How to Digitize Old Photos: A Complete Guide for Preserving Memories

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When I hyper-focus on a project, I go all in. That’s exactly how I tackled digitizing our old photo albums. We crowdsourced recommendations, combed message boards, and researched extensively. From that research, I narrowed our options to five photo digitization methods and tested each for quality, cost, speed, and ease. One method emerged as the … Read more

200 Girl Dog Names and Smart Tips for Choosing the Perfect Name

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Before we launched this site back in 2006, we actually pitched a dog-naming book to publishers. It’s true—we wrote an introduction, several sample chapters, and a full proposal to send to agents while working in advertising. The spark for that project came from the joy of naming our first dog, Hamburger (aka Burger). Though the … Read more

Laundry Room Demo & Remodel Ideas: Reframing Your Space

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Let’s talk about knocking out a few walls and framing a few new ones, shall we? After two slow weeks of thinking things through and getting contractor bids, progress suddenly accelerated in the laundry area and everything started moving quickly. What began like this… …now looks a whole lot more open. Yowza. Early last week … Read more

How to Build and Notch Deck Posts (Including Frog Joints)

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With my deck holes dug and approved by the county inspection, the next step was filling them in. There’s a bit of irony in digging only to immediately fill, but that’s how it goes. Like when I set fence posts last year, I started each hole with a couple of inches of gravel for drainage. … Read more

How to Remove Weeds from a Paver Driveway Quickly and Effectively

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Perhaps this screenshot of our old header will give you a hint about what we tackled in this latest outdoor update (most likely number 7 of 582, since we break outdoor projects into bite-sized stages so we don’t get sore, overwhelmed, or blow the budget)… Yes — that’s the camellia tree we first mentioned back … Read more

Free Printables: Stylish Fitness & Wellness Resources

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***This giveaway is now closed – see who won below!*** And our random winner is… Robyn R (she’s in luck because her fantasy printer prints photos – which she says would save her so much money). Congrats, Robyn! A wireless printer is one of our favorite ways to keep the office looking tidy (even if … Read more

All 2025 Colors of the Year: Complete Guide in One Place

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Here it is: a roundup of every 2025 Color of the Year from 15 different color authorities. We enjoy tracking these announcements because they help us follow trends and compare how forecasts change over time. This post will also be useful when we start predicting 2026. A clear trend emerged for 2025 — keep reading … Read more

Eyeball Kitchen Cabinet Knobs: Unique Hardware for Spooky Style

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Something about the knobs in our kitchen makes us feel like we’re being watched. Maybe you don’t notice it at first, but after looking at them for a few weeks, they start to take on personalities. Suddenly the arrangement of shapes and shadows looks a little like this to us: My favorite is the pirate. … Read more

Taming a Wildly Messy Garage: Step-by-Step Decluttering Plan

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Raise your hand if you knew we had a garage. I’m not surprised if most of you still have both hands firmly planted on your keyboards. We do have one: a detached metal structure that could fit two cars—if we hadn’t been using it as long-term storage for more than two years. That’s why you’ve … Read more

Dining Room Wall Stenciling Guide: Step-by-Step Tips and Ideas

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Coming off the heels of our own stenciling adventures, we had to share Ginny’s dining nook makeover. After she finished, she joked that her hand looked clawed from tracing and painting the stencil—sound familiar to anyone who’s labored through a DIY project? Here’s Ginny’s account of how she transformed an overlooked corner into a vibrant … Read more