Before we left our second house for the last time, we took this photo of Clara in the room where she woke up on each of her first three birthdays. It’s a striking contrast to the picture we took the day we moved in back in 2010—so much has changed in that room and in … Read more

When I was a kid and my parents took us to open houses for fun, my sister and I always claimed the most interesting room as “ours”: the one with a secret compartment, the room with the biggest windows, and so on. If we toured Kristin’s house, the attic turned into her daughter Ella’s bedroom … Read more

Some of you may remember that we planned a DIY crib skirt to hide the gap beneath the mattress and the storage drawer below. We’re back with a clear, step-by-step guide to make a fitted, removable, and washable crib skirt—no sewing required. I used iron-on hem tape, scissors, a tape measure, and an iron. In … Read more

You could have knocked us over with a feather back in December when we won the Remodel, Blog & Win contest. Not only did we receive $5,000, we also earned an interview with Meghan Carter of AskTheDecorator.com. Meghan’s busy travel schedule meant the interview was scheduled for June, which gave us several months to prepare … Read more

Continuing a recent trend in our house, Clara is the latest family member to get a ceiling fixture in her room. I half expect Sia to burst into song about it (“from the chan-de-li-eeeer!”). If the chandelier looks familiar, it’s because a version of it used to hang in our dining room. It came with … Read more

Last Monday, a surprise snowstorm — unexpected in an otherwise mild winter — created this view from our living room window: Clara couldn’t resist heading outside to play: Fast forward about a week, and our view looks a lot different now: Clara’s sporting a very different outfit these days: True to our anniversary resolution, we … Read more

***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries*** We know many of you love personalized stationery as much as we do, and we enjoy supporting creative husband-and-wife teams. This week’s giveaway comes from Wild Ink Press, a small letterpress studio that creates beautiful stationery by hand. The team prints on 100% recycled paper or cotton and … Read more

Just as planned, we held our very first yard sale this weekend. It was a lot of work, but it was also a complete success. We cleared out a ton of stuff and walked away with exactly $425. Cha-ching. (I won’t dwell on how much we might have spent originally — in our defense, quite … Read more

Last week we showed the DIY outdoor hanging daybed we installed on our front porch. As promised, here’s how we hung it—because if you’re like me, suspending something that needs to support the weight of a person (or two) can feel a little nerve-wracking. It turned out to be very simple. In fact, we re-hung … Read more

Many readers have asked here, on Flickr, and on Facebook how we create the weekly photos that document Clara’s first year. After answering several questions individually, we decided to write a concise how-to post so anyone curious about our process can follow along. Family photos make great DIY art and decor—especially when they’re framed or … Read more