With our power washing finished, we were finally able to stain and seal the deck — a job we completed and refurnished on Tuesday, literally hours before our first showing. To recap: after finishing the deck in late August we were advised to wait 2–3 months before sealing pressure-treated wood so the treatment could dry … Read more

… HE! We hadn’t shared one of these announcements since 2010, so it’s both strange and exciting to be doing it again. We found out on Wednesday and spent the next 48 hours telling family. The first person we wanted to tell was Clara. We didn’t want her to learn from an ultrasound technician, so … Read more

Quick note: Tomorrow (Saturday) we’ll be in Dallas at 11am at the West Elm on 5307 East Mockingbird Lane for cookies, cocoa and a book signing. We’d love to see you there! We’re back with an update from the book tour and life on the road — fair warning, it’s long. It’s sooner than we … Read more

When Ania sent us her beautiful after photos (inspired by the mood board we created for her last month) we couldn’t wait to share the results. Before-and-after reveals are always a favorite, and Ania did a fantastic job transforming her space. Here’s the note she sent: Here are a few after pictures that I took … Read more

This weekend we helped John’s sister and brother-in-law move into their beautiful new home, which they designed themselves. Along with a few sore muscles, we picked up some reliable moving tips worth sharing. First, a photo of their stunning new kitchen: Moving Tip #1: Clean top to bottom. When cleaning areas of your new home—like … Read more

We usually focus on home improvement and decorating, but when we spotted a $5 DIY salsa kit at the farmer’s market, we couldn’t resist. The kit felt wonderfully homey and immediately sparked ideas for a simple, homemade gift. It’s amazing how attractive a few fresh ingredients arranged in a decorative basket or bowl can look … Read more

Holy cow — you all had so many questions about our selling, moving, and buying process after yesterday’s announcement that we decided to put together an FAQ to answer as many as possible. We planned to post this tomorrow, but your messages kept coming in so fast we moved it up. Our usual DIY post … Read more

Me. I found this $12 HomeGoods rooster hiding in our playroom about five months ago and finally decided it was time to either use it or let it go. I’ve been running a little self-imposed challenge I call the “Dude, Get On That Already” initiative: anything we’re hoarding in the overstuffed playroom has to be … Read more

As promised, here’s a clear, step-by-step guide anyone can follow to make chic, inexpensive vintage-style wood signs at home. We first showed these in our big bathroom reveal, and now we’ll walk through the process so you can recreate them yourself. Full disclosure: we sang “I Saw the Sign” by Ace of Base while making … Read more

We’ve got a nursery update: two new pieces we bought, assembled, and are now planning to customize. After our earlier planning post, we imagined diving right into building two custom built-ins to flank the crib. But we realized we needed to decide how we wanted them to look first—base cabinets with doors and a bookcase … Read more