In our *old* age, we have determined that comfort is key. One of our first purchases for our current home was a pair of metal counter stools for our kitchen island. While they are cute, affordable, and, yes, even functional, they are gosh dang terrible to sit on. I actually avoided sitting at the island…
WE BOUGHT A GOOGLE NEST THERMOSTAT
For my birthday this year, Megan surprised me with a new Google Nest Thermostat! We’ve considered getting a smart thermostat since we moved in, but had always decided it was better to spend the money on something else. Fortunately for me, Megan found the stainless steel Google Nest Learning Thermostat Gen 3 on a half-off…
BUILDING A PICTURE FRAME LEDGE FOR $20
What do you do with the wall above your couch? Our old hand-me-down pull out couch works super well, functionally, on living room wall, but the space above the couch had us stumped for a while. I love photo gallery walls, but I already have two (three?) around the house and it would require a…
ATTEMPTING TO PREVENT WEEDS BETWEEN PAVERS
Ahh, Fall in the Midwest! The temperate transition from stifling humidity to bone-chilling cold. Bugs go into hibernation and the explosion of weeds that annually seizes dominion over our landscape slowly withers away. Weeding has been the bane of our summer that last couple years. We have an aging paver patio that was installed over…
TODDLER BEDROOM BOOKSHELVES
Saturday mornings at our house are usually busy with odd jobs and small projects. A week or so ago, I took a trip to IKEA with my best friend and picked up three of the BEKVÄM spice racks for $4.99 each! Well, they’re called spice racks, but I’ve seen them more commonly used as bookshelves….
BUILDING INDUSTRIAL SHELVES FOR OUR HALF BATH
When we purchased our home, a few pieces were left behind by the previous owners such as a pink teepee, fuzzy bathmats, and landscape blocks. We have gotten rid of most things (i.e. everything listed above), except for this contemporary glam round mirror in our half bathroom downstairs. The half bath has looked exactly like…
DIY LANDSCAPE RETAINING WALL: OUR TOUGHEST PROJECT
Every DIY project has a point at which the DIY-er thinks to him/herself, “Why?” During this 2 year long landscape retaining wall project, we questioned our abilities and our sanity on a biannual basis. We would like to share with you our journey to completed, functional, and hopefully eternal, landscape retaining walls. Buckle up, guys….
SPRAY PAINTING OUR WICKER PATIO CHAIRS
As we ventured into our front porch renovation, we decided our white wicker patio chairs and a table needed a little love. The set was handed down to us from Tyler’s family and hasn’t gotten much use (partially thanks to the wasps living behind our porch shutters). We decided to pick up some spray paint…
FIXING SAGGY COUCH CUSHIONS
Our family room couch predates our marriage and has been well loved for many years. She has moved with us from our first one bedroom apartment, to a two bedroom apartment, and finally to our current house. This past year and a half has been, by far, her most brutal year. From baby spit up…
STRING TRIMMER TUNE-UP
Due to spending the majority of our evenings working on wrapping up our flowerbed retaining wall, I’d let our yard get a bit out of hand. Finally, before the weeds completely swallowed the driveway, I broke out the mower and the trimmer and got to work. Halfway through edging the driveway, my string trimmer sputtered…