Decorating is deeply personal—what excites one person can make another feel uncomfortable, uneasy, or just plain annoyed. In this episode we talk about the design choices we avoid at home: certain furniture arrangements, a particular color combination, and other little neuroses. We also share several suggestions for finding original art at a variety of price … Read more

And now a post about saving money—because the more we cut from our grocery bill, the more we can spend on paint and home projects. Since I recently shared my 2011 goal to get better at couponing, here’s an update for anyone else who wants to turn paper clippings into real savings. I saved $53 … Read more

Meet Stacie. She lives downtown in a gorgeous home that we helped decorate, and now it’s finally time to officially House Crash her place. Fasten your seatbelts—this tour is going to be fun. You may already remember her bedroom transformation. It started out quite differently: We created one of our first mood boards for her, … Read more

We previously answered this question after selling our first house (spoiler: we bought near the market peak and sold during a downturn). Now we’re doing the same recap for our most recent sale — and things lined up a bit more in our favor this time. We sold in a stronger market and didn’t have … Read more

Curious what a whole-house alarm system costs, or how much a new patio might set you back? Fixr.com’s “Remodeling Cost Guides” offers easy-to-read, researched budget estimates for a wide range of home projects to help homeowners plan and prioritize. Visit Fixr’s Remodeling Cost Guides and you’ll find a long list of project pages covering everything … Read more

Our Cape Charles beach house taught us early on how useful an outdoor shower can be. Having a place to rinse off before you go inside keeps sand off floors and out of plumbing. It took us a couple of summers to fully enclose and finish the outdoor shower there, so it was a pleasant … Read more

Look what’s happening at our house today: We’ve been waiting a very long time for this moment. Crews are working over our heads, and the steady rhythm of banging, clanging and stapling has become part of the soundtrack of the day. We’re excited to share the details and after photos next week, but for now … Read more

Back when we shared that post of playful charts and graphs based on our 2012 reader survey, we discovered how much readers enjoy infographics. With that in mind, we compiled and illustrated a collection of memorable facts and figures from our recent book tour. Think of it as a concise info-scrapbook that captures that hectic … Read more

Allow me to give you a hint: y-e-l-l-o-w-d-o-o-r. That’s right — I’m painting our front door the happiest shade: rain-boot yellow. That’s not the official paint name, but it perfectly describes the glossy, sunny yellow we picked. I had hoped to share after photos already, but real life intervened and the prep work took longer … Read more

The disappointing state of the economy hit home for us a few weeks ago when my company announced pay cuts for all employees to avoid more drastic cost-saving measures later. It wasn’t news I wanted to hear, but I was grateful it wasn’t worse. When I told Sherry, we went through disbelief, anger, and worry. … Read more