When we thought about all the functions that would be helpful to have in our son’s bedroom, which can definitely be described as “cozy” when it comes to the size (real talk: this room is small), he needed:

• a bed to sleep in
• clothing storage
• book and toy storage out in the open
• some concealed storage for papers and other toys/games
• added bonus: a hangout-y lounge spot for reading or playing with his sister or a friend who comes over
• he also requested his own desk for drawing/homework/playing with magnets (yes, we have a current magnet obsession going strong right now)

light | striped wall tutorial | closet baskets | toy baskets | brass shelf | piggy banks | quilt

We definitely could have pulled the “your room is really small for a desk, not sure we can do that” card – but we thought it was worth a try thanks to the idea of customizing a built-in desk right next to the bed that could double as a nightstand.

Continue reading A Small Kids Bedroom With Lots Of Functional Storage That’s Built Right In at Young House Love.

It’s wild to think that this is our second year of decorating this house for the holidays (what even is time?!) but first a ton of you were asking to see what happened to the kitchen side of the space once the new door went in. Our last post covered all the photos and angles of the new kitchen porch we created outside – just steps away from our cooking area inside. So let’s take a look at what went down inside. Here’s what the kitchen is looking like these days:

table | chairs | sconces | pendant | floating shelves | wall shelf | hardware | cabinet color: SW Artsy Pink

It’s always fun to rewind, so if we take a step back in time, this is the kitchen as it looked when we bought this house in Feb of 2020:

We talked about our initial updates to the room waaaaay back in this post from May of 2020 (before we moved in).

Continue reading How The Kitchen Changed With A New Door (And Our 2021 Holiday Decor) at Young House Love.

Finally took the photos and videos for this post and I can’t wait to share it because it changed our house in such a major way. Introducing… the area that we affectionately call our kitchen porch. Aka: the grillin’ spot with all the greenery.

grill | outdoor table | outdoor stacking chairs | large white planter

If you followed along on Instagram Stories for the last few months, essentially this side porch always existed, but after we closed off doors number 7 and 8 from our bedroom which led out here (yes our bedroom had 8 exterior doors & still has 6 of them – more on that here), it was just a floating porch without any door leading to it. Here’s an old photo to show you what we essentially were starting with (this is after the exterior stairs came down from the upper deck, but before we painted the house, got new railings, etc, etc).

Continue reading Our New Kitchen Porch at Young House Love.

Every year it feels like we’re the last bloggers in all of blogland to get our gift guide up (is it me or are they coming out earlier and earlier?!), but the deed is done! We just do one post with three categories (adults, kids, and under $25), so here it is. We love including small makers and Black-owned businesses as well as some tried & true items from larger companies that we’ve bought & loved (like a favorite book, family game, etc) so let’s get into it.

Gifts For Grown-Ups

Here’s what we’re loving, either firsthand items that we’ve bought and enjoyed ourselves, things we’re getting for friends & family, or items that we’re hoping to find under the tree ourselves (hint, hint John).

1. These rose gold birthstone rings feel so special and her reviews are stellar ($50)
2. I want this “Distracted By Plants” shirt & know 7 friends who’d also want it ($14)
3. Oprah put this chic Linen Wireless Charger on her fav.

Continue reading Holiday Gift Guides For Everyone On Your List (With Stuff Under $19 & Even $9) at Young House Love.

We haven’t dropped in on this room since this post from more than a year ago about hanging our giant chandelier (how is that possible?! Where did that year go?!?!). This room in many ways has functioned well from day one for us – so I guess our infrequent check-ins make sense. We knew we wanted this big multi-purpose space to serve a few different functions like cozy movie room, a place to lay on the sofa and read/lounge, office/workspace for us, and an arts & craft desk for the kids that could also store all of their papers & creations while having another spot to store all of our board games and all of our work papers. I know. It’s a tall ask, but this is a big room, and as soon as we moved in we knew just where we wanted the TV (and heck, that’s as good of a place to start as any).

Continue reading Our Family Room: 1.5 Years In at Young House Love.

We shared some sad news on Instagram Stories last week, but wanted to make sure to post something here too, because Burger was such a huge part of our blog. Last Monday, our sweet chihuahua Burger passed away at the age of 15. It was a long wonderful life, but we miss him so so much. The house is way too quiet without him.

We got him when we were 24 years old. Before we got married, before the blog, before we had kids, before almost every adult experience we had together. He was there through it all.

He was always such a happy boy. We are so grateful for all the years we shared. He seemed to pass away peacefully in his sleep. For a dog that was diagnosed with a severe heart murmur six years ago, we are grateful for all the extra years that he defied the odds after that.

Continue reading A Tribute To Burger at Young House Love.

Long story short, instead of having 8 doors that lead outside in our bedroom (yes, we really had that many), we now have 6. And spoiler alert: it’s still plenty. We really just use the middle set along this huge wall of doors to go in and out, but the view and the light that the other doors let in is truly a room-making detail. We love the view in here and all of the brightness that shines in, and the addition of the fence for our own little private courtyard out there has been so nice. It not only makes the yard feel more private, it makes the bedroom feel more nestled and private too (more on that fence/courtyard area here).

rug | similar lamps | bed frame | headboard | similar bench | ottