Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials
Feels like it has taken a while for autumn to hit Richmond, but it’s finally here in full force. Its late arrival probably means it won’t be long ’til all the yellows, oranges and maroons are replaced with brown and more brown, so we were sure to capture the fall colors on film while we could. Enjoy!
To be honest, our bathroom probably needs a total remodel (or at least a new tile job and sink), but we thought a refresher was all we could handle during our lengthy (and expensive) kitchen remodel. So we decided (well, I decided, and then coerced John) to paint the blue walls a soothing tan, and to graduate from a dorm room shower curtain (made of plastic) to a fancy-schmancy fabric one (in a grown up white waffle pattern). We also thought it was time to remove our beast of a medicine cabinet (which actually had two lights coming out of the sides of it like arms) and replace it with an updated medicine cabinet with
We made a mudroom in an empty corner on the cheap and in only a few minutes. It really is easy and you can do it too!
With a house full of newly painted neutral walls, we’re psyched to have plenty of rooms begging for some art. So hopefully you’ll start to see several posts about good artsy-fartsy finds. We’re starting with a John & Sherry original. When we went on our Alaskan honeymoon in July we took tons of memorable photos, including the one below during a private seaplane flight to a remote volcano several miles outside of Anchorage (yep, I said volcano in Alaska). That field of blue and black in the foreground is a glacier speckled with deposits of volcanic ash. Definitely not something you see everyday. On a whim, I desaturated the pic in Photoshop to see what
Do you ever feel like there are too many options in the world? If so, DO NOT attempt to pick out new counters. Or just make sure you’ve got a wifey with extensive internet research skills. (And if you don’t, hands off – this one’s mine). Here’s what I learned from Sherry’s quick crash course. Laminate and marble were immediately out of the question. We already had laminate and wanted to upgrade to something more natural and less plastic-y. And as gorgeous as carrera marble can be (we loved it in our inspiration kitchen), it eliminated itself from the mix thanks to being much too expensive (about $100 a square foot) and not nearly as
Eons ago we promised you updated photos of the new grass-tastic backyard after the Craigslist success story. Well, the grass has FINALLY decided to grow, so instead of sitting around and waiting we can post these pics for you. Here’s the before- which was perfect for our backyard wedding, but waaaay too much work to maintain: So we put an ad for free bushes and gravel on Criagslist, and this is what we were left with: Now that the grass has finally filled in, we have a wide-open (and super easy to maintain) yard that’s perfect for Burger’s bug hunting expeditions: It’s not exactly “lush” but it’s getting there, and by next spring it’ll be
You’ve seen plenty of photos, but it was ’bout time we got all 21st century up in this mother. Here’s the minimally-anticipated world premiere of our first video house tour. Sherry plays Vanna while I take on the role of Spielberg…and keep an eye out for a cameo by Burger. Enjoy it HERE on YouTube.
We scored an inexpensive stainless steel undermount sink for our kitchen renovation and used a coupon code to save even more money. Wahoo!
We scored a discount faucet on ebay for our kitchen renovation. Here’s the rundown.
The weekend kicked off with what seemed to be our biggest plumbing project ever. Mainly because it required turning off water to the entire house (which involved me sticking my hand down a muddy, bug-filled hole in the front yard with a tiny wrench as my only weapon.) We were fixing a small leak the floor guys created when they re-installed our bathroom pedestal sink. It couldn’t be fixed by simply turning off the water under the sink because that shut-off valve was the very source of our problem. And the last thing we wanted was a leak onto our new floor. Luckily, we had been able to temporarily tame the leak by turning off
Here’s that washer & dryer update that you’ve all been asking for. Yesterday our fab front loading washer & dryer (which ended up being floor models due to Lowe’s SELLING THE ONES WE ALREADY PURCHASED!) arrived in near perfect condition. In fact, the dryer is flawless and the washer has only a tiny scratch on the top that you’d need a magnifying glass to locate. So all in all, we’re actually thrilled that Lowe’s messed up and sold our new models since the floor models are just as nice (and ended up saving us another 150 bucks, bringing our total discount on the washer and dryer to $500- amazing!). In fact, they told us we
We got gorgeous new mocha oak flooring from Lumber Liquidators- here’s the whole rundown for you.
