DIY
A Quick and Easy Shower Update (Even a Renter can do!)
You may be aware that we're deep into a full bathroom renovation in our daughters' bathroom downstairs. While we're waiting for the concrete patch to cure so we can move on, I wanted to share a quick Bathroom Reno 101 tip that you can implement in under 10 minutes that only requires 1 tool and […]
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March 6, 2017
DIY
Bathroom Reno 101: Vents & Drains
Quick Note About Permitting: Permit laws vary from state to state, and sometimes town to town. Before starting any renovation, always check with your local permitting office to discuss your plans and they can give you guidance on whether or not your plans require a permit, what you need to do to obtain one, and how […]
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February 22, 2017
Decor
Living Room Refresh, and A Lighting Hack!
Shortly after we added the darker plank wall to the living room, I started craving something lighter on the floor. Although we still really LOVE our indigo Baxter rug, we rolled it up and put it in storage for now (maybe it will be a fall/winter thing? We'll see.) and unrolled this beautiful, moroccan-inspired, budget-friendly rug […]
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February 20, 2017
DIY
How we finally got our Storage Room Organized!
When we bought our home, one of the things we were most excited about was the storage room. It was lined on either side with shelves and we had never had a room dedicated to storage before. What a great thing to have! Fast forward to moving day and the issue became very obvious. Though […]
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February 8, 2017
DIY
The Energy Efficient Home - Water Heaters & Connectivity
This post is sponsored by Ruud Heating, Cooling & Water Heating. We’ve partnered with them to share our process of making our home more comfortable and energy efficient. Ruud has been innovating for over 120 years, so if you’re looking at new HVAC equipment, we encourage you to find a Ruud-approved contractor and request that this outstanding equipment be […]
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December 21, 2016
DIY
Building a Custom Standing Desk Using IKEA Cabinets
If you've been reading for the past few months, you're probably at least a little familiar with the standing desk we've been working on for our office. Well today we're gonna share how we did it, and it was actually pretty easy. Especially since IKEA did most of the hard stuff. You may be wondering […]
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November 21, 2016
DIY
When to DIY or Hire out Home Maintenance?
This post is sponsored by Esurance While we definitely prefer the fixing-up-spaces side of home ownership, homes need constant care and maintenance. We've tried to insert a few of these realistic parts of owning a home sporadically in our content like when we shared how to trim back trees, replacing loose plugs, or the PSA […]
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November 15, 2016
DIY
A Dark Shiplap Accent Wall for under $75!
We can't thank you enough for all your love on the reveal of our girls' room yesterday. It was so much work, but it was wonderful to see so many of you enjoyed following along and the end result as much as we loved sharing it. Today, we wanted to share all the details about […]
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November 10, 2016
DIY
Favorite Halloween Ideas from the Archives
There's just a week and a half until Halloween and we're working double time to make sure everything is ready for our annual costume party. I realized I usually don't get around to posting about what we did for decorations or food until after the fact, so I thought it would be fun to compile […]
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October 20, 2016
DIY
One Room Challenge: Week 3 | The Makings of a Book Nook
It has been an intense week around here. The weather hasn't cooperated all that well, we have only had one decor item arrive (1!!), and we just realized we don't really have three more weeks to finish this like our minds have been telling us, we have three weeks until the reveal, so just over […]
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October 19, 2016
Design
Tearing Out The Bedroom Closets!
A friend of mine was picking my brain earlier this week about how she could add more storage to her home. Closets and storage solutions make such huge difference in the quality of life in a home and it's not always something we think about when looking at a home. While that's all true, sometimes […]
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October 13, 2016
DIY
One Room Challenge: Week 2 | DIY Built-In Bunkbeds for Around $700
We're so excited to share how the shared room for our daughters progressed in just one week! As soon as we hit publish on last week's ORC (One Room Challenge) post, we headed straight to Lowe's to pick up supplies and get started on the largest project in the room--the built-in bunkbeds. Just yesterday, we […]
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October 12, 2016
DIY
One Room Challenge Week 1 | The Room, The Befores and The Plan
The One Room Challenge starts today! 20 design bloggers will be making over a space in 6 weeks and documenting it from start to finish. We're no strangers to a quick deadline around here--heck, this summer we did a whole kitchen renovation for a family in Pittsburgh in 6 days! And a year ago, we […]
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October 5, 2016
DIY
Things to Keep in Mind When Replacing an Old Gas Furnace
If you’ve been reading our blog longer than a few months, you may remember when we had a major carbon monoxide leak in our home mid-Spring. Having a CO leak is one of those stories you always hear where it happened to a friend of a friend, but when it happens in your own home, it becomes very […]
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September 22, 2016
Design
Fall 2016 Video House Tour!
Once or twice a year, we like to film a video house tour. It started out as something for us, to keep a moving record of our progress--nothing is more fun/depressing than watching the first one. But sharing it with all of you has become equally rewarding. You get to see how the rooms in […]
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September 8, 2016
DIY
How We Built Our Outdoor Fireplace
Our backyard underwent a major transformation this summer. We added a sprawling deck to our backyard and furnishings and finally, built an outdoor fireplace as the finishing touch. As a reminder, just a few months ago, the space looked like this: We went between the idea of fire pit vs. fireplace, but in the end, […]
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August 24, 2016
DIY
The Office Wall Treatment is Finished!
Today, we're excited to share our updated office walls. As a reminder, we're turning the 5th bedroom in our basement into a home office/studio space. We haven't done anything to that bedroom room since moving in, so it's especially fun to give life to a room that's been a bit of a wasted space the past three […]
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August 22, 2016
DIY
Painting Our Shed + Our Favorite Paint Sprayer Giveaway
Last summer, we moved a rather large shed from our property to my parents' next door. You can see how that went down in this post. It was an exciting and absolutely nerve-wrecking couple hours with a huge crane and we were left with a pile of rocks. That is to say, things looked way […]
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August 9, 2016
DIY
Before And After: Our Basement Family Room is Finished!
Before and After days are always fun around here, and this one is especially sweet since we have been working on our family room in the basement for at least 8 months, a surprising amount of time when I went back to see when we started. Now, we're calling it done (for now, I just can […]
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August 8, 2016
DIY
Behind the scenes of our Food Network Magazine Shoot!
Pinch me! We're in September's issue of Food Network Magazine, on stands now. Earlier this year, Food Network Magazine contacted us about featuring us in our kitchen after seeing it on Instagram. Chris's sister gifted us a year's subscription to Food Network Magazine for Christmas five years ago and we haven't missed an issue since. So, needless […]
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August 1, 2016
