The beach house kitchen will be our seventh kitchen project after redoing three of our own (this one’s our favorite), a 2014 showhouse, a 2016 spec house for a local builder (we loved that blue tile), and a teachers’ lounge we remodeled last year. Even with prior experience, planning a kitchen still feels intimidating because … Read more

Guys, I did it — I pulled out the sewing machine to make something for Clara’s third birthday. It’s become a little tradition to make her a handmade gift since she already receives so many store-bought presents from family and friends. I even used fabric from her monthly photo collection, which I’ve used before to … Read more

We found this rocking chair on Craigslist for $25 because we loved its clean silhouette, low back and rich, chunky wood. We also wanted a rocker in the living area of our new house — I nurse Clara there often and prefer to spend time in the public spaces rather than retreating to the nursery … Read more

We decided to clear the path—math isn’t my strong suit, but digging a path I can handle. John, meanwhile, excels at both. This photo was taken before we began reworking the garden beds on either side of the porch, so you can see how that clump of shrubs in front of the porch looked awkward … Read more

We originally planned to include a few shots of the office-turned-guest-bedroom in this morning’s post, but we ended up taking too many photos to fit everything in. So here’s a follow-up with extra pictures and the small changes we make when the room needs to pull double (or triple) duty for visiting friends and family. … Read more

As we celebrate our two-year blogiversary, we thought it would be fun to share a few stats that make us smile, blush, or simply shake our heads in amazement. Here’s a snapshot of what we’ve accomplished so far: 1006- Total published posts to date (wild, especially when we had only 380 at our first blogiversary) … Read more

***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries – see who won below!*** Now that we’re ready for summer and pool season, random.org has chosen a winner for this week’s giveaway. The lucky person is… Cher (who swims about 20 laps each day in the summer). Congratulations! One piece in our kitchen that always brings a … Read more

Since so many of you enjoyed taking the American accent quiz, we wanted to share another engaging online linguistic tool — this one is especially notable for its accuracy. The dialect quiz comes from the New York Times and is adapted from academic datasets, so the results are grounded in real linguistic research. Like many … Read more

We’re sharing a short pop-in episode to tell one of Sherry’s most embarrassing stories from the podcast — naturally it happened in the nicest house we’ve ever been in and in front of one of her design heroes. We also cover what remains on our to-do list, answer the frequently asked question about our next … Read more

Imagine our surprise when we received an email from a reader in Australia congratulating us on being featured in the Australian edition of Better Homes & Gardens! We were completely unaware our dining area had been included, so our generous reader sent scans of the spread. We stared at the images in disbelief (I gaped … Read more