Mop It Up Mondays #48 {New Year's Eve Edition}

It's the BIGGEST party day of the year! And I'm so happy it fell on a Monday! Grab your party hats and get ready to countdown to some FUN!

Instead of the usual features, I have compiled the top twelve features from the entire year of Mop it Up Mondays {as selected by YOU, the readers}! To check them out, click below:

**SPECIAL NEW YEAR'S EVE PARTY RULES**

- Link up recent projects/recipes AND...
- Also link up your FAVORITE/MOST LOVED posts from 2012 {as many as you like...it's a New Year's Eve party after all, the more the merrier!}
- Visit others' projects and recipes as well...and leave a little comment love while you're there!
- Join us on Facebook (not mandatory, but we feature lots of your projects on Sunday evenings & Mondays):

http://www.facebook.com/ishouldbemoppingthefloor

Thanks so much for stopping by! Be sure to come back on Tuesday to check out my personal top ten favorites from today's party.

{Not sure what a linky party is? It's a virtual party for bloggers to share their creativity with others out there. If you have any questions about what/how/why we linky, let me know and I'll do my best to give you a good answer.}

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Friday's Freebie: 2013 Printable Calendar

I've been putting together calendars for myself for years...I love these at-a-glance ones that are easy to stick to the insides of cabinet doors, etc., for a quick reference. Hard to believe 2012 is already over! Here's wishing you a fabulous new year!

To download, please click on the image below:

{kindly give a blog follow before downloading any of my free printables...please and thank you}

To see all of my free printables, click here.

For information on getting the most out of a free printable, 

click here {includes extensive printing tips and ideas}.

{i linky-party here}

The Best of Mop It Up Monday Features from 2012 {Reader Favorites}

It's been such a FUN and FABULOUS year of Mop It Up Mondays!
I thought it would be fun to compile the top twelve reader favorite features from the year...the top pick from each month is featured below! Thank you all for partying with me...you make it a BLAST! Feel free to grab a button if you were featured today or in a previous Mop It Up Monday or Tuesday Ten:

<center> <a href="http://www.ishouldbemoppingthefloor.com" target="_blank"><img alt="mop it up mondays feature" src="http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd281/mrsdaviddominguez/button4.jpg"/></a></center>

{January's Top Clicked Feature}:

Library Reveal from Thrifty Decor Mom

{February's Top Clicked Feature}:
Cranberry Orange Chicken from Amee’s Savory Dish

{March's Top Clicked Feature}:
Chore Ring for Earning Money from Meaningful Mama

{April's Top Clicked Feature}:
Sweet & Savoury Compound Butters from Salt Tree

{May's Top Clicked Feature}:
And then there was light...turning a lampshade into a pendant from Owen’s Olivia 

{June's Top Clicked Feature}:
Macrame Memories from Remastered Relics

{July's Top Clicked Feature}:

Laundry Room Makeover from Six Cents

{August's Top Clicked Feature}:
DIY School Room Chairs Makeover from Raising the Gang Our Way

{September's Top Clicked Feature}:
Cinnamon Swirl Pumpkin Bread with Cinnamon Glaze from Eat Cake for Dinner

{October's Top Clicked Feature}:
Brown Bird Beautiful from Mrs. White Twig and Tea

{November's Top Clicked Feature}:
28 Freezer Meals in One Day from Learning the Ropes...One Recipe at a Time 

{December's Top Clicked Feature}:
Glass Christmas Trees from Alderberry Hill

{i linky-party here}

Top 12 of 2012

 

How is it already the end of December? What a fun and busy year it's been. 

The following are my top twelve posts from 2012...according to you! 

I used my Lijit.com stats to determine your faves. I still can't get over that this first one is such a "winner". But, I'm glad I'm not alone in my absurdities. 

I can't wait to show you all what we're busy working on right now! It will be one of my first 2013 posts...along with an amazing give away I have coming up in January. 

But for now...here's a look back:

#1: Stomach Bug Prevention Tip

{Hilarious...not only is this #1 of 2012...it's #1 of all-time, comment and visit wise. WEIRD.}

#2: Kitchen Island Transformation

#3: Pallet heART Tutorial

#4 DIY Kitchen Countertops 

#5: DIY Crate Tutorial 

#6: Twenty Slow Cooker Soups

 

#7: No-Sew Faux Roman Shades 

#8: Our New "Wood" Floors 

#9: Hand-Painted Sign Tutorial 

#10 Pantry Overhaul 

#11: Painting Upholstered Furniture 

#12: Dining Room Makeover on a Budget

{i linky-party here}

Happy Holidays!

Warmest Holiday Wishes to You and Yours.

{Below is our holiday posting schedule.}

Magnolian Inspiration {or....how i'd like to diy my home into a fabulous boutique hotel}

{photo source}

By no means do I consider myself a well-traveled individual. But, I am a bit of a hotel-nut. My husband both speaks at and attends education conferences from time to time. Often times, I travel along...with a loaded Kindle, a blank agenda and my camera {and sometimes these two boys that keep calling me mom}. This has been a great opportunity to stay in some beautiful hotels that we normally wouldn't {helloooo, we're more of a Hampton-budget family...so being upgraded to an Omni or Hilton is pretty swanky for us}. 

But a couple of weeks ago, we got away on a non-business trip {and sans kids, too}. My husband planned 90% of the three-nighter. It was to celebrate our 10th anniversary, so he did it up in style! He's a keeper, y'all. When I asked which Hampton we would stay in, I got one heck of an eye-roll. He had some bigger and better plans. And I was a lucky girl.

He happened upon a FABULOUS boutique hotel, The Magnolia, through some search engine or another. He found a great package deal and we were off for a wonderful time in downtown Houston. BTW, if you're in the market for a nice getaway, I highly recommend staying in a downtown urban area where you can walk to both entertainment and restaurants...it's so fun. We only got our car out once the entire time. 

--

One thing I didn't expect {but was pleasantly surprised by} was the decor of the hotel...it was beautiful and completely INSPIRING to a DIYer like myself. 

The lobby's fireplace had me at hello.
Those padded walls would be FUN to replicate. And probably not too difficult either.
I've always said I should be locked up in a padded room somewhere...
this is the kind of padded room I meant, of course.

While the hotel was in all-out holiday decor mode, I'm pretty sure these beautiful pendants are up year round {at least, I think they are/should be}. I love how they mixed it all up. And I love how the light and colors bounce off that urban-feeling metal backdrop

This was a little side area in the lobby.
So many things to swoon over in such a small, but well-done space:

• That textured/patterned wall treatment could easily be DIYed in a stencil. Loving the silver over teal.
• LOVE the back-lit Texas wall-object {I sound like a moron...what do you call that?}. I'm about to have to place a call to my dad to come wire up a wall so I can do something like this. How fun and unexpected would this be in a home? 
• Love the long, skinny bar-height table.
• Metal baseboards...yes, please.
• And that light fixture....

I adore the fixture so much. Love the length over the long bar. Love the mini-drum fixtures. Love their circle details. Gah. Gotta have one.

This was in the elevator area.

• Loving the postion of the three large canvases over the couch.
• The end tables are beautiful.
• Don't get me started on those mirrored/acrylic lamps. My brain is already halfway to formulating how I will DIY my own.
• Annnnd....the coffee table:

Where is that jigsaw of mine?
I can totally see a knock-off of this one ASAP.
I think some MDF, a nice glaze finish and a couple of days...and I'm there!

This little drum table is presh.
I could see doing this with cut up pieces of PVC pipe painted with the plastic-safe spray paint in a dark brown. Then attached together to form something similar.

Nothing like a good hotel-lobby Christmas tree...gorgeous.
Love the lime green.
I also love how every wall in this place is back-lit, up-lit and everything in-between.
I'm all over that.

Another pretty little tree.
Minimal ornaments. Maximum foliage and ribbon. Yes.

My husband was in LOVE with the textured elevator walls.
I took some super high res photos of this in hopes of blowing it up, printing and mod podging it to something for him. Tabletop? Tray? Something...

Just love the simple reclaimed wood on this console table.

The painted ceiling...swooning over the teal/blue.
And the symmetry of the drum shades kills me. In a good way.

Our room was just as beautiful as the common areas.

I've been trying to figure out a good DIY on this one, too.
Love the idea of "framing" a padded headboard.

I loved the height of the bedside tables. And the twisty iron legs were so cool!

I also love the wooden piece in the bathroom that the sink and countertop sat on. I can see how this one could be put together...just wondering if I could keep open shelving in the bathroom neat and tidy? And love the iron piece on the bottom that the piece is sitting on.

{photo source}

Overall, it was a wonderful trip in a fabulous place. I'm a boutique-hotel convert.
Everything about this place made me not want to go back home.
The place had so much design inspiration, too, as pictured above.
Hoping one day to implement some of these fantastic ideas into my own home...
in the DIY way!

{i linky-party here}