For a long time we’ve happily fixed other people’s design problems while quietly cringing at our own. This corner of the house never made it into our before-and-after gallery — in fact, we usually avoid photographing it. But here it is in all its awkward glory: the other side of our master bedroom (which looks … Read more

If you’ve been curious about the financial side of selling three houses and downsizing into a single, smaller home, this post answers the most common questions we’ve received. We also share the unexpected renovation setbacks that delayed our move-in date (including a string of bizarre toilet-related issues we never anticipated), our surprise at the reaction … Read more

So it’s been a while since we resurrected our two-post “tackle it together” series, where we invite you to take on a home project alongside us. Last July we cleaned out our garages, and today we’re turning our attention to closets. Call it nesting or early spring cleaning—whatever the reason, Sherry and I recently felt … Read more

We recently put together an online version of our brief appearance on HGTV’s Rate My Space, which many of you watched live in mid-December. Hoping the full segment would appear on HGTV.com, we waited a few weeks, but when nothing showed up we decided to create a short YouTube clip ourselves. Below is a concise … Read more

*** This giveaway is no longer accepting entries – see who won below! *** Random.org has done it again and crowned an oh-so-randomly selected winner. That lucky person is… Doris Johnson (who can’t contain her love for her puppy, Finn. She even included a link to his picture!). Congratulations to Doris and Finn! We love … Read more

We recently realized that storage baskets can both help and hinder our home organization efforts (yes, that hampering pun was intended). The duplex has also passed an important renovation milestone: the floors were refinished! We had a plan, but a last-minute curveball changed everything in the final hour. You’ll also hear a thoughtful counterpoint to … Read more

***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries – see who won below!*** Random.org surprised us this week and selected a male winner for the first time in a long while. His name is… Thomas (he’s looking forward to some time off this holiday season). Congrats, Thomas! One of our favorite gifts to give is a … Read more

Last week we got the call: our cabinets are on the way. They’re scheduled to arrive on Monday the 26th, so we can finally set the installation in motion. That means we’re likely to have a functioning kitchen before the end of the year — a very welcome start to the new year. When we … Read more

Since sharing a photo of our finished floor over a month ago, several readers have asked for more details about how we installed the transition pieces around the kitchen cork floor and the fireplace surround. Eventually we plan to refinish the adjoining orange wood floors to better match the darker cork, so the finished look … Read more

Offices inevitably collect a tangle of wires and cables. Our workspace was no different — if you remember our post about building under-desk file storage, you know there was a cord jumble hiding back there. We wanted to make that chaos look neater and, more importantly, safer. With a baby on the way, keeping little … Read more