Nature Art Gallery Wall – Oh, It’s Expanded
In October 2023, I shared the nature art gallery wall in our living room here on the blog. In the 16 months since that blog post, it is safe to say the nature art gallery wall has expanded. If you give a mouse a cookie a woman a thrift store painting… Here’s how the nature art gallery wall looked way back in the olden times of 2023. (It wasn’t that long ago and yet it feels like three lifetimes have passed since then. Why is that?) Here’s a pulled back view of how that wall looks now in February 2025. It’s cold and barren outside, but inside I’m faking it…
The Prettiest Easter Decor
Do you know what is in stores already? Easter decor. How quickly we move on from holiday to holiday in the U.S. Is it like that everywhere in the world? Weigh in and tell me! The good news is Easter is in late April this year (April 20), so you’ll get a lot of bang for your decorating buck if you sprinkle a little Easter decor around your home this year. Check out the prettiest Easter decor I found: Empty Tomb Scene | Amazon I know we do a lot of woodworking, but this empty tomb scene would be tricky to cut for us, so I’d gladly spend $20 on…
Under-A-Table Pull-Out Trash Cabinet
With limited kitchen cabinet space and nowhere to conceal the trash and recycling cans, we got creative and made a pull-out trash cabinet to go under a table. Yes, a table! We have a partially unfitted kitchen, meaning not everything is fixed in place. We use furniture to supplement our lack of kitchen cabinets and counter space. In particular, we have a rustic table pushed against one wall that serves as a counter, coffee station, and eating area. That’s where we decided to tuck our pull-out trash cabinet. Here’s that rustic table before we started this project. And, ahem, here’s how that table has looked on any given weekday with…
Copper Toe Kick For Built-In Desks
Allow me to acquaint you with the most amazing thing – a copper toe kick with an adhesive backing. If copper isn’t your color, don’t write this idea off. Brass and nickel toe kicks are a thing too. Sure, toe kicks or kick plates are not a new invention. They’ve been around since women started complaining about people and pets damaging their gorgeous front doors or so I assume. Seems like something that would drive me nuts. However, we’re not getting distracted by assumptive history today. We’re focusing on what drives me nuts creative problem-solving with gorgeous materials. I most often see a toe kick or kick plate on the…
Building In Our Fridge: The Reveal
It’s reveal day! We’ve been working on building in our fridge and customizing it to make it look panel-ready(ish) and now I get to show you how it looks. It does make me a little insecure to release these photos into the wild because I know this is just one step in a multi-step process of making over our kitchen. There is still more to come as time and budgets allow. I hope you enjoy seeing a transformation over time because that’s what happening here. Here’s the original before photo of the refrigerator. Try to contain your jealousy. Fast forward a few years and we removed some wallpaper, painted, and…
Make A Magnetic Bulletin Board With Sheet Metal
I prefer to test out our DIY creations before I share them on the blog and the magnetic bulletin board we made with sheet metal is no exception. It is the second bulletin board we made for our Carriage House Gym and we have put this magnetic bulletin board through its paces to see how it will hold up. If it can survive being hung in a well-used gym with no heating or cooling and some moisture issues (humidity, not sweat – but a little of that too), it can survive your house or business. Why did we make magnetic bulletin board instead of a cork board? First, they are…
Winter Wreath Ideas To Get You Through To Spring
Editor’s Note: The first part of this blog post is a reshare of an idea from two years ago. The end of the blog post has a bunch of winter wreath ideas that I adored and you might too. Have you ever transitioned your holiday wreath to a winter wreath for the months of January and February? By transition, I don’t mean leaving the holiday wreath in all of its festive splendor up. Ha! Although, if that makes you happy, you do you! This year after the holidays I wasn’t quite ready to take down all of my holiday greenery, especially my wreath over the dining room fireplace. This was…
Wallpapered Stairwell – Before and After
I have the most dramatic makeover to share with you – a wallpapered stairwell with the most disturbing before photos. Disturbing might be the wrong description. Gross? Jarring to the senses? Discordant with the rest of the house? Not a place you want to be? Any way you want to wordsmith it, this stairwell had some negative juju and we lived with it for five and a half years. It’s amazing how long you can live with a space when there’s a door to keep the peeling lime green paint out of sight and mind. Why does a stairwell have a door? Two, actually. We’re overachievers. These stairs lead up…
How I Styled My Latest Thrift Store Finds: Part 8
Welcome to an infrequent, but delightful series where I show you how I styled my latest thrift store finds. It’s not always what you find, but how you use what you find that justifies bringing junk home. At least, that’s what I tell my husband. Pull up a chair and take a sip of your coffee because this is going to be fun! In no particular order, here are my latest thrift store finds and how I styled them. Wood Tray If you look closely at the below photo, there’s a wood gardening tray sitting on the bench. This isn’t technically a thrift store find. It was a free roadside…
4 Places I Use Outdoor Rugs Indoors
Fun fact about me, I have never used an outdoor rug on a deck or patio. However, I have and do use outdoor rugs indoors. I do this for one main reason…to bring the outdoors in. Kidding! I use outdoor rugs indoors in certain situations because they seem to be a little less precious than their counterparts and can withstand a tremendous amount of wear and tear. And, when something particularly gag-inducing happens (no, I don’t want to talk about it), the ability of these rugs to be cleaned with a pressure washer or hose is a godsend. Now, I know rugs of all types have their particular ways of…
