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Updated: Oct 18, 2021 by Kris Jarrett

Best of Driven by Decor 2019

Happy new year!! How were your holidays? We spent ours down at our new house in North Carolina with my extended family and Jeff’s dad. It was in the upper 60’s and sunny almost our entire stay – heaven! The trips we’ve had down to NC since buying the house in September have mainly involved painting, putting furniture together, and removing wallpaper so it was really nice to just spend some time relaxing this trip. Now we’re back home in Connecticut and I’m ready to jump into some decluttering and organizing projects for the new year!

Before sharing the first of my 2020 posts, I’d love to take a look back on 2019 and share the posts that were reader faves! If you’re new to Driven by Decor, now’s the perfect time to get caught up on the blog and if you’re a long-time follower (thank you, I so appreciate it!), you might just find a post or two that you missed along the way. Let’s get to it… (affiliate links included in post – full disclosure statement available {here})

Favorite Decorating Tips

I love sharing decorating tips and tricks and they tend to be some of your favorite posts! For 2019 the most popular decorating tips posts was {this post} where I share my favorite coffee table decor along with helpful styling tips!

Great post on coffee table decor with tips for styling your own!

Scroll & Click/Tap to Shop my Family Room Coffee Table + Decor:

 

Another popular decorating tips post was {this post} on ten favorite greige paint colors that includes real-life images of each color. I wrote it when I was trying to figure out the best greige to lighten up our living room – can you guess which one I picked after narrowing it down to these four?:

Such a great comparison of Worldly Gray, Anew Gray, Revere Pewter, and Agreeable Gray

Other decorating tips posts from 2019 include {this post} on how to space pendants over your kitchen island, {this post} on bed-making 101, {this post} on how to clean your stainless steel appliances, and {this post} on the best way to paint interior and exterior doors.

 

Favorite Room Makeover

The reader favorite room makeover in 2019 was our laundry room! I had totally neglected this sad little space ever since we moved in and now I’m wishing it was one of the spaces I had done first since it didn’t take a ton of work to make a big difference. It’s a pretty standard, small laundry room – previously, when you walked in and looked left there was nothing but a washer and dryer:

Our laundry room before its makeover!

We added a butcher block countertop above the washer and dryer which has been awesome for folding laundry (and sometimes just having a spot to throw clean laundry until I have time to get to it!). We also had some inexpensive IKEA cabinets installed for some much-needed storage space (I added {these acrylic and brass pulls} to dress them up) and then I prettied up the space with {these super cute tangerine wall decals} (see {this post} for details of how to apply them!):

These vinyl wall decals are such a cute and easy way to dress up a space like this laundry room!

Scroll & Click/Tap to Shop my Laundry Room:

 

Across from our washer and dryer, there’s a recessed area that previously had some simple open shelving – the only “before” pic I have of it is this one that I took when we toured our house when it was for sale:

The "before" of the space that became our coat closet

I removed the door going into the laundry room to make the space easier to access (our laundry room is tucked away in a corner of our house so I wasn’t worried about going door-less) and added three IKEA PAX wardrobes. I customized them with storage space for gloves, scarves, etc. in {these baskets} at the top, coats on clever space-saving pull out racks in the middle, and shoes in drawers at the bottom (see {this post} with all the details on our IKEA coat/shoe storage):

LOVE how she used IKEA Pax wardrobes to create this coat closet with drawers for shoe storage!

We have no coat closet on our first floor and use to just hang our coats on hooks by the door so having this coat and shoe storage has been big! I also added a bunch of great organizational features to it, including {this over-the-door ironing board hanger} and {this narrow rolling cart} between our washer and dryer that has worked so well for storing our laundry supplies so that they’re quick and easy to grab – you can see all of my laundry room storage and organization tips in {this post}.

 

Favorite DIY Project

The makeover of my daughters’ bathroom vanity was your favorite DIY project of the year. If you have a dated vanity that you don’t want to pay to have replaced, it’s a post you’ll want to take a look at if you missed it! Here’s what my girls’ vanity looked like before jumping into this project:

The "before" and "after of painting our bathroom vanity!

And here’s the new look after painting both the vanity and the walls:

Painting our bathroom vanity made SUCH a difference! Come see the before and after!

So much better! You can find the step by step tutorial for painting my bathroom vanity {here} – it was really much easier to do than you might think! Do you know what was also super easy and something I should have done years ago? I replaced the glass shades on the light above their mirror with {these shades} and it instantly took their light fixture from looking dated to current!

 

Favorite Organizing Projects

I’m going to cheat on this one and share two favorites since they were neck and neck for reader views! The first is this organized command center that I created in one of our kitchen island drawers:

Love the idea of a smaller rolling drawer within the larger drawers of this kitchen island!

Scroll & Click/Tap to Shop my Kitchen:

 

Instead of a jumbled junk drawer of crap, I now have an organized spot where I file papers I’m working on (bills, to-do’s, etc.) and can grab everything from my keys to pens, paperclips, hair bands, and tape – get all of the details and links in {this post}:

So smart! Hidden kitchen command center organized in a shallow kitchen drawer!

