Category: Our Renovation Design Process
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Our Regrind Driveway Review – 3 Years Later Would Asphalt Have Been Better?
Now that our latest construction project is done (the garages) and until we start the next one (the carriage house), we have fewer trucks, cars, and equipment wreaking havoc on our property, which made me stare at our regrind driveway with fresh eyes. I just reread the original article, from three years ago, debating all…
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We Found The Best Garage Doors Ever – See For Yourself
I never thought I’d be this excited to show you the prettiest garage doors ever. When we finally agreed to invest in making our garages better, our goal was to make them functional, but we had very low expectations on how beautiful they would be. Our garages aren’t on a street where neighbors can see…
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Can You Use The IKEA PAX Closet In Your Garage? (Look…We Are!)
They did a study once where they scanned customers brains before entering The Container Store and then again leaving (with all the organizational goods) and found that dopamine levels had spiked – and not just because of shopping (which as we all know, does give you a high) but they concluded it was due to…
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Am I A Hoarder? Our Next Youtube Video – Inside The Vintage Carriage House
Today we are discussing two very important things – 1. I am a hoarder of vintage stuff, and I don’t have as much shame about it as I probably should, and 2. We have produced some new YouTube videos in the vintage carriage house that you simply must watch (it’s my favorite video we’ve ever…
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Why We Chose A Clover Lawn Instead Of Grass (This Time)
I feel like I’m about to step into an opinion minefield today. Deciding to do a clover lawn in one area of the property has been oddly polarizing. I’m not an expert, so don’t use me as your sole point of research, but we did opt for a clover lawn instead of traditional turf this…
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How We Built Our Outdoor Kitchen With RTA (Assembled In One Day, Folks)
We are wrapping up phase two of the backyard (which is admittedly a pretty large phase) and I wanted to give you an update, show you the plans, and give you a sneak peek into the new RTA outdoor kitchen (which went from a little “grill area” to full blown kitchen really fast – it’s…
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Repairing Our 150 Year Old Garage (An Update) – We Have Walls Again!
I shouldn’t be so excited about this, it’s just a garage and I don’t even like to drive or know what my own car looks like in a full parking lot (it’s called “car blindness,” and yes, I have gotten in many similar cars that aren’t mine). But as someone who owns probably 19 hammers…
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Design Coaching: Peter And Chrissy’s Builder-Grade Kitchen Plan (I’ve Got Thoughts!)
Oh boy, this is fun. I love inserting myself into other people’s problems (usually when asked) so this whole “help someone else design their house” thing is already making my dopamine spike. After sifting through countless submissions (sooo many good ones–thank you to all who applied!), battling weeks of email hacking snafus, and balancing our…
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Our First Design Coaching “Client” – With 3 Kids Under 3, A Builder-Grade Kitchen And A Lot Of Ideas
A couple of months ago we put out the call to find a reader (or apparently two, more on that later) to help coach through a remodel. It was extremely hard to choose the right family/project – I wanted to do all of them. Some were a full house “where do I start – it’s…
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Emily’s 6 Favorite Green Paint Colors She Would Use Again And Again
It felt like an appropriate day to show love for what feels like the world’s most popular color – green. While I’m more of an expert in “blue,” its sister color – green – is also a favorite and beloved by most people. We know that the design world is LOVING reds, burgundies, mauves –…