We’re asked this question all the time: when should you splurge and when should you save when fixing up a house? There’s no single answer—choices vary by person, room, budget and long-term goals—so we’ll share how we’ve approached it in our new home, what we’ve splurged on, what we’ve saved on, and the questions we … Read more

***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries – scroll down to see who won!*** Who doesn’t love a great sale? Especially when discounts reach 50–75% off retail. That’s exactly the kind of event HauteLook runs with its 48-hour sales on home goods, clothing, and beauty items. A new sale begins each morning at 11am EST. … Read more

Many months ago John shared the beach house downstairs before-and-after photos in another post. It included a bunch of angles we’d never shown before. It took us longer than expected to gather the upstairs before-and-after photos — how has it been eight months?! — but we’re finally sharing the full second-floor tour so you can … Read more

This guy: You may remember the wall we were working on before we removed the awkward shelf and towel bar. After patching the holes and repainting, the space already looked cleaner and simpler. With only two nails and a very lightweight canvas, we hung a piece of DIY art I made a while back. I … Read more

At our house, we serve dinner buffet-style—setting all the food out in the kitchen so people can pile their plates high—so the table becomes more about atmosphere than holding serving dishes. Thanksgiving tables often lean on orange, red, gold, and wheat tones, but I decided to try a different approach: a rich green and blue … Read more

When Katie sent photos of her living room makeover, the transformation left us impressed. Below is the letter she shared describing the changes. Hi everyone! I wanted to share my living room redesign. When we first saw the house, the living room (and the rest of the house) wasn’t our style at all. Over the … Read more

We consider this site our happy place — a small sanctuary from life’s messes and a record of moments we’ll be glad to remember later. That’s why I hesitated to write about the Boston bombings here; they are about as far from happy as anything can be. Still, two days before I ever imagined that … Read more

It’s time for this week’s installment of my ongoing little self-imposed “Dude Get On That Already” challenge, where I’m trying to use, donate, or sell the random items we’ve been hoarding in our overstuffed playroom. When I dug out this old bar of coat hooks that used to live in our first house’s den, I … Read more

We’re impressed by how much style Marianne packed into such a tiny room. If you’re wrestling with small-space challenges (we’ve been there — our last bedroom was tiny with no closets), this makeover should offer plenty of inspiration. Here’s Marianne’s letter about the transformation: I gave the smallest room in our house a total makeover. … Read more

Our week took an unexpected turn when we received a last-minute invitation to appear on The Rachael Ray Show. Within 24 hours we were on a plane to New York, and the next morning we were DIYing in front of a live studio audience. We’ve got a few behind-the-scenes stories to share (yes, Rachael Ray … Read more