Scroll & Click/Tap to Shop my Command Center Drawer:

 

The other organizing project that was a hit is my post about how to handle and organize your incoming mail and put an end to your mail clutter! I shared tips for how to stop extra junk mail, get informed about mail and packages that are heading your way, and how to sort it on the spot once it comes into your house. You can check out my post on creating a simple home mail organizer center {here}.

This organizing station with a desktop mail organizer is so smart for organizing your mails and bills!

Scroll & Click/Tap to Shop my Mail Organizer Center:

 

Favorite New Home Accessories

I narrowed down my 2019 home purchases to three favorites – first is {this nightstand} that I bought for our guest room in North Carolina. I absolutely love the look of it and it’s a sturdy, well-made piece:

Super cute white nightstand - details are linked in the post!

I’m also a big fan of {this lamp with a USB port built into the base} that’s sitting on top of it. It comes with the shade and looks great everywhere you put it! You can see more of this bedroom and get other sources for it {here}.

Favorite accessory #2 is {this round wood tray} that I use to corral bedside essentials in our Connecticut guest room:

The perfect round tray to corral bedside essentials on the nightstand! Source linked in post!

and I have a second one to corral a few things next to the stove in our kitchen. Love them so much!

My favorite round wood beaded tray is back in stock!! Linked in post!

Favorite accessory #3 is {this new upholstered bed} I bought for our guest room. I love it because it goes well with any bedding you choose and is such a high-end looking bed for the price!

Our guest bedroom makeover!

Scroll & Click/Tap to Shop our Guest Room:

 

There are several fabric options to choose from – I went with Zuma White. I love it so much that I bought the same exact bed in the king size for our master bedroom in North Carolina. I forgot to take a pic of it before we left (we just put it together a few days ago) but will show you the next time I’m down there!

 

My Personal Fave

My personal favorite project and post of the year was the makeover of my daughter’s dorm room – you can see it {here} if you missed it! The two of us had a lot of fun working on the design of this space together and I love knowing that she has this pretty little home away from home to come back to every day 🙂

Loving this boho chic dorm room - so many great girls dorm room ideas!!

Thank you all so much for stopping by the blog throughout 2019 – I look forward to lots of new projects, room reveals (can’t wait for our master bathroom to be done!), tips, and DIYs in 2020. If you have any ideas for posts that you’d love to see in 2020, I would love to hear them – let me know in the comments!

And if you aren’t already subscribed to get notified of new posts on Driven by Decor by email, now’s the perfect time to do that too! It’s typically only 1-2 emails/week, you can unsubscribe at any time, and you’ll no longer miss posts or miss out on favorite new finds (I always feature several in each post) by not catching them before they’re sold out. CLICK {HERE} TO SUBSCRIBE!

Happy new year everyone!

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Comments

  1. Nancy Highland says

    January 01, 2020 at 11:37 am

    Have you ever done a post on decorating a fireplace mantel? We just moved into a house with a fireplace, which I never have had, and would love some tips. Thanks so much and Happy New Year!

    Reply
    • Kris Jarrett says

      January 06, 2020 at 10:01 pm

      That’s a great idea for a post – thank you and happy new year!

      Reply
  2. Karen B. says

    January 02, 2020 at 11:55 pm

    Karen
    I admit that the above favorites are some of my favorites of your posts. I always come away with inspiration and loads of resources to use when doing things to our home. I hope 2020 is a wonderful year for you…two houses to design will keep you busy.
    xo,
    Karen

    Reply
    • Kris Jarrett says

      January 06, 2020 at 10:00 pm

      Karen I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your support throughout the year! Wishing you much happiness in 2020!

      Reply
  3. Beverly says

    January 05, 2020 at 5:01 pm

    Hi Kris,

    Could you tell me the color of the paint that you’re using to do your new house in North Carolina. I take it’s a favorite!

    Reply
    • Kris Jarrett says

      January 06, 2020 at 9:59 pm

      Sure – I’m painting everything Benjamin Moore Simply White!

      Reply
  4. Liza says

    January 10, 2020 at 8:31 pm

    Have you done a post on multi-purpose decor or furnishings? We’re relatively limited on space so I have to think about using multi-purpose items (e.g., ottoman that’s also a table and storage)

    Reply
    • Kris Jarrett says

      January 13, 2020 at 10:00 pm

      I haven’t – that’s a great post idea! Thanks!

      Reply
  5. Gloria Evans says

    September 18, 2020 at 10:41 am

    Hi Kris;

    Looking for a pic of the rug you have on your porch in NC. Loved it, but can’t seem to find a pic of it again. Thanks.

    Reply
    • Kris Jarrett says

      September 18, 2020 at 11:36 am

      I think this is the one you’re looking for: https://www.drivenbydecor.com/back-porch-ideas/

      Reply
  6. Minu says

    November 29, 2020 at 10:05 am

    Thank you.I am glad to find you.

    Reply

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