psst — you can check out July’s superlatives here.