We’ve had this little peel-and-stick chalkboard in the mud room/hallway/weird spot by the kitchen for years, and it was actually used all the time. Every week, when I plan our meals, they get listed on the “Menu.” But after 3 or 4 years, not only was I tired of the shape, the corners began constantly […]
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The Easiest DIY Headboard
In my last post about our situation, selling the house was a possibility. Now it’s pretty much a sure thing. I’ll talk more about it in the coming weeks. But for now, I’m going to show you our bedroom decor progress. It’s not at all what I wanted for the space…my taste is too specific […]
A small bathroom update
Looong absence, huh? I’ve been working on a few small projects, but we’ve just had a really, really busy summer. I finally finished patching and re-painting the bathroom ceiling. For a couple years, it looked like this: Shameful. But you know, you get used to things like holes in the ceiling pretty quickly and just […]
How to make your home fit your lifestyle
Seriously. If there’s anything about your home’s layout or functionality that isn’t working for you, you need to read this book. (This is not a sponsored post–I am highly recommending it for free.) The first floor of our house has had me stumped for a while. (Because you know I have decorating ADD and can’t […]
Bedroom update
Monday, around lunch time, I posted our platform bed for sale and we had a full-price offer almost immediately, for delivery yesterday. So I went straight to work dismantling it and building the new frame that’s been sitting in the corner of our bedroom for quite a while. We wanted a bed higher off the […]
The hallway before-and-after
This is part 2 of refinishing the hallway floors. It started with carpet, then very beat up and gunked up original hardwoods. Here’s how we finished updating it.
A free upgrade for a drab light fixture
We found a super-simple way to upgrade a light fixture we didn’t like. Turns out, the brown was just paint, and it was easily removed!
Free slate trays
I’m short. Really short. 5 feet even, actually. With 20+ years of practice, I can get around just find in a world built for people significantly taller than me (unless there’s a glass item I need on the top shelf at the grocery store–I still haven’t figured that one out). But there is a disadvantage […]
DIY tie storage
Back in the bedroom, I finally finished another itty bitty project that’s been waiting for months: DIY tie storage for The Hubs on our closet wall. Until now, his many ties have been hanging precariously on one hanger. But I fixed it, now they’re hanging on a toilet paper holder. They don’t show it online, but […]
DIY update for the bathroom vanity (for less than $25)
An easy DIY upgrade for a bathroom vanity that makes a big impact, Anyone can do it with just a little bit of trim, caulk, and paint.
Bathroom shelves
Guess what I’ve finally done. In case the title didn’t give it away, I finished the bathroom shelves. Originally, I hung the top shelf way too high and it looked kind of silly, so I lowered that by about 6 inches. The original plan was to stain the wood, but they got painted a warm, […]
It’s here, it’s here!
Our new sofa has finally arrived. We went without one for a month and a half after selling our last one, and let me tell you…that was not fun. But it’s here, and it was worth the wait. We love the worn look the leather has even though it’s brand new. We got samples of […]
Decorating file
Happy Monday! I’m sharing a tip today that I’ve been using for years: a decorating file. Whether you’re currently decorating your house or not, it’s very helpful to have. All of your paint colors and fabric swatches can be kept together in one little folder. It’s my favorite way to keep track of paint chips […]
Victorian or Victorian?
Victorian is not exactly our preferred style. It, like every other style, is beautiful in its own way, but it’s not our favorite. We never looked for any particular style of house when shopping, just one that we both loved and saw great potential in. And in spite of Victorian not being our favorite, we […]
Removing 130 years of gunk from the hardwood floor (part 1)
The upstairs hallway floor has finally been stripped. But unfortunately, as I suspected, there is water damage. (Apparently there was a leaky roof at some point before we bought the house.) Here’s a reminder of what the floor looked like after we pulled the carpet up: Spots and splatters everywhere. I decided on a paint […]
Railings, railings, railings
I was going to wait until the entire deck was finished to show it to you, but due to the weather, it’s taking waaaay longer than we expected. We’ve had rain almost every day for the last two weeks, and it is supposed to continue until this weekend. The sky did give us a break […]