Yes, I spray painted upholstered chairs. It sounds odd—and if you’re sane, it’s probably not your first choice—but when you’re desperate and determined, unconventional solutions happen. These were the Craigslist chairs we scored last March. They came from an old hotel and showed it: faded, stained eighties-patterned upholstery. We paid $25 each and thought they … Read more

TGIF… or more accurately, thank goodness it’s February. With the start of a new month came another bouquet from my husband’s thoughtful Christmas gift — a promise of one bouquet a month for a year. This time we snagged a cheerful bunch of white daisies at the grocery store for just $4. I split the … Read more

As we mentioned yesterday, it’s Blogiversary Week — can you believe it’s been four years? Since we’ve shared a “day in the life” during previous celebrations, here’s this year’s version. Life is similar in that no day is ever exactly the same; different because now we have a toddler running around and a 260+ page … Read more

The walls of Clara’s big-girl room are finally dry, and the few pieces of furniture we have—mainly a daybed, an old side table, and two small thrifted wooden chairs—are back in place. Here’s how the room looks now. Not quite magazine-ready, but a huge improvement, and we’re thrilled with the progress. The new wall color … Read more

Seeing this cheerful $22 lamp from HomeGoods made me smile—it’s one of our favorite Sue The Napkin colors and the shade we’ll use as inspiration for the whole house. I had to make it mine. It’s even cuter in person, though the wood paneling behind it doesn’t do it any favors. I knew the lamp … Read more

OK, it’s day two of our organizing week and we’re focusing on the sink drawer project we mentioned yesterday. This post isn’t a step-by-step play-by-play with the before and after images (that comes this afternoon). Instead, it’s a clear, practical system that helps us manage Clara’s ever-growing stash of toys and kid stuff. We get … Read more

Ladies and gents, the moment we’ve been waiting for is here. After countless late-night coding sessions and a few too many snackless hours, we built a simple mood board gallery you can browse by color or by room. You’ll find it under the new Mood Board tab in our site header. Visit the Mood Boards … Read more

They say inspiration can come from anywhere, and Sheena’s story certainly made us smile. Here’s her letter: Hey John and Sherry (and Clara and Burger too!) I wanted to thank you for the unintended inspiration. After reading about Clara’s dollhouse, I fell in love with the fabric-sample-turned-rug pattern in the tiny room and had to … Read more

Every so often we get a chance to share something that could genuinely help the planet — even if only one in ten readers adopts the suggestion. This is one of those moments. Please pass this information along to friends and family. We owe this useful insight to my very sharp younger brother Dan (affectionately … Read more

This impressive niche-to-bookcase makeover from Mike and McGee proves that paying attention to every corner of your home can add both function and style. Here’s their note about the project: We recently renovated a space in our Austin, Texas home. We removed an awkward art niche and recessed light fixture and replaced them with a … Read more