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What a year 2011 was! It's amazing how the year flew by. I can even remember exactly what I did last year for NYE and it feels like it happened just yesterday. I said that to Steve and he said that rather than thinking back to one point in time, I should think back to all that has happened and all the things we've done in-between then and now so that it doesn't feel like time flew by so quickly. And he's right. I should remember the wonderful trip we took to Nice & Provence (totally unexpected but absolutely lovely), all of the fun times we've spent with our friends, a trip to the beach with family, and of course we can't forget the fact that we got the biggest surprise of our lives - getting pregnant!

It's been a great year full of the unexpected and we couldn't be happier or more excited for 2012. I think about how our lives will change forever this year (in the best way possible) and I just get so giddy. I also get overwhelmed with some of the projects that we have to do before this little girl arrives. Remember how I told you we had a contractor come by to give us an estimate for a small renovation in order to better accommodate Steve's working environment? Well, it looks like we'll most likely be getting that renovation done within a few months. What are you getting done, you say? We plan to build a wall with french doors to enclose our first floor space. Right now, it's an underused TV room with a fireplace and it will be far more functional once it becomes an office/guest room. I'm so excited about this project, but since we're transferring the function of rooms around (home office to become the nursery, underused TV room to become office/guest room) it means we need to do a lot of cleaning, purging, and organizing. That part I'm not really looking forward to. In fact, as much as I'm dreading it, I'm thinking of starting that process today. Might as well get it going before it becomes too big a monster to tackle, right?

Along with those projects, I still have to finish up my parents' 2nd bathroom (had to halt that project to accommodate for my terrible first trimester experience). My parents have also asked me to decorate their basement guest room. With the baby coming, they want me and Steve to have a comfortable space whenever we stay the night (I think they want us to have our own room there so that we have no excuse but to stay the night so they can spend more time with their grandchild). It's a fabulous room since it's got an en suite bathroom and has complete privacy, but it literally needs everything (i.e. bed, nightstands, dresser, and even closet doors!). So I've definitely got my work cut out for me on this particular project, but hey, I can't really complain since I have full control over everything.

I know I wrote a lot today but one of my New Year's resolutions is to really use this blog as more of a journal as opposed to just a digital pinboard of things that I like. There are a lot of things going on in my life and they all influence how I see things in the decor world, so it only makes sense to keep you in the loop with both aspects. Okay, enough of my writing and lets get to some images that I have in mind for these particular projects.

I would love to wallpaper my parents' basement guest room with a Paris map. It's a windowless room, so I think a huge map of Paris would give such a romantic feel to the room. {lovely things}

Ever since I saw this in Domino, I've been dying to use it somewhere in our house. The first floor bathroom might be the most appropriate place for now. {Perroquet - Nina Campbell}

I like the idea of a very white foundational palette with accents of black and pink for our new office. {Little Bits of Lovely}

For some reason, I am really drawn to the idea of having red nightstands in my parents' basement guest room. They just add such a perfect pop of color. {The Decorista}

It's completely sold out, but this Kate Spade Piedmont Park bedding set is definite inspiration for the basement guest room. {Pinterest}