Painting our brick house white was just the beginning of our exterior refresh. This week we’re sharing more updates — including a project that’s proving to be more complicated than we expected. We’re also announcing a color collaboration we’ve been developing, and returning to a favorite topic: design norms from around the world. From bomb shelters to frost lines and even odd regional features like “witch windows,” it’s all fascinating. Plus we tried a curious subscription box that made us feel like we were living inside a true-crime drama.
You can also find this episode on your favorite podcast app, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, and Spotify.
What’s New
- Spring has arrived, so here’s an updated photo of the house we painted white last fall, complete with the white-flowering dogwood in the front yard.
- Below is an image of the awning we plan to order from the UK. It has a gentle swoop that we couldn’t find locally, which is why we put in the extra legwork to source it overseas.
- If you missed the full details about our masonry paint collection with Romabio, read the full post on the blog. We invested in this paint ourselves after a lot of research and recommendations, and the post explains why we love it, how we chose the shades, and how you can buy it.
- There’s a landing page on Romabio’s site that shows all the colors in our collection and includes tips for picking shades that work with your roof and trim, plus door color ideas. You can order the paint through common retailers if you want to try it on your home.
Updates
- If you missed our original conversation about global “design norms,” check out Episode #133 — it’s one of our favorites. We followed up with updates in Episode #135 and covered the shoes-off discussion in Episode #132.
- One photo a listener sent shows how two twin duvets can be neatly used on one larger bed — a clever solution we encountered in a Copenhagen hotel.
- We mentioned the “Vermont Witch Window” in the episode; a listener shared a photo and pointed us to the lore behind these small, oddly-placed windows found in some Vermont homes.
- We also discussed Singapore’s requirement for bomb shelters in certain apartments. For a deeper look at how residents experience these spaces, there are in-depth features and interviews that explore the topic.
We’re Digging
- We tried two Hunt A Killer boxes and shared some of the items we received. The storylines are elaborate and the clues and evidence you get are impressively detailed — we blurred some items in our photos to avoid spoilers.
- While we couldn’t find the original coupon that delivered our first box for free, the code FRIEND30 currently offers 30% off most first-box purchases.
- If you want something more family-friendly, we’ve been enjoying the SET card game. It’s a fast, visual puzzle game that’s easy to learn and endlessly satisfying.
- The top example shows three cards that are almost identical — same color, same shape, same shading — differing only in count (3, 2, 1). That makes a set.
- The middle example keeps number and shape the same but changes color and shading — also a set.
- The bottom example has all attributes different across the three cards — number, color, shape, and shading — and that too counts as a set.
- There’s also a SET Junior edition for younger players that simplifies the concepts for kids as young as three.
If you’re trying to find something we’ve featured in a past episode but don’t remember which show notes to check, there’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from past episodes, plus a Book Club page listing all the books we’ve recommended.
Finally, thanks to Social Print Studio for sponsoring this episode. They’re offering 15% off your next order with the code YHL15.
Thanks for listening and following along!
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