Our house is set back from the road making it hard to see our house numbers, especially at night. This year we finally addressed that by adding 12" numbers backlit by LED tape to the garage. We...
Blog posts from House
Wine / Whisky Room custom table
As mentioned in the Wine / Whisky Room transformation post, we'd been thinking about this room for several years. Back in Christmas 2018 we found a beautiful log from a downed tree at my parents in...
Wine / Whisky Room transformation
This September we finally upgraded our unused dining room from dumping ground to an actually-functioning wine and whisky room. We'd been discussing this for several years, but now that we are home...
It’s our anniversary but I also want to talk about my new kitchen pantry
Twelve years ago Eric and I got married! Here's what we looked like a few days before the wedding -- we were kids! :) Then, four years later, we bought a house with a kitchen that looked like this...
A new entertainment center
For the past ten years we've had an entertainment center that has survived two moves, successively larger TVs, and its share of scrapes and dings. Last Thursday we cleaned it out in preparation for...
quick backsplash project
Back in November, we E&L Gallery with a new water saver toilet, new floors, new vanity, fresh coat of paint and new hardware. before and after Last weekend, we picked up two mosaic tile options...
a backyard landscaping weekend
In March we had a landscaping company come out and do most of the heavy lifting to get our backyard in shape. To finish it off we needed to add new plants and more mulch. On Friday, we had 5 cubic...
A new walkway to the screened porch
When we completed the screened deck last fall I mentioned that we had plans for additional yard improvements. After consulting with a landscape company over the winter we finally started on some...
end of year video – 2011
I am still sorting through hundreds of photos from our recent trip to Thailand and Hong Kong - in the meantime, here is a short video highlighting all our travels (both domestic and international)...
first floor renovations, part VI
I finished the backsplash Sunday night, and Monday morning the cabinet painter came to take all the doors and tape off the kitchen. a total mess - but at least my cabinets look organized! after a...
first floor renovations, part V
Since we were changing so many parts of the kitchen, I really wanted to add a decorative tile backsplash as well. I've had the tile purchased for several days and last Sunday Home Depot offered a...
first floor renovations, part IV
The downstairs bathroom has been slowly coming together. The walls needed to be completely redone as the paint was coming off because I didn't properly prime it after tearing off all the wallpaper...
first floor renovations, part III
We recently swapped out our old laminate countertop for a beautiful blue-grey quartz. What a change, just as dramatic as the floor transformation. The white trim looks a bit crazy now but they will...
first floor renovations, part II
On Tuesday of last week, we began our kitchen floor transformation. It took two days for the guys to tear out the existing floors and about two minutes for everyone to realize that our sub-flooring...
first floor renovations, part I
As the screened porch project neared completion we got to thinking about the kitchen improvements we wanted to make. So, over the past few weeks we've picked out new bamboo flooring and quartz...
The screened deck, pt.VI
Though we've been enjoying the new screened deck since late August it was not quite complete-- we'd been waiting for the wood to cure a bit before staining. This week was finally time: We used a...
The screened deck, pt.V
Progress in the past month has been extremely slow, but the past two days has finally seen an uptick in activity, with most of the screens installed, stairs, drainage, and the electric complete....
The screened deck, pt.IV
Much has been accomplished in the past 10 days, with electrical rough-in and screen framing complete. View from the side- we'll have horizontal slats across the lower section to protect the screen...
Our Itinerary
2024 Trips
San Diego, CA (Jan)
Sarasota, FL (Feb)
Madrid, Spain (Mar)
Valencia, Spain (Mar+Apr)
Palma, Mallorca (Apr)
Croatia (May)
Faroe Islands (Aug)
London, UK (Sept)
Bari, Italy (Sept)
Rome, Italy (Oct)
Frankfurt, Germany (Oct)
2023 Trips
San Diego (Jan)
Orlando (Feb)
Richmond, VA (Apr)
Northern Italy (Apr)
NC Mountains (May)
Long Island (Jul)
Wisconsin (Aug)
Chicago (Aug)
Oak Island, NC (Sept)
Brooklyn, NY (Sept)
Bordeaux + Rugby World Cup (Sep)
Castilla y León (Sep)
Seychelles (Nov)
Willamette Valley (Dec)
2022 Trips
Florida (Feb)
NC Mountains (Apr)
Washington DC (Apr)
Valencia, Spain (May)
Hilton Head, SC (May)
Pacific NW (Jun)
Long Island (Jul)
Florida (Sept)
Chicago (Sept)
Poland (Sept)
NC Mountains (Nov)
Euro Xmas Markets (Dec)