We’re back with a second place-setting post focused on creating a festive holiday atmosphere. Using only items we already had at home and humming a few Christmas carols for inspiration, I put together seven different tablescapes. Below is a simple, practical play-by-play to help you recreate these looks. I started the first setting by using … Read more

A lot of people asked for the specifics of the thrift-store chair we refreshed for our latest column in R. Home magazine. Here’s the step-by-step rundown of how we brought this little find back to life. We found the chair at Diversity Thrift in Richmond for $10 and brought it home to begin work. First … Read more

Q: Please, please tell me, you darling darlings, that you disagree on decor once in a while. Please. My hubby to be is lovely & supportive but not terribly interested in design and remodeling (he’s a grad student right now, mostly he is interested in sleep/school). However, he doesn’t like what I pick out most … Read more

*** This giveaway is closed – see who won below! *** This week’s lucky random winner is… Keelan (shared in the original comment thread), whose favorite photo of herself is from her Costa Rican honeymoon — “my husband took it of me at the end of the trip while I was lying in a chaise … Read more

‘Til now I’ve been fairly proud of my self-taught woodworking skills. But I have to admit this project made me realize how much more there is to learn about construction. Amanda and her husband Ben decided to try something different: building a dining table with steel. Their weld-it-yourself table transformed the dining area—here’s how they … Read more

Whitney Houston once famously said “crack is whack.” She probably wasn’t talking about the ceiling in Clara’s room, but the phrase fits: Clara’s aqua capiz chandelier was highlighting an unsightly crack where the old ceiling fan had been. It wasn’t obvious in photos or at a glance, but when we installed Clara’s light fixture (we … Read more

We’re in the middle of two room makeovers and I couldn’t be more excited. One is our master bathroom renovation that we shared last week, and the other is a lighter, less dusty project that involves no demo or wall moves but adds a lot of functional value (plus a wall treatment and wallpaper, which … Read more

The 12 Best White Paint Colors Benjamin Moore Edgecomb Gray Benjamin Moore Simply White Sherwin-Williams Pure White Sherwin-Williams Extra White Another Monday, another step forward in our kitchen renovation. Last week we primed and painted the trim, doors, crown molding, and paneling white, and today the walls have a fresh coat of Nelson Blue — … Read more

As planned, our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore collected our donation items yesterday. Between that and moving a bunch of frames and accessories into the future playroom (for now), the guest bedroom stopped being a cluttered mess and went from this: To this: It’s not entirely ready for the in-laws, who arrive on Thursday—yikes—but at … Read more

I’m back to share this month’s grocery-store bouquet — a sweet little present from the hubs — and this time our $4 flower find coincided with a photoshoot at our house for our regular column in Richmond’s R. Home magazine (look for the link in a few weeks). For the shoot we needed small green … Read more