I warned you I was excited to go all out for our first real Christmas in the new house, so it’s no surprise I got giddy and decided to decorate an unexpected spot: the hallway. I swapped out 22 frames in our little hallway frame collection to give the space a festive feel — and … Read more

On this week’s podcast we count down five top tricks to create better flow in any room so it feels larger and less cluttered. We also share a surprising financial upside to buying a beach house in poor condition (it’s saving us thousands). Plus, we talk about organizing items that annoy professional organizers and what … Read more

Giveaway Closed — Entries No Longer Accepted This week’s prize celebrates handwritten greetings for every season. Whether you send holiday cards, party invitations, thank-you notes, or baby announcements, the winner will have custom stationery ready to print whenever they need it. Emmy Lu Design Studio offers customizable stationery delivered as high-resolution, ready-to-print PDF files. After … Read more

This week’s project started with a small request from Clara, overheard by John’s mom: Clara didn’t have a clock in her room. That tiny detail sparked an idea—I’d never made a clock before, but why not create something playful and interactive for her? Clock kits exist, so I figured it wouldn’t be too hard. Here’s … Read more

Whenever someone asks about my clothes, I joke that I wear basically the same thing every day. Still, after years of saying that — and even admitting I owned only one bra for a long time — a surprising number of people reacted strongly when they saw the hanging bar in my closet on Instagram. … Read more

Let’s talk about DIY haircuts, shall we? I never expected to write about cutting hair at home, but after a surprising number of requests, here we are. If you like saving money and doing things yourself, DIY haircuts are worth considering. I have no formal training — I learned by experimenting in high school and … Read more

“Aloha” means both “goodbye” and “hello,” so goodbye, Hawaii—and hello, half-finished cork floors. We’re back in Richmond (try to contain your excitement) and ready to share more about our trip. Even more exciting for us: returning to DIY and working on the cork floor project we started right before we left. For anyone who missed … Read more

It’s been far too long since our last “Save It” post (see earlier examples on the blog), so the other night I started jotting down everyday things we simply don’t buy anymore. After years of living a streamlined lifestyle, many of these omissions don’t feel like sacrifices — they feel like sensible, simple choices that … Read more

Clara has officially completed the move from crib to bed. We never expected her to stay in her crib this long — we’d had a “big girl” bed ready for over a year, since many of her friends made the switch earlier — but she adored her crib and surprised us by hanging on to … Read more

Our recent Chicago meet-up with fellow bloggers Chris Loves Julia, Yellow Brick Home, and Making It Lovely left us with warm memories (and very full stomachs). Seeing one of their homes in person changed our minds about a “design rule” we’d confidently declared for our own house on the podcast. We also share what surprised … Read more