DIY
The $100, 20 minute, Upgrade that Seriously Amped up our Curb Appeal
In, literally, less than 20 minutes and for $120 we completely upgraded our curb appeal this weekend. And to be honest, we're so embarrassed we didn't do this sooner! Last summer, I remember pinning a DIY project about building out a standard 4x4 mailbox post with trim and a cap to make it look so […]
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July 18, 2017
DIY
5 Amazing Playhouse / Playset Makeovers!
When we shared our plans for our own backyard play area a couple days ago, and subsequently the initial renderings of how we'd like to paint/makeover the playset we have headed our way--I made the mistake of saying that there's not a lot of great inspiration out there for good-looking outdoor kids' spaces. While there […]
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June 29, 2017
Projects
The Beginnings of Our At-Home Playground
We basically have two big projects we have to finish before this baby gets here (in about a month!): the girls' bathroom, which we feel confident we can get done now (latest update on that here), and the side yard--something we've only talked about briefly, so let's dive into that a little more. Our property is an unusual […]
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June 26, 2017
Projects
Our New Sprawling Front Porch Swing + Reader Poll on what color to paint it!
One of our summer bucket list projects this year was to add a big porch swing to our front porch area. Initially, we thought we'd build one so it would be nice and long and deep and fill up the space nicely. But, as I was poking around online, I found (and fell for) a […]
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June 15, 2017
Idaho Rambler
The Deck, One Year Later + What's Still to Come!
Almost exactly one year ago, the deck as a structure was complete! It's been a wonderful addition to our home and we can barely remember life before it. But I figured it was time to check in on it again (before the stars come out, that is) since we've had a few new additions this […]
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June 7, 2017
Decor
A Layered Outdoor Dining Space--On A Budget!
This post is in partnership with World Market. We're so excited to share with you the outdoor dining area we created on my parents' deck today! We were able to pull the whole thing off for less than the $1500 budget we were given by World Market (more on that in this post) and many of the […]
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June 5, 2017
Cleaning & Organization
How We Keep our Outdoor Furniture Clean
Since we've been sharing a few sneak peeks of our deck lately (we've added a few more pieces and will be sharing the full reveal next week), the number one question we are getting on Instagram right now is how we keep our outdoor sofas clean. They all are very light white or ivory, and while that […]
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May 22, 2017
Mood Boards
Budget-Friendly Outdoor Dining Plans
One of our most asked about pieces on our deck are our wood framed facing sofas. They are from World Market and ridiculously affordable at just $399 a pop. We got them last year, during one of their outdoor sales and spent just over $500 for both. We love them. I'm actually working on a […]
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May 15, 2017
Inspiration
A Night In (On the deck!)
This special series is sponsored by Article. Once May hit and we were pretty sure the snow was over (#idaholife), we started working on pulling our furnishings out from storage and setting our deck up for the season. In addition to the planter boxes we recently built, we also added two of Article's Sala white lounge chairs […]
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May 11, 2017
Decor
Mix And Match Layered Doormat Options + A Podcast Update
Before we get into the meat of today's post, I wanted to give you a podcast update. It's hard to believe we have been doing The Chris Loves Julia Podcast with Preston Pugmire for 5 months now! But even before that, it's been a year since Preston sat down at our dining room table and […]
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October 17, 2016
Sourcing & Planning
A Really Good, Modern Exterior Fixture for under $20
Well, we haven't painted the brick yet, but this week, we did make a tiny (both in price and in size) update that made the front of our home a little more visually appealing. The light that's just about over my head in the photo above used to be an outdated brass number (see below) that is […]
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August 31, 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
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
Lifestyle
My Childhood Home (And the Trouble with Our Current One)
I spent the first 18 years of my life in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, growing up in a red brick home. And when we were in Pittsburgh last month renovating a kitchen, we did a drive by of that home. It wasn't the fanciest house and my parents were never concerned about home decor trends--I slept on the third […]
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July 14, 2016
DIY
Our Outdoor Sofas are Here + What's Next?
The outdoor sofas we ordered a few weeks ago arrived the day before we left for Pittsburgh. As much as I wanted to bust them out of their boxes and arrange them on the newly finished deck, I knew them sitting outside for 10 days, unused, didn't really make a ton of sense. So as […]
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June 16, 2016
Idaho Rambler
Our Finished Deck!
Our deck is done! Our deck is done! We've been enjoying our outdoors for, what feels like, the first time since we moved here over 2 years ago. Today, I'm excited to share with you a bunch of photos, cost breakdown (while we paid for the sub-structure and labor, Trex supplied the decking, but we'll add […]
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June 2, 2016
Projects
Deck on Deck!
Our yard is probably the most intimidating/embarrassing thing about our whole house, but after years of planning, it's finally time to do something about it. It's divided into, what I can only describe as, three triangles. When we were putting in our fence a couple years ago, we drew up this quick mockup of the property. […]
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May 19, 2016
Projects
Six Things to do this Spring from the Archives
It's always fun to see when the seasons change, our readers start digging deep into the archives, or coming across one of our projects on Pinterest that is relevant to the warmer weather. And since there are hundreds of thousands more of you now than there was when most of these posts hit the blog […]
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May 12, 2016
DIY
Before and After: Our New Front Door!
Our new front door is in and we have some photos to share with you today! First I should say that ordering a door online was a bit of a risk. Especially since we wanted a wood-toned one and tones are somewhat hard to read online. But as soon as it got here, we inspected […]
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March 29, 2016
DIY
Sneak Peek at the new Front Door + Schlage Giveaway!
Update: Congrats to our winner, Avery! Hope you enjoy your new door hardware. :) Last week, our new front door arrived! We got it installed and trimmed out and it has totally changed everything. The facade of our house finally reflects more of what you could expect when you walk inside. We'll have more of those photos […]
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March 28, 2016
