We’re a little bit obsessed with our dog, Hamburger — and judging by the comments, clearly not the only ones who’ve noticed. Danielle from FirstAidLive.com kindly sent us a Pet First Aid Kit: a compact, well-organized bag stocked with supplies to help if Burger gets cut, stung, or otherwise hurt. Here he is risking a … Read more

Ever since we started composting in 2008 at our previous house, we’ve enjoyed it — free fertilizer, reusing kitchen scraps, and a gentle push to eat more compostable foods. Our efforts, however, were constrained by the small DIY compost container we built three years ago (we did add a second bin later, but it still … Read more

This morning, as John left for work, he told me he’d hidden “a little something” around the house and encouraged me to go on a scavenger hunt. I expected to spend the morning peeking under cushions, behind books and between décor in every room. Instead, I was surprised and delighted to find a large concrete … Read more

For those who aren’t familiar (I wasn’t five years ago), OBX stands for the Outer Banks. It’s actually where John first took me for our one-year dating anniversary—cue the collective aww. Since we mentioned some details of our recent Outer Banks trip earlier today, we wanted to share the house- and thrift-related finds from that … Read more

Okay, we’re stepping away from our regular kitchen redesigns to share a smaller-scale but very impressive project. Calling it “small” might be generous when the project includes 120 hand-drawn monsters, but the result is delightful. Here’s Jen’s description of how she turned her son’s artwork into a one-of-a-kind duvet cover: My son Daniel is a … Read more

We don’t have stairs in our house, which we love. Still, it’s fun to see creative stairway makeovers – like the one Roeshel shared. The most impressive part: she achieved the look without buying anything new. Read her note below. I’m sure you get many submissions, but I recently gave our stairway some pizzazz using … Read more

It’s almost the end of September, so it’s about time I shared this month’s bouquet — a sweet little surprise from the hubs. Like last month’s myrtle branch, these blossoms didn’t come from the grocery store. Since this is likely our last month of backyard blooms, we took advantage and clipped some of the season’s … Read more

This is the story of turning an old thrift-store basket into a pendant light using a $10 basket and two simple hardware pieces, plus an inexpensive pendant we found at a lighting outlet. Here it is all wired and installed in front of the fireplace. Let me walk you through the basket-to-light conversion. First we … Read more

I worked in a library through high school, so things like microfiche and the Dewey Decimal System hold a special place in my heart. Naturally I loved this DIY project from Jeremy and Adrianne, who turned a Craigslist find — an old public library card catalog — into a distinctive buffet for their dining room. … Read more

We seem to have a sore spot with tubs, and the duplex renovation has been no exception. Today we’re sharing how a strategic cost-saving decision cut about 30% from a major renovation line item — but also sent us into a tub-related stress spiral. We’ve got updates on painting our brick house white, a rather … Read more