It’s time for Secret Santa: Revealed — which makes me smile because I can picture a deep-voiced announcer introducing the show after a late-night program. Since many of you asked for the Secret Santa details (and I couldn’t wait to share who I had and to learn who had me), here’s the recap: I had… … Read more

Many readers asked for a regular “find of the week,” and our first pick is a charming bargain we added to the third bedroom: a cozy jute rug discovered in the clearance section at The Company Store. The Newport Stripe Jute Rug caught our eye with its classic striped pattern and a generous 50% discount, … Read more

You know we love a good furniture makeover, and this was no exception. First up: our new outdoor sofa arrived. The delivery was low-key — a big truck, a big box, and a quick setup while Sherry finished a conference call. Clara came home later, inspected it, declared it “perfect,” and that was that. With … Read more

In addition to our 1,400 square feet of indoor living space, our house benefits from generous outdoor areas — most notably a large second-story deck off our family room. Living up among the trees has quickly made this deck one of our favorite “rooms,” and this post explains why. outdoor armchairs | striped outdoor pillows … Read more

Happy New Year! (You’ll see why that’s appropriate in a moment — hang tight.) We decided it was time to remove the ceiling fan in our bedroom and replace it with a fixture that has a little more personality. Relax, fan fans — we’re not anti-fan. In our previous house we removed the bedroom fan … Read more

Clara has always loved small creatures—she genuinely finds snakes and spiders adorable—and this year she’s also obsessed with apples and pumpkins, which feels perfectly autumnal. So we decided to adopt a loose “nature” theme for Halloween. That lets us include pumpkins, gourds, and apples alongside creepier elements like spiders, black crows, and snakes. To get … Read more

When does sharing details about your children online cross the line into oversharing? How do older kids, who grew up with their parents’ blogs and social media, feel about having their childhoods shared publicly? Lately many of us have become more careful about what we post, and in this episode we explore “sharenting” and why … Read more

Kids returning to school means teachers and staff are returning too, so we were excited to brighten the first day back for a local public school that asked for help updating their teachers’ lounge. In June someone who’d seen our makeover of Hudson’s room reached out to ask if we’d volunteer for another project. The … Read more

Moving into our new house has been thrilling, but saying goodbye to the old place and all the projects we couldn’t bring along was bittersweet. We left behind the penny tile backsplash and the deck—well, not the fireplace. Scratch that: we didn’t really leave the fireplace. Take a closer look at the small item on … Read more

Waste not, want not. I felt that way about the leftover oil-rubbed bronze spray paint from a previous project, so I turned my attention to the mismatched patio furniture we inherited from the previous owners (pictured here in an old photo with my dearly departed ceramic dog). I often love white finishes, but white outdoor … Read more