Small changes can make a big difference. Our home isn’t a museum—pillows and accessories get swapped, moved, or edited whenever the mood strikes—so as our life evolves (we recently added a baby girl and John now works from home), our rooms have to evolve too. That meant rethinking the side table in the den. Here’s … Read more

After 330 days of living in near-darkness, we can finally see daylight in our kitchen — and the change is nothing short of amazing. The entire job took our licensed contractor Steve and his right-hand helper Tara nearly seven hours (more about why we hired them, how we found them, and permitting details can be … Read more

One thing we were excited to do differently in this house compared with our last was to have a working TV in the master bedroom. We actually did have a TV in our previous master for a short time, but we never bothered to hook it up to a DVD player or get a second … Read more

How about a post on hunting for knockers? Not that kind — this is the promised follow-up about updating our door knocker and doorbell. Here’s how things looked before: a handsome but clearly aged door knocker with a prominent flaw — the previous owner’s last name etched into the metal (I softened the photo a … Read more

We’re back with an edible garden update just a few months after we planted it in mid-May. The good news: our small experiment with herbs, fruits, and vegetables was a real success. Everything not only survived but thrived with surprisingly little work. We had a helpful stretch of rain in late spring and early summer … Read more

When Julia invited us to tour her home—a typical cookie-cutter Pennsylvania house from the outside, constrained by community rules even down to the front door color—we fell in love the moment she virtually welcomed us inside. Meet Julia. She shares this home with her husband Jarrid, their 10-year-old son, their 6-year-old daughter, and three affectionate … Read more

We promised more photos of our two guest bedrooms now that the new crown molding is in place, so here they are. The second bedroom features crisp, three-inch white molding that instantly elevates the room’s look and adds clean, classic detail. The third bedroom—formerly our dining room—also benefits from the same polished white molding. The … Read more

We’ve had a recurring challenge with tubs, and the duplex renovation has been no different. Today we share how a strategic cost-saving choice trimmed about 30% off a major renovation expense—yet triggered a tub-related stress spiral. We also have updates on painting our brick house white, a somewhat gross backyard experiment to keep deer from … Read more

The weekend began with what felt like our biggest plumbing job yet — mainly because it required shutting off water to the whole house. That meant I spent a few uncomfortable minutes reaching into a muddy, bug-filled hole in the front yard with a tiny wrench as my only tool. We were repairing a small … Read more

There’s something glowing in our sunroom lately. And I’m not referring to the fireflies Clara is forever trying to catch and keep (she told me she wants one to live in her room forever). Befriend? Keep? Potato, potahto. Our sunroom — or veranda if you prefer — finally has proper lighting thanks to new fixtures … Read more