***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries – see who won below!*** Random.org has selected two winners who will each receive a $100 IKEA gift card. They are Jennifer (who teaches and is also adopting a child from Ethiopia) and Ashley (who shared that she could use some improvements for herself). Congratulations to both! The … Read more

Sherry, Clara, Burger and I spent the past weekend on the road helping a few recently relocated family members in Northern Virginia with some much-needed home projects. Apparently moving season runs in the family — everyone seems to be settling into new places lately. First stop was my sister Carrie’s new rental apartment. We somehow … Read more

Ok, we’re calling it: the kitchen is officially done! Well, mostly. There are a few finishing touches left, including: adding decorative molding to the back of the peninsula installing a message center or chalkboard on the side of the pantry adding the last floor transitions/reducers (and finishing that rectangle of fireplace tile) replacing the broken … Read more

Today we’re not talking about the stock market — we’re talking storage. As the title says, we transformed a previously VERY packed utility closet in our new kitchen into a much more useful space. It used to house only a bulky water heater and our HVAC system, leaving most of the under-stair area inaccessible. Now … Read more

First, thank you all for sharing in our baby-bomb excitement and for the sweet wishes you’ve sent for this little “project.” Your support means the world to us. This news actually began back in August, so it’s already changed how sprint-y our to-do lists feel. We’ll keep sharing the gritty home-improvement details as they happen, … Read more

Well, Clara can now add fabric designer to her growing list of talents. With her 23-month photo complete (see the full photo project), the next monthly milestone is the big 2-4—also known as age two. After finishing a year of weekly fabric-backed photos… …with a custom fabric we created on Spoonflower by scanning her name … Read more

Did you know you can refresh a brick fireplace with whitewash using paint you already have at home? We updated our fireplace wall in under a day without spending a dime. We don’t mind exposed brick, but many of our homes have had an unattractive orangey-brown brick rather than the pretty red brick you see … Read more

This morning we shared photos from our latest thrifting adventure and promised a follow-up with details about a particular table we brought home — plus my go-to cleaning and restoring routine for musty, aged wood. Here’s the full story. We fell for a Moroccan-style accent table at our first stop, Love of Jesus Thrift in … Read more

Happy New Year, everyone! Who’s making resolutions? We’re still mulling ours over (you know Sherry loves a list), but for now let’s talk about our last-minute holiday project: making a latch board for Clara. Clara’s play fridge wasn’t the only homemade gift she opened this year. The weekend before Christmas we decided to build a … Read more

We finally gave Ed a little haircut. After a year and a half of living with those tall, dramatic bedposts and trying to make them work with our ceiling height and layout, we realized the scale just wasn’t right for this room. So we decided that trimming the posts wasn’t cruel — it made the … Read more