The year in review.

2011 you rocked my socks!

Well, almost.

It's crazy to think that not only has Christmas come and gone, but that we're on the cusp of a New Year! 

And while I'm not one to want to make huge plans for the evening of the 31st, I do like taking a couple of minutes to think about the year that has been and to look at the events that have shaped me and affected me throughout the past year. So much has happened that I don't want to bore you with all the details...but know that it has been a crazy year! A year of firsts and lots of adventures and changes - more travel than ever, the beginnings of this blog - which has been one of the best creative outlets ever for me, adventures and projects galore and a new job which has never seen me more happy professionally! What's not to love?!

Speaking of this blog, who'd of thunk that I'd still be plunking away, still coming up with posts. Not this boy! Over the past eight months I've grown this project - the result of me being too bored in the office one afternoon, into one that I love. I've discovered and conversed with some great individuals online, shared a lot of goofy thoughts, some neat ideas and even vented a little (okay, a lot for a few months...).

While time will only tell what the events of the coming year will bring I do want to say thank you for reading my ramblings and for sharing them with your friends! I had no idea what was going to happen when I keyed in the first of many posts to come eight months ago, but this has been an awesome experience! I definitely have some ideas rolling around in the back of my head for 2012 and can't wait to see them unfold.

Now, enough of me rambling - let's take a look at some randomness from the past year!

Most read in - Canada, USA, El Salvador & Russia

http://www.exploratorydesign.org/russia/

How cool is it to know that the ideas that you're reading about are being read by individuals on the other side of the world! Mucho love to those of you abroad who are finding me and are searching me by name! Makes a guy feel kind of special!

Most read post - It's a tie! You're loving two of my favourite posts - Framed and Dan wants to move into a school house. (I know, I know....the title of the second).

www.countryliving.com

Most searched terms - Dan Mitchell Style, Picture Frame Wall, Dan design blog, Sarah Richardson's Ass (I kid you not...), danmitchellstyle

http://meganleiter.wordpress.com

My favourite (and your most read about) project - remember when I played fairy god father to a nightstand back in July? It's still one of my favourite furniture pieces that I've redone...who'd of thunk that a Goodwill cast-off with a case of the uglies could turn into something so sexy?! Seriously. I swear, I'd be the perfect guy for an HGTV gig, haha.

Before if you'll remember -

And after some Dan lovin' -

My favourite Pinterest shot that I've posted -

http://pinterest.com

Everything about this picture is magic to me. This year has been all about new adventures, changing directions and trying to figure out how to navigate my own 'Game of Life' board. This year has had its fair share of twists and turns...and while some of them are bound to follow me into the coming year, I'm excited to see what happens and where I land.

Fave pic of mine that I've posted -

There's a pretty long personal story that goes behind this picture, but it's one of my fave shots ever - sometimes it the cloudiest, gloomiest and most depressing of days that can generate a shot this beautiful and awe inspiring.

See it's been a fun year!

And though I could go on all day sharing the things that I've loved, discovered, shared or been introduced to over the course of this past year, I'll let you sleuth through my posts at your leisure. You won't be disappointed! I promise.

Here's to 2012! The new, the familiar, the scary and the unknown! I can't wait!

Now let's go find some good wine...

XO,

D-

Word up.

Life has its ups and downs. It can be brutal and beautiful. You can hole yourself away to avoid life's pain, but then the beauty seldom finds it's way in. It's only when you attempt to go where you cannot go, or do what you cannot do, that you can achieve what you are truly capable of doing. Sure, you might tumble. You might fall. So what? Take a chance. Go way out on the limb. Dare to try - even if it's just a shot in the dark.

-Anonymous 

Galvanized obsession.

Slowly but surely I'm realizing that I've got a bit of an obsession with anything galvanized. One could attribute it to the galvanized Dutch style flower buckets that I picked up awhile back, but I'm thinking that my love for this edgy, rough and industrial yet slightly inviting, relaxed and familiar look goes back a ways. Way back...to growing up on the farm.

Source unknown

Whether it was the grain bins around my family's farm, the old galvanized pails that I used when I was feeding the pigs (...that's right....I grew-up feeding pigs...), the roofs on our barns, the quonset where my dad parked his tractors or the rusting old pieces of galvanized sheet metal laying out in the bush, the look was and is still everywhere

http://pinterest.com

That said, I am kind of picky with how I like my galvanized metal. I don't like the new and shiny stuff...I've got a mini palm that's living in a convert ice bucket that I found a couple years ago. While the idea is there, it doesn't have the patina and texture that older pieces have. I've thought about leaving it outside for awhile so that it gets a bit of exposure to the elements....but I'm secretly hoping that I can just come across another piece that has a bit of depth to it.

http://pinterest.com

I've been spending a bit of time lately flipping through images that I've archived in my folders - and without really realizing it, I've saved what seems like a gazillion and a half different shots that include this look...a look that I definitely want to try to bring into my own place a bit further...I like shiny and classic...but I'm feeling like I need to mix it up a bit....rough it up a bit. 

Here are a couple of my fave looks & ideas - 

This side table is blowing my mind....

if only I could figure out where it's from!

French designed galvanized dining chairs? Oui!

New goal! To find the metal boxes that I made in my junior-high metal working class....who knew that what seemed like a pain to make at the time (and result in a solid 'C' for metal working would excite me again...)

Love this look! I have no idea how you'd properly clean it....

but really, who cares. It looks amazing!

 

Must replant cedars after Christmas in my Dutch style flower buckets!

Must find! Must find! I NEED to own this table!

I'm thinking that it's time that I start wandering through the sheds and digging through the scrap piles around my folk's farm to see what treasures I can find. 

Perhaps it's time for Dan to get crafty during Christmas holidays...bring on the tin snips and band-aids!

Hmmm....

D-