I wallpapered our dressing room this week. I am so happy with the results but IT WAS THE WORST JOB EVER. Surprisingly, I can’t remember another home project, besides shoveling rocks, that I disliked so much. What I thought would take 2 hours, took ten. These walls beat me down and broke me haha. Maybe … More Wallpaper!
When it comes to this house, sometimes I feel like a super successful do-it-yourselfer and other times a complete failure. The flooring, the literal foundation for every room, falls into the failure category. But we are working on rectifying the situation, only 3.75 years into living here! Approximately half the house has had most of its wood … More Flooring Updates
Hey! We made it back from Palm Springs and came home with so much inspiration and motivation. We’ll see how long it lasts, but this weekend was packed with organizing/selling/donating/hardwood flooring. I have so many photos to share from PS that I’ll be back soon with (lots are on IG), but in the meantime I wanted to … More DIY Weaving
Easing back into projects after the holidays with this super simple upgrade to a surprisingly utilitarian piece: a Cosco step stool/chair in our kitchen. There are vintage versions of these chairs, but this model is a newer one that we got when kids were too big for high chairs but too small for regular chairs. They … More Cosco Step Stool Chair Reupholster
I’ve been putting in time in the family room, trying to get to a place where things just make more sense, but I’ve been stalled on this built-in cabinet. I’ll admit that it’s useful, displaying pottery hoards/Salton Sea relics in an uncluttered way up top and housing board games below. On the flip side, it … More Painting Built-Ins
I’m not sure that this is a true “restoration” because I never saw what this fireplace’s original deal was. I can only speculate that it was a sweet 60’s mesh curtain instead of the fancy brass door affair our house came with. Again, only speculation so I’ll use the term loosely. I have dreamed of the day … More Mid Century Fireplace Screen Restoration
Highlight of my summer right here everybody! One super simple paint job and the backyard is now my kind of crazy. You can get a good idea of how blah this retaining wall used to look like in this post. And now, excusing the millions of fence spider webs, get a load of it! *Update: See the whole backyard here … More Painted Mosaic Cinderblock Wall!
We finally got around to putting up the ceiling fan in my youngest kid’s room, just in time for that heat wave thing. I spray painted this one just like I did its twin. (And then I painted this black fan too…) I’ve gotten a few questions about that process so here’s a few answers:Would I recommend … More Spray Painting Ceiling Fans Again
Backyard projects continue with some patio furniture fixing and it’s super fun/nauseating. Most mornings this week have been spent getting high off of spray paint fumes while my kids are at school. I live a pretty clean life otherwise so when my husband commented that I could have just started drinking with the amount of damage … More Tulip Table Refurbish
I’ve wanted grasscloth wallpaper for so long and I regret that I waited until now to hang it. The installation was much easier than I anticipated. It’s possible that my expectations were way off. By the time I was done I expected to: be crying, have my entire room ceilings to floors covered in wallpaper adhesive, … More Hanging Grasscloth Wallpaper Yourself – DO IT!
This is mostly a post of pure commiseration. If you are in the middle of wallpaper removal, you are not alone. It sucks. Removing wallpaper is the worst.I finally parted ways with the wallpaper in our dining room. (Well, half of it, but I don’t want to tell you yet why half of it is still up because if … More Removing Wallpaper
I’m in the middle of removing wallpaper in the family room and it is literally coming off in tiny little pieces and driving me insane. (On the flip side, grasscloth came today!!!! It’s the circle of life.) Anyways, I needed a break so I worked on this weird little project instead. The problem was that our 1961 … More DIY Teardrop Starburst
Back in that hallway post, I showed a wall of photos. Personally, am not too big on displaying family photos. Lots of people get great joy from them, but my heart is dark and I do not. I really enjoy it in at other people’s homes, but it’s not something I personally want to live … More Cheap B & W Family Photo Wall
We have this problem with almost finishing projects and then putting off the one last part of it for years, because once things get to a point where it’s “good enough” or “way better than it was”, we become plain lazy. Our hallway wood floor install is going the way of what I just described. And I thought I’d … More Hallways and Maple Bellawood Floors
Confession: I love to buy thrift store paintings and then paint over them, sometimes many times over. I get why people would be weird about it, but just because somebody painted something doesn’t make that work sacred.I think that in general, the stuff that ends up in thrift stores is hobby junkart that I see … More Painting over Other People’s Paintings
Do you ever drip house paint on your clothes and notice that the resulting splatter stays forever, despite your best laundering efforts? Admittedly, my laundry skills are weak. But my wardrobe is seriously starting to morph into that of a house painter who forgets to wear their work clothes to the job site. Turn that … More Painted Patterned Curtains DIY
(UPDATE: MORE ON THE PAINTING PROCESS HERE.) (UPDATE: CATCH A MASSIVE ROUNDUP OF MODERN FANS RIGHT HERE.) Finding good looking ceiling fans is the worst! An impossible feat – even if you have a big ceiling fan budget, which I don’t. I do, however, have a major need for ceiling fans. In every bedroom. The breezy Pacific is … More My Favorite Ceiling Fan…and I Painted it Gold
I always imagined tallying my kids’ height milestones on a doorframe or wall in the one house where their childhood would play out. But, like so many young families, we’ve spent our time in several different temporary houses where I knew sweet memories would have to eventually be left behind. Thankfully, Martha Stewart Living came to my rescue with … More DIY Portable Kid’s Growth Chart
Someday when you are thrift store shopping and you find an ugly but interesting lamp – like this pink ugly beauty for 3 dollars – why not buy it? And take it home with you. And spray paint it glossy navy. And then you may have a surprise favorite lamp. I did and do.I can’t explain why I … More Painting Thrift Store Lamps
The cabinets in our kitchen (and bathroom too!) were an off-white color when we moved in. Painting the cabinets white – though just a shade lighter and a sizable amount of work – was completely 100% worth it. It instantly cleaned things up. The trouble with these was that they had oil-based paint on them. Originally, … More Painting Latex Over Oil-based Paint
SUBURBAN * POP 