Our Most Popular Posts of the Year
With just two weeks left in 2020, I thought I’d share the most popular posts on the Grit and Polish from the past year. This one was certainly a doozy. We all felt that and we’re just thankful to be here at the end of it. But even in the midst of this terrible/hard/crazy year, we did find some positives, and this post represents a lot of those.
This year we welcomed a flock of chickens to the Farmhouse, built a coop, finished the pantry, rethought the living room, rethought selling our house, ate more sourdough than I thought possible, and started on the Poplar Cottage remodel. It wasn’t an easy year by any means - we second guessed owned rentals more in the past 10 months than we have in the previous 10 years and being small-business owners and landlords meant a lot of sleepless, anxiety-filled nights. But 2020 wasn’t easy for anyone and we are incredibly fortunate to be here at the tail end of it with our health, family, home, and business in tact. We’re counting our blessings and feeling optimistic for 2021!
Now let’s get to the list. Below I’m sharing just the beginning of each post with a photo so click through if you want to see the whole thing. BTW this list doesn’t include any of the Happy Friday posts and other people’s home tours. And let me just say that I’m shocked (shocked!) by the most popular post of the year. Who would have guessed that the top four posts on a home/renovation blog would have zero to do with old houses and renovating?! Alright, let’s get to it…
Ten // How to paint cabinets by hand
Over the weekend, we painted the pantry cabinets. The Farmhouse is the 9th kitchen where we’ve painted cabinets and we’ve learned a lot each time. So today we’re sharing a DIY on our process for hand-painting cabinets. We’ll talk about when and why we hand paint instead of spraying, our best tips and tricks to get, and share this much-requested tutorial… read the post here
Nine // Farmhouse living room
Our Farmhouse living room is a grand space with large windows, 100-year-old millwork, and giant pocket doors and I’ve never felt like I’d been doing it justice. Over the past four years I tried 3 couches in here, a dozen or more furniture placements, swapped out rugs and tables, and generally scratched my head over it. I’ve struggled with this space (as much as decorating a room can ever be a struggle anyway). But I think, maybe…finally…this room is coming together… read the post here
Eight // Our Biggest Regret from the Farmhouse Garden Remodel
It’s hard to believe our garden is only one year old! But this Spring marks just one year since we started building out this space in the existing deer fence on our property. The garden become such a big part of how we live at the Farmhouse. And for the record, we LOVE how it turned out - we basically live out here in the warmer months. But we did make one mistake when building this space.… read the post here
Seven // Our 2020 Farmhouse Tour
Last week, with the house still tidy from our magazine shoot, we decided to film a quick video tour. Lots of you have requested a walk through before, but somehow we’ve never gotten around to it. Today we’re excited to open our virtual doors and welcome you inside… read more here
Six // Farmhouse kitchen budget breakdown
Last month we shared our Farmhouse kitchen reveal and today I wanted to breakdown the budget. We’ve done a lot of kitchen remodels over the past decade at a variety of price points, and this one rang in at the most. But… read the post here
Five // Butlers pantry reveal
Our Farmhouse pantry is done and today we’re sharing every last detail! The pantry is an extension of our kitchen (which we wrapped up in December) and we DIYed every last inch of it. Yes, Garrett even fabricated the curved marble backsplash, which still makes my heart flutter. This has been a really fun project to work on and we’re so grateful for all your support and encouragement along the way! Seriously, you guys make remodeling more fun! Now about that butler’s pantry… read the post here
Four // How to remove stains from marble
You guys know we love honed marble countertops, but unfortunately they do get stains from time to time. I found a couple stains earlier this month and I thought it would be a great opportunity to share Garrett’s super simple, homemade poultice recipe… read the post here
Three // Let’s make sourdough
Today I wanted to talk about one of my favorite things…sourdough bread! With so many people stuck at home right now, anxiously wishing this pandemic away, I thought sourdough might be just the thing. Not only is the bread delicious and nutritious, but the process of making it is calming and joyous and full of that everyday magic we could all use a little of right now… read the post here
Two // The pandemic and our best laid plans
We’re nearing the 4-year mark at our Farmhouse (next month!) and that’s the longest Garrett and I have lived anywhere since we left our family homes at 18. But if you had asked either of us at the beginning of 2020 what’s next, we would have told you we were going to sell our Farmhouse and move this year. That’s probably a bit of a shock to some of you… read the post here
One // Going Gray
Almost two years ago, I started growing out my gray hair. I had been been dying it for almost 20 years and was fed up with the constant dye/grow-out cycle. So I decided to quit the salon and let my natural color grow in. It’s been a process… read the post here
And that’s it! Thanks for being here this year. Thanks for all the support and encouragement and likes, comments, and shares along the way. It means the world to us!
Come back on Wednesday for a good old-fashioned holiday cookie swap. Happy holidays!
