North Carolina Home
Mudroom Exterior Renovation with New Pavers & Plants
Our mudroom renovation has been quite the journey... a year-long journey to be exact! One of the factors making this a more complex (and lengthy) project was that it involved significant changes to both the interior and the exterior of the space (if you remember, this was a laundry room before!). After adding an exterior […]
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September 23, 2024
DIY
Can You Paint an Electrical Meter Box? (Answer: Yes!)
We're finalizing the exterior hardscaping around the mudroom and one thing that stuck out like a sore thumb was the meter box. It's that pale grey color and against the red brick, it was just too loud. So I decided to spray-paint it, and the payoff was immediate! There's really only one portion that you […]
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September 16, 2024
Cleaning & Organization
How to Spring Clean the Backyard with Just 5 Tools
This post is sponsored by Lowe's Home Improvement You know those projects that sort of linger in the background until someone is coming over? Like for instance, we knew we were going to eventually clean our outdoor patio furniture and prep the backyard for pool season. But it wasn't until we had a date on the […]
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May 16, 2024
Entertaining
6 Outdoor Entertaining Musts
We're ready to have people over in our backyard space now that it's so nice out in North Carolina, and it reminded me of the elements that I think really create that perfect outdoor setting for guests. Outdoor entertaining, to me, is really about making people feel comfortable and special. Here are a few things […]
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May 9, 2024
DIY
How to Hang String Lights
Over the weekend, Chris and I hung some string lights in our backyard, and we wanted to give you a proper tutorial on how we did it! We have plenty of ground lighting, but we really needed some overhead illumination for these upcoming summer nights, and string lights are the perfect solution. Here are 10 […]
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June 1, 2023
North Carolina Home
Our Complete Exterior Renovation: The Final Reveal and Cost Breakdown
In the past two homes we've lived in, we prioritized renovating the inside of the house before the outside. So when we made the move to North Carolina, where the outdoor living is outstandingly better than Idaho, we wanted to focus on the outside first. And I'm so glad we did it right from the […]
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May 24, 2023
Other Makeovers
Maximizing the Layout of a Small Deck in 5 Steps!
This post is sponsored by Article and was written by my lovely sister and brand manager, Victoria. Okay, I have to tell you something: Last year, I bought a dapper dining table on Facebook Marketplace and appointed it on my deck with promises of al fresco suppers, season after season. I weatherproofed it (obviously)(or so […]
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April 19, 2023
Renovations
What's Been Going on With the Landscaping?
If you've been following along on Instagram, you may have noticed our front yard has been torn up since December. It all started with wanting to expand the driveway because it's sort of a bottleneck situation when it comes to cars coming and going. We also wanted to take out some of the trees and […]
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March 13, 2023
Projects
"Planting" Faux Plants Outside
I guess I'm partially embarrassed and partially excited to tell you about the fake plants I "planted" in these pots right outside the dining room. Unfortunately, I didn't inherit a green thumb from either of my gardening expert parents, so I took matters into my own hands and went the faux route this spring. 36" […]
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March 6, 2023
Renovations
An Overdue Outdoor Kitchen Update
This outdoor kitchen has been a long time in the making! And we're still not done, but it's officially usable and in service. Chris's parents AND my sister Patti happened to be in town over the weekend and so we figured... Why not break in the outdoor kitchen and pool furniture and throw a pool […]
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September 21, 2022
North Carolina Home
The Pool Furniture in Our Backyard Vacation Oasis
This post is sponsored by Sunbrella. This little slice of backyard heaven has been a long time in the making, but it has actually come together at the perfect time. I had my moments of discouragement — when the backyard was a literal mud pit — and it was hard to believe this day would […]
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September 19, 2022
updates
Our Backyard Exterior Lighting
Our new exterior lights got installed in the backyard, and I'd like to say that while the backyard ambiance is coming together quite beautifully, even with our newly installed lights it still feels kind of dark. I’m not sure we even have enough light in the backyard to have a party. (Check out our past […]
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August 10, 2022
updates
A Full Backyard Update
Lots of projects in the backyard finally wrapped up these past couple of weeks, including the pool finally getting filled, so you can find me there! And while not everything is done and tied up in a bow, it is slowly getting there and if there is one thing I have learned throughout all of […]
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July 18, 2022
Entertaining
The Best Lawn Games
We've been focusing on outdoor spaces on the blog this month (if you haven't noticed!) and today is a fun one–all about lawn games! You're never too old for a lawn game! Both Chris and I grew up playing games outside and so of course we love doing that with our friends and family. Growing […]
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June 24, 2022
DIY
Our Backyard Plant Landscaping Plans
As part of our backyard landscaping budget, $25k was to be allotted towards all the plants and greenery. Coming from someone who has no idea the going price for plants and trees, it's hard for me to wrap my head around spending twenty five thousand for that. And I'm aware that since this isn't my […]
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June 23, 2022
Entertaining
5 Outdoor Entertaining Musts
As we're getting ready to start using our backyard space, I can't help but picture all the entertaining we plan to do. It's going to take years for this outdoor space to fully mature and grow into what we envision, but I'm not waiting for things to be perfect before we invite our friends and […]
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June 22, 2022
Projects
Outdoor Spaces Then and Now
Any day now we're going to be jumping into that backyard pool, I just know it. It's been a wild ride getting to this point but already it feels so worth it. When we moved in, the backyard space was limited to just a small little courtyard barely big enough for patio furniture. While overflowing […]
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June 16, 2022
round up
Build an Outdoor Space at Every Budget
For me, nothing is more thrilling than a total-space transformation. But you don't have to break the bank to get a jump-start on great design. I've chunked out a dreamy $3000 outdoor space below, in $1,000 increments, with mood boards that build on one another (though, honestly, I would love any of these boards a […]
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June 15, 2022
Projects
An Overdue Backyard Update!
Wow, wow, wow it's time for a major update in the yard! Now before you light me up and say you like the before better... in this state?–I'm with you. Demo started December 5th and we still have a couple more months of work to go, including hardscaping, landscaping and then years for everything to […]
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May 12, 2022
Design
Pool Progress + The Pool Mood Board
It has been a little bit since we've shared an update on the backyard, and we have major pool progress to report! When they promised a pool by summer, they really meant it, and I'm so ready for that. I didn't know exactly what to expect with a pool install but I've been very much […]
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February 22, 2022
