When we discovered that Katie at All Bower Power drew inspiration from our bedroom makeover, we were excited to see how she put her own spin on the project. Katie took her room from this starting point… …and transformed it into this refreshed, inviting space. The result is a calm, stylish bedroom that balances comfort … Read more

We’ve had a lot of fun planning kids’ birthday parties with offbeat themes like worms and dragons (complete with a fire-breathing kid photo). After our last party post in 2014 — the “Pink & Gold Everything Party” — we took a year-long break from blogging. During that hiatus we wondered whether our enthusiasm for doing … Read more

Our new home has quite a few bi-fold doors. For example, there’s a pair separating the future dining room from the main hallway (refer to the floor plan to get your bearings): Nearby, another set closes off the hallway that leads to most of the bedrooms (we removed one of those doors to fit the … Read more

The weekend after we finished our big bathroom makeover, we drove up to the family beach house in Rehoboth, Delaware for a quiet, low-key getaway. It wasn’t that we were tired of looking at the new bathroom — we kept popping in just to admire it — but after so much hard work we wanted … Read more

Since many of you enjoyed that American accent quiz, we wanted to share another online linguistic tool that’s been getting attention — and with good reason: it’s quite accurate. This version comes from the New York Times and is based in part on linguistic data from Harvard, so the results feel well grounded. Like the … Read more

I’m back to share my monthly grocery-store bouquet—a sweet little tradition from the hubs. This month’s bouquet didn’t come from the store at all. We didn’t splurge on a florist; instead we wandered into our own backyard and clipped a dozen giant wild irises that have been popping up among the old boxwoods. Zero dollars, … Read more

After spotting a rain barrel at Matt & Kristin’s bungalow last fall, Sherry and I were eager to capture and reuse rainwater at our own home. We signed up for a local rain barrel workshop and are sharing what we learned so you can build one yourself. Why install a rain barrel? Positioned under a … Read more

Rugs can feel intimidating. Pick the wrong size or placement and a room can look off. Will the color work with your sofa or walls? Will it resemble the online photos? If any of that makes you hesitate, this guide will help. We’ll introduce a versatile favorite rug that complements almost any palette, cover rug … Read more

During last week’s update about our Homearama Showhouse for Habitat for Humanity, we shared a few peeks at how some rooms were taking shape. Technically, most of the design exists only in our heads and on mood boards for now—there’s still about three weeks before any furnishings can go into the house. As I write … Read more

Last weekend I rearranged Clara’s nursery—again. A few of you noticed things had moved and asked for an update, so here it is. It wasn’t a major overhaul, just a few simple swaps, but for a little while the room looked like it had been turned upside down from floor to ceiling. As usual, Clara … Read more