Recently one of my favorite readers (and best friends) asked if I could share some ideas for affordable kitchen lighting. Happy to oblige, I’ve put together a little roundup of my favorite modern industrial farmhouse lighting options. Picking the right lighting for a room can be one of those design challenges that you don’t think about until you find yourself overwhelmed with thousands of choices, wondering how you could have paid so little attention all your life to the lights you use every day in your home. Affordable kitchen lighting has been on my mind lately, because when we recently replaced the floor in our kitchen and breakfast nook, we… Keep Reading
Back to School Grownup Bedroom Refresh
Now that my kids are back in school, I get to take time to work on my own projects again! I thought I’d start by giving my master bedroom a little makeover This grownup bedroom refresh is all about the details, clean lines, and soft colors. We recently sold our latest flip house, that did double duty for a while as an AirBNB property, and had a few items left over from staging it. I enjoyed them so much in the flip house that I wanted to bring them home and find a place for them in my house. And I didn’t have to look far. A few months ago,… Keep Reading
Bring the Indoors Out with an Outdoor Rug
Designing a comfortable patio starts with function, but it doesn’t have to end there. To truly create an outdoor living space, you need to add a few touches of comfort, like an outdoor rug. And I’ve got just the place to find one! This month marks the beginning of outdoor living in our part of the world, and I’m jumping on that bandwagon by making over my back patio, just in time for summer. Last week we painted our concrete block wall, which made the whole space feel more inviting and lived in, and now we’re moving on to decorating the space under our gazebo. I want my outdoor dining… Keep Reading
Vacation Rental Hosting: How to Set Up a Home for AirBNB
Welcome to a new mini-series here on the blog, all about hosting your own vacation rental property! While I’m normally all about DIY Projects, Crafts, and Flipping Houses, today I’m kicking off a new series that goes along with my latest project outside the blog. But first, a little background information. Let me tell you a little story about how I accidentally became a landlord. As you may know, my design partner Jana and I flip houses as a little side business. I say “little” because we’re not a big operation like the HGTV gurus who do dozens of homes a year. We don’t have a lot of time or… Keep Reading
Flip House Hattie’s Big Reveal
It’s here… Reveal Day! I love a good makeover, don’t you? Our current flip house, named Hattie, seemed like she didn’t need much, but in reality all the little changes added up to a full remodel. This was the kind of house that just needed a few of the right touches to bring it up to date. And while that’s not as exciting a makeover as some of the falling-down houses I’ve seen, the overall effect turned out to be really satisfying. But enough of my musing, let’s get to the pictures, shall we? Hattie Before her Makeover Here are a few “Before” shots of our beloved Hattie, to remind… Keep Reading
Small Changes Add up to Big Change at the Flip House
I love a good “before” and “after,” don’t you? Well, my apologies because today is all about the “during.” When we started the makeover on our new flip house, “Hattie,” I was a little disappointed because she just wasn’t very ugly to begin with. I mean, I really love to get into a horrible rundown mess of a house and bring it back from the brink of city condemnation. Let’s rip out some walls. Let’s carry out the grossness with shovels. Let’s back up a dump truck into the driveway and fill it with terrible old cabinets and tiles and (gasp!) sludgy toilets! (I know, I’m a little bit of… Keep Reading
A New Flip House Named Hattie
Ladies and Gentlemen, I’d like you to meet Hattie, our latest flip house adventure. Yes, I know it’s probably weird to give people’s names to our houses, but we need a way to keep track of them and I get so attached to each one that it’s as if they have their own personality. I like to think of it as a term of endearment, rather than naming a natural disaster. Although to be honest, I’m sure both have an element of truth. If you’re just joining, you can check out our first flip here, and our second flip here. Back to Hattie. She’s a wonderful, stately lady, full of dignity… Keep Reading
I Love the After: The Big Reveal of our Latest Flip
I have good news and bad news. The bad news is I’m not writing a progress post on our flip house like I had planned for this week. The good news is because it’s turned into a reveal post! Yep, we’re done. This sweet little home is on the market, ready and waiting for its next family. I loved working on our first flip house, but this one has brought me even more creative joy than that one did. I don’t know why, but some houses just capture your heart, and this one did just that. Maybe it was the moment my daughter christened it “The Birthday Cake House” (y’all… Keep Reading
Our New Flip House Gets a Fresh Start
We had so much fun renovating our first flip house that we couldn’t wait to do it again. Except it turns out finding the right opportunity sometimes takes a little patience. So after a few months of itching to get our hands on a new project, we finally found one that fit the bill. Introducing our new flip house… My daughter calls it the birthday cake house because she thinks it looks like a yellow birthday cake. I think that’s a pretty happy thought, so for now that will be its official name. This house just needs a few cosmetic upgrades (and a good cleaning!) and it will be a… Keep Reading
Home Staging 101
Thank you so much for all your questions after last week’s post on home staging! We talked about whether it’s worth it to stage your home to sell, using our Flip House as a case study. I heard from several of you here and on Instagram, and I’m thrilled to share more information with you now about how to actually accomplish the staging. So we’ve established what home staging is and why it’s important when you’re selling your house. (If you missed that post, check out To Stage or Not to Stage.) Now, what do you do about it? Do you hire a professional home stager? I actually think that’s a… Keep Reading