We’re no strangers to removing unsightly trees—figurative ones, that is. In our first house the yard transformation included taking out several dead or dangerous trees that a home inspection warned might fall. This project presented a similar removal challenge, but instead of living trees the offenders were tiles in our bathroom: We’ve never loved the … Read more

Looking back at how we renovated previous homes, there are a handful of design choices we now regret. Here we break down five things we’d change if we could go back in time. First up: the deck is gone. We removed that oversized deck and the yard already feels much more open. Of course, checking … Read more

After 330 days of living in near-darkness, we finally have daylight pouring into the kitchen — and the change is nothing short of amazing. The opening process took our licensed contractor Steve and his skilled right-hand, Tara, nearly seven hours (we’ll explain why we hired pros, how we found them, and permit details in a … Read more

This before-and-after bathroom makeover comes from Kahley in Ontario, Canada. Together with her husband Steve, she transformed their home’s only bathroom, proving that a dark, sophisticated palette can still feel bright and airy. Here is her story: We are a young family of four — me, my husband, and our kids Noah (4) and Lexie … Read more

Will we ever tire of seeing furniture transformed with a little paint? Probably not—especially when we receive inspiring projects like Jesse’s. Below is a condensed and polished version of his blog post about the hexagon-themed makeover he did on a French provincial coffee table. The original piece was an over-lacquered table that showed a lot … Read more

***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries*** Smock Paper has long shown how beautiful and practical bamboo-based stationery can be. The company emphasizes sustainability by using bamboo and other recycled materials, applying green practices in their workshop, and producing stylish paper goods right here in the United States. Alongside their eco-conscious approach, Smock creates attractive … Read more

Can we go a whole month without buying anything we don’t need? That’s the challenge we’ve given ourselves with a self-imposed month-long shopping ban. This week we share how Cait Flanders’ The Year of Less inspired us and how we’ve adapted her rules for our own lives. The duplex renovation is finally moving fast, and … Read more

***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries – see who won below!*** According to random.org, the winner this week is… Kat (who celebrated Father’s Day with cards, dinner for her husband and a call to her dad). Congratulations! To keep the Father’s Day spirit alive, we hosted a giveaway featuring practical, well-designed tools: the Ryobi … Read more

Oh, what a feeling—dancing on the ceiling. It’s a lot easier when the ceiling is on the floor. Let’s rewind to when our sunroom ceiling still looked like a ceiling. We’d been talking about vaulting the ceiling to make the space feel more open — we’d never vaulted a ceiling before, but this felt like … Read more

The transformation of $6 hotel nightstands into a wall-to-wall built-in desk for two is continuing. Previously we removed the hardware, sanded, and primed all six cabinets to prepare them for painting. Before painting, however, we needed to do some construction: attach cabinets in pairs and raise them about four inches so they’d reach standard desk … Read more