We've used a small copper fire bowl for our backyard fires for years. Normally we'd set it up in the middle of the yard, clearing a small patch of leaves and pine needles. It worked ok, but it could...
Blog posts from home improvement
Light-up house numbers
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...
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 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...
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...
Our Itinerary
2023 Trips
San Diego (Jan)
Orlando (Feb)
Richmond, VA (Apr)
Italy (Apr)
NC Mountains (May)
Wisconsin + Chicago
Rugby World Cup (Sept)
Seychelles (Nov)
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)