Snow Day Activities: Fun Ideas for Families and Kids

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After three years in Richmond with hardly any measurable snowfall, Mother Nature finally delivered: about eight inches of fresh, powdery snow. It’s stunning—truly breathtaking. We’ve always loved the look of snow, and this blanket of white is everything we hoped for. In three years of owning our home we’ve dealt with primer splatters and renovation … Read more

How We Assembled the IKEA Edland Bed: Step-by-Step Guide

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Last time we introduced our new bed, Ed — the Edland four-poster bed from Ikea — he looked like this (we explained how we chose him here). He’s since been assembled and even slept on for a night. With the Skorva steel support beam (also from Ikea and listed as a recommended accessory), Ed easily … Read more

Calming Blue and White Living Room Ideas for Serene Spaces

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When we created a custom mood board for Chantel in Canada a few months ago, we were eager to see the finished living room. She’s back with beautiful after photos and this note: Thank you again for all your help with our living room in January. We followed all of your advice to the letter … Read more

Upgrade an Old Chandelier with Paint and a Modern Shade

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Alternate punny post title: The Updated Light Fixture Blues. We’re not sad about our “new” office fixture—we’re delighted. We spray painted the old brass chandelier indigo and added a large drum shade, hence the blues joke. Read on for a closer look. To refresh your memory, here’s the original fixture (ignore the too-small frames leaning … Read more

How to Open Up a Closed-In Kitchen: Remodel Tips and Ideas

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Since we’re in a kitchen state of mind, we had to share Kacie and her husband Kyle’s recent makeover. With help from their parents, they opened up their home’s floor plan and created a bright, much more functional space for morning breakfasts and everyday cooking. Here’s Kacie’s note about the project: My husband and I … Read more

Call 811 Before Building a Deck: How to Locate Underground Utilities

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We were busy bees this weekend. As some of you noticed in yesterday’s post, we’d already begun clearing out the liriope, weeds, and overgrown bushes where our future deck will go. We started with this: Our first step was calling Miss Utility to make sure digging and future deck footings wouldn’t hit any underground utilities. … Read more

How We Chose the Perfect Pink Paint for Our Home

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Choosing paint isn’t always easy, and we had a tough time deciding on a color for our beach house. If you follow us on Instagram or Facebook, you may have seen several photoshopped options flash by in a slideshow a few weeks ago: We also discussed the options on our podcast. In Episode #28 we … Read more

Fab Freebie: What’s in a Name?

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*** This giveaway is now closed – see who won below! *** After 10,000 memorable name-origin stories, random.org selected our winners: Beth (who shared, “my dad picked it out and to this day I’m whole heartily a daddy’s girl.”) and Chelsea (whose parents chose her name from the 1981 film On Golden Pond, where Jane … Read more

A Memorable Night Out: Dating Nate and What Happened Next

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A lot of you have been asking what I picked up from Target for Nate’s big weekend debut. I’m a devoted fan—remember when our hands almost touched?—so I was at the store the moment it opened on Sunday. Even though we’d just returned from Cincinnati late the night before, I couldn’t resist the hunt. I … Read more

Are You Overspending on Your Home? 7 Signs to Watch For

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Q: Do you ever worry you’re pricing your house out of the neighborhood? There are so many things I’d like to do to our cute little house, but then I think, “don’t do it — you’ll spend too much and never get your money back.” It’s definitely too small to stay in forever. For example, … Read more