If there’s one thing we’ve made clear about our new house, it’s that we’re not thrilled with the existing trim colors. Somewhere between Williamsburg Blue and Muddy Mauve, our enthusiasm for painting wavered between excitement and dread. Not sure which. Since all the carpet was already removed and the new hardwoods hadn’t been installed yet, … Read more

When Sherry and I hosted our first yard sale over four years ago, we felt hurried getting everything outside, stressed about pricing, and kept tracking how much we’d made as the day went on. We were so excited to sell things we no longer wanted that the event became bigger in our heads than it … Read more

We’re in Florida and have plenty to share about our moving day and the first weeks in our new home. In this post we cover how we made the 13-hour drive feel faster, which predictions from our last episode proved true, and our honest take on using travel pee bags. Settling into a smaller house … Read more

Yesterday we shared the reveal of our board-and-batten hallway project for the Pinterest Challenge, and today we’re posting the full step-by-step tutorial. It’s long—around 2,000 words—but it’s packed with practical, budget-friendly guidance for anyone wanting a high-impact upgrade without a huge price tag. This project cost about $57 in materials (we did buy a tool … Read more

We interrupt this regularly scheduled broadcast for a quick patio progress report: the wallet-draining patio supplies mentioned earlier have arrived. Now we understand why they were so expensive. They’re larger than our car, a giant truck delivered them, they weigh over 19,000 pounds (not a typo — it’s on the delivery ticket), and they’ve completely … Read more

We generally don’t welcome mushrooms on the internet, and we certainly don’t appreciate unexpected surprises appearing in our yard. Case in point: a giant cluster of mushrooms that showed up out of nowhere. When we left for our evening walk yesterday, I thought a pile of leaves had been flattened by the morning rain. Instead, … Read more

Warning: this is longer than the Oscars, so feel free to fast forward to the parts you care about. This post began because readers kept asking how we manage our long to-do list. We explained that it’s basically one ongoing master document. When people asked us to share it and update it, we decided to … Read more

Holy cow — has it really been five years since we started blogging? Time sure flies. It feels like only yesterday we put together a simple page with a big blue background so friends and family could follow our first kitchen makeover in our first house. To celebrate our fifth blogiversary we thought about staging … Read more

Our recent road trip to visit Katie and her beautiful home reignited our DIY momentum. We often work in bursts: a period of intense progress followed by a short break to recharge (sometimes that means a quick trip). After returning from the nine-and-a-half-hour drive, I woke up early, sorted through photos, wrote a shopping post, … Read more

When my little sister Carrie recently guided us through the streets of Philadelphia, she was eager to hear our take on the corn pancakes and brioche French toast at her favorite brunch spot, Devil’s Alley. We enjoyed the meal, but what really caught our attention was how thoughtfully the restaurant had been designed. We couldn’t … Read more