John and I had the chance to do the most fun and fulfilling project recently: designing new bedrooms for three amazing local kids who are currently going through cancer treatment. We’ve shared a few sneak peeks on Instagram and our podcast, but here’s our big photo-packed post with details on each of the rooms as promised for you guys! We couldn’t be more excited to share them with you. First, some background on the project. A few weeks ago the team at Biringer Builders reached out to us for help. They’re the custom builder we teamed up with back in 2014 to design a charity showhouse for Richmond Homearama (below are some photos of that
#95: Our House Is Too Big. There, We Said It.
We’ve recently had a realization that we just don’t need as much space as we have. So how’d we end up buying a too-big house? What has made this so clear to us now? And what square footage do we think would be just right? We’re sharing all of that in this episode, including the exact moment we now realize we went off the rails during our house hunting search. We’re also taking you behind the scenes of our recent charity makeover for three deserving kids and sharing why things have really turned a corner out at the beach. Plus, Sherry hunts for the perfect Mother’s Day gift and John shares what exterior gadget made
Hiding A Water Heater With An Ikea Cabinet
If you have some ugly things in your laundry room you’re interested in hiding, or you’re just looking for photos of a laundry room with a top loader (since most online photos feature front loaders with a big counter over them), well this post is for you. After months of simmering in the background, the beach house’s laundry room/mudroom finally came together over the weekend. It’s a pretty simple room that we’d been planning and shopping for since way back in December (yes, as in 2017), but it always got stuck in line behind other tasks like building the walk-in pantry and constructing the wall-to-wall bunks beds. With those out of the way, it was
#94: Just When The Duplex Was Going So Well…
Just when we thought the duplex renovation was finally rolling along smoothly, we found ourselves in the midst of an ordeal that required an emergency trip to Cape Charles, and another hot-seat meeting with the Historic Review Board. We’re sharing all the details, along with an update on our month-long shopping ban (oh the temptations!). Plus we’re talking about how to get large materials and furniture home when you don’t own a giant car or truck. Because as much as we DIY, we don’t actually own the ideal DIYers vehicle. So this week we’ll tell you why, and share how we get around it. Plus, maybe millennials are just efficiently experts…? You can download this
Let The Duplex Rebuilding Begin!
I should warn you that most of the pictures (and the video!) in the post don’t really scream “rebuilding” (it’s more like “WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT HOUSE?!) but there has actually been a ton of progress at the duplex. So we thought we’d update you guys on the flurry of activity that has occurred over the past few weeks, along with some floor plan changes and some of the curveballs we’ve already been thrown. We talked on this week’s podcast about why the duplex is giving off that bare bones vibe right about now. The short answer is: when you have to rebuild the inside of a house (because it’s full of rot, mold, termite damage, and
#93: One Month. No Superfluous Shopping. Can We Do It?
Can we go a whole month without buying anything we don’t need? That’s the challenge we’ve handed ourselves as part of a self-imposed month-long shopping ban. So this week we’re sharing how we were inspired by Cait Flanders’ “Year of Less” and how we’re adapting her rules for our own lives. Plus, the duplex renovation is (finally!) racing along and we’re answering some of your top questions about it. Also, how filming our April Fool’s video was even more embarrassing than it looked… and why a makeover show is giving Sherry hope that it might actually heal the world. You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Spotify – or listen to it below! Then use
Our Family’s Spring Break To Fort Lauderdale
Since our daughter started elementary school a few years ago, spring break has become an increasingly precious opportunity to get away, clock some quality family time, and soak in some long-overdue warm weather. Last year’s spring break vacation to Cape Canaveral, Florida checked all of the right boxes and we were tempted to just repeat that trip again this year. But we pushed ourselves to see if we could make this year’s getaway even better and explore a new part of Florida while we were at it – and we are SO GLAD WE DID. So for anyone else looking for a great family vacation spot or, like us, if you’re just ready to start
#92: The Household Staples We Never Buy
Do you reject certain “household staples?” We do! And it turns out a lot of other people do too – to the point that experts are saying they might someday disappear. So this week we’re breaking down how and why the typical home (and its contents) might be changing, along with revealing what modern comforts we’ve deemed unnecessary in our house (one of them is weird, I’m warning you). We’re also sharing how we found the best spring break home we’ve ever rented, and how we navigated the stresses of flying with children, car seats, a dog, his crate – essentially ALL THE THINGS. Oh, and it turns out we’re storing lots of stuff in
5 Ways To Transport Big Items That Won’t Fit In Your Car
Updated 2018 If we had a dollar for every time someone asked “Wait, you guys do all this DIY but you don’t own a truck?” – let’s just say we’d be able to afford a big ol’ truck. But we love being a single-car household and for years owned a modestly sized Nissan Altima (we now have a small SUV, a Toyota Highlander). So over the years, we’ve definitely had to get creative when it comes to getting large items home – furniture, lumber, tools, etc. So if you find yourself unable to transport something with the vehicle you drive, here are a few ways that we’ve found a solution. Hauling Tip #1: Ask At
Staging Tips For Selling (Or Just Simplifying!) Your House
How should I stage my house to sell? Should I take down all of my family photos? I’m not selling but I want my house to look good for company- give me some tips! Do I need to add a lot of decorative accessories? Or, wait am I supposed to be taking things away and decluttering?! These sentences (and about 642 more) have all been slung at me every time I mentioned that I’ve been working on the side as a home stager for a local realtor for over a year. If you haven’t heard about that you can catch up – and get a few bonus stories and tips – by listening to podcast Episode #53, Episode 41, and Episode 88.
#91: When Is A House Change You Made Bad For Resale?
This week we’re talking about when you should undo a personal change that you made to your house that might turn off potential buyers (and when we’d recommend leaving it the heck alone). We’re also getting into store returns and how they’re changing, because the ability to return decor items that don’t turn out the way you hoped is a great safeguard… but did you know that some stores may be cracking down on that practice? Here’s what we learned about the policing of returns that’s going on behind the scenes, and what a DIYer can do to avoid getting their account flagged. We’re also recapping our trip to a blogging conference in Austin, I
New Series: Preparing For Summer At The Beach House!
Since spring is finally here, we can’t help but feel like summer is right around the corner. This will be our first legit summer using our beach house (last year we were still tiling all three bathrooms well into Labor Day) and our goal is to spend lots of time there, both to whittle down our to-do list and TO ACTUALLY ENJOY THE BEACH. But in all the work we’ve been doing to prepare the house for our first summer, we realized we’ve been neglecting to prepare something else: ourselves! All of the fast food we’ve been eating on our drives there and back have only been made worse by the workouts we’ve missed over
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