For the fourth year in a row we’ve filled up our little thrift store jar that we etched with the word “Thanks” back in 2010 (you can read how we made it here). So before everyone dives headfirst into the gravy bowl (what? that’s not a thing?) we thought we’d stick with the annual tradition of sharing a few glimpses of some things that ended up on the list this year. Spoiler alert: one of them’s you guys. So let’s just pause for a moment so I can tell you how good your hair looks and how nice you smell and how flattering that shirt is and most of all, how grateful we are that
Archives for November 2013
Wendy’s Dilemma: Ideas Anyone?
We’re not sure how many of you are knee deep in a turkey somewhere (wait, that sounds terrible) but there’s nothing we like more than a group brainstorming session, so if you’re around, Wendy would love your suggestions. She has an exterior issue and she’s ready to dive right in (you know what that means… after pics! Hopefully really soon!) so here’s her letter: I’ve been a YHL reader since house #1 and I’m so excited that you’ve started this group advice feature! I have a problem I hope you and your readers can help with. We’ve lived in our home for about four years, and the front needs a major paint job. It’s a
Painting The Ceiling A Little Darker (And Glossier)
We’re doing Children’s Hospital stuff today, but a bunch of you noticed a foyer ceiling update in the background of yesterday’s post, so we owe you those details. We actually knocked it out before the big kitchen paint-fest, but that post cut the line because it was too exciting to save for later and we have the patience of toddlers (not to be confused with having the body of a baby). We usually hate painting ceilings (big rooms = sore backs) but the foyer’s a relatively small swatch of space, so I ended up just rolling the whole thing while Sherry knocked out some simple cutting in around the edges. If you wanna see some
Painting Dark Trim & Paneling In The Kitchen
Remember when the kitchen looked like this back when we first laid eyes on our house? Whelp, now it looks like this… It’s crazy how different certain angles look in person. It’s like walking into the room and wondering who added five extra lights. It’s just so much brighter. Yes, we dove headfirst into priming and painting the kitchen baseboards, crown molding, and window trim (52. freaking. panes.) and ended up just going all out and tackling the paneling and the doors to the pantry and the garage while we were at it. We have nothing against dark paneling, we just prefer the painted look for our house, especially after drooling over a few awesomely
So Many Holiday Projects
Heads up: this post might be a bit of a smorgasbord. I think it’s because life has been feeling kinda smorgasbordy lately (in a good way) and sometimes it’s hard to organize life into tidy, tightly-themed blog posts when it’s really all over the place behind the scenes… I say it’s “in a good way” because we feel like we’re really starting to gain momentum around a goal that we mentioned in this post of taking on more “off-campus” projects. In other words, projects that aren’t centered solely around improving our own spaces and, in more than one case, are for a good cause. The Homearama Showhouse that we’re doing for Habitat For Humanity, being
How To Make A Clock
This week I was actually inspired by a request from Clara, which came by way of John’s mom. She was laughing as she told me that she overheard Clara telling her cousin that she didn’t have a clock in her room. Random, right? So I thought: I’ve never made a clock… but I bet I can make her something fun – maybe even something that she can interact with somehow. They sell those clock kits, so it can’t be too hard, right? So here’s where I ended up… And here it is living it up on the wall in Clara’s room. I originally thought it could be fun to use a birdhouse and add the
The Best Way To Remove Wallpaper
A: Nobody B: You guys, since this is my fourth time waging war on it C: I’m Ron Burgundy? D: All of the above The answer, my friends, has to be D. Ah, how naive and thrilled I was when this whole wallpaper expedition began. Remember these famous last words? “I was actually really excited to tackle the half bathroom’s wallpaper removal project” Well, that tiny half bathroom was just the tip of the wallpaper iceberg, and then we moved onto stripping it in the foyer (which was doubled up in a few places) and the kitchen (my biggest room yet) and there were still two more rooms full o’ wallpaper just taunting me with
Listy McListerface: Updated
So sorry to everyone who requested an update on this sooner! We first shared our new house to-do list back in May and later updated it at the end of July, so this check-in is well overdue. But one fun thing about going longer than you meant to before updating a list is getting to cross things off like crazy. Picture me grinning maniacally for a far too extended period like the people in this video who think they’re getting their photos taken while the camera’s really on video mode. These posts came about when people asked us how we organize all the stuff that we have on our to-do list and we explained that we
Fab Freebie: It’s A Little Bit Bunny
Virginia-raised Bunny Williams has made quite a name for herself in the interior designer world thanks to years of designing some pretty amazing rooms (which you can see in magazines, her books, and even on her Facebook page). So when she offered an upscale mirror from her line of furniture and decor items at Bunny Williams Home to one of you guys, we said “done deal.” So this week someone’s gonna win one of these three statement mirrors: the textured Ruffled Mirror, the sleek Garbo Mirror, or the curvacious My Pretty Mirror – which range from $900 to over $1600 in value! Please use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter (it might take a second to
How To Seal Stenciled Plywood Floors
It has been nearly a month since we talked about stenciling the floor in our sink nook (we’re all over the place lately – Clara’s room, outdoor tiling, installing our stair runner, landscaping adventures, starting in on the kitchen, etc) but that doesn’t mean we were done in there. We had a few more bullets to check off: sealing those stenciled floors loading in the closet after the floors dried (hopefully with more function/storage instead of the stuff we thoughtlessly shoved in there when we moved) updating the vanity with more function as well as a fresh finish (up close it was in pretty rough shape, and we thought we could gain more function from
How To Pick An Outdoor Light
Our exterior light situation is a little ho-hum, as evidenced by this tiny fixture outside the back door on our garage (don’t mind the grimy green brick that’s screaming out for some scrubbing). And yes, I realize the door itself is looking a little rough. It originally sported a rusty, loudly-banging storm door (not just a medium bang, this was SCARE-YOUR-NEIGHBORS LOUD) that we removed. So we’re getting ready to repair some of the trim and prime/paint it white to match the door in the sunroom veranda that we already updated. But let’s turn our attention back to the light. It was too small and very weather-worn, so we decided it was time to make
What Kind Of Accent Do You Have: The Quiz
A post on Facebook the other night led me to this random quiz: What American Accent Do You Have? Since we’ve always been fans of completely non-scientific online quizzes, why not take it for a spin, right? It was especially interesting for us to take since we get the occasional video comments like “John sounds soooo Southern” or “Sherry talks like Mila Kunis.” Not that Mila Kunis is an accent… We both think we have pretty neutral American accents – although I’m quick to point out that the Jersey in Sherry likes to call the top of your face the “far-head.” And she gives me a hard time for not distinguishing between the pronunciation of