Top 10 Posts of 2017

As I write this post I’m currently curled up in bed with a giant bowl of soup and a house full of sick kiddos. You guys, we all have the flu. The real deal, type A influenza and let me tell you–it’s a butt kicker. Even sweet Ava Pearl got it. She came down with a fever a few days ago, so we took her in right away and thank goodness we did. She tested positive for the flu and we were able to get her on tamiflu right away, which has worked amazingly well on her so far. Unfortunately the other kiddos didn’t get tamiflu in time and they’ve been hit hard. It all started right before Christmas and it’s been a solid week of high fevers, awful coughs, and basically zero energy for both of them. I can’t even stand to see my sweet kids so sick. It’s been absolutely awful, you guys. I’ve literally only left my house 3 times this week and that was to go to the doctor and the pharmacy. This is our first time ever dealing with the real, full blown flu and it is wicked stuff. It’s been rough to say the least and I’d sure appreciate any prayers you can send our way. I’m hoping things get back to normal around here soon, but in the meantime I wanted to take a look back at all my content in 2017 and share the top 10 most popular posts. I did this last year too and it was a lot of fun. I go to my analytics and break down the numbers for each post to figure out which ones did really well–and even which ones didn’t do so hot. It’s actually really interesting to see what you guys loved from the past year and it’s also super helpful for me to figure out you all want to see. All righty, let’s get into it!

1. Annie Sloan vs Rust-Oleum Chalk Paint–a review & side-by-side comparison.

My review and comparison of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint versus Rust-Oleum was a huge hit. It was my #1 most popular post of the entire year. You guys loved it so much and it was actually super interesting to see how these two chalk paints compare. It was super popular, so now I’m thinking about doing another post similar to this one!

2. My Trip to Magnolia & What to Know if You Visit

In March my husband and I visited Magnolia Market in Waco, Texas (definitely one of my favorite parts of 2017!) and I shared a full recap of the experience in this post. I also shared a few things to know if you ever visit, as well as a surprising lesson I learned while I was there. I loved writing this post and it continues to be very popular on LVN.

3. Easy DIY Farmhouse Style Candlesticks

My easy tutorial for these simple farmhouse style candlesticks was a surprising hit with you guys. I said these were the easiest DIY candlesticks in all the land when I first posted this and I still stand by that claim today. They are sooooo easy and fast. And pretty darn cute too. I need to make more of these pronto.

4. Five Quick Tips for a Farmhouse Style Vignette

I shared this post with pointers for styling a vignette back in April. I had so much fun putting this one together and you guys seemed to love it too. These tips are helpful if you’re styling a few goodies on your coffee table, dining table, or even on some shelves.

5. DIY Drop Cloth Curtain Tutorial

I always get sooooo many questions about the drop cloth curtains I have scattered through our home, so when I decided to do this step-by-step tutorial I was hoping it would be helpful for you guys. They really are super simple and I think they would look great in any home.

6. Five Ways to Remove that Musty Smell from Antique Furniture

I was honestly surprised to see this post in the top 10, but apparently you guys really liked these easy tips on how to remove that funky, nursing home-ish smell from your antique furniture!

7. Where to Find Vintage Decor on a Budget

I know you guys love vintage finds as much as I do. So I’m not surprised that this post about where to find vintage decor on a budget was so popular. I shared my best tips and pointers for shopping at yard sales, thirst stores and everything in between. And you might even be surprised to see where I find a lot of my vintage inspired goodies!

8. Modern Farmhouse Playroom Makeover

The makeover I did in our playroom back in April was such a fun project. My kids loved it and you guys did too! The before and after on this one was pretty great and I’m just so glad we did this after talking about it for months. It’s been such an awesome play area for the kids. And it’s so darn cute too.

9. Three Tips to Get Started with Farmhouse Style

In this post I shard three super basic and simple tips that are surefire ways to get started with farmhouse style. This is a great place to start if you’re new to the neutral/farmhouse/cottage look and trying to transition in that direction. I love writing post like this because I’ve come a long way in my own style and I love sharing how I did it.

10. Our Cottage Kitchen Makeover

The renovation of our outdated kitchen was definitely my favorite project from this past year. It was something we started early in the year and it took us just about the entire year to finish. It was a slow process, but totally worth it. I still can’t believe we finished it because it was honestly one of those projects I never thought would happen. I looooooove it.

Well I hope you enjoyed this roundup of my top ten most popular posts from the last year. (You guys also really loved my shopping roundups/guides as well, but I didn’t include those in this list.) I’d love to hear which post from the last year was your favorite. And I’m always interested to hear what kind of content you’d like to see moving forward. I have lots of new and fun things in mind for 2018, but I’d love your input too. Spill the beans, I’m all ears.

Thanks so much for dropping by today. Now I’m off to take care of these sweet babies and stress eat my leftover Christmas chocolate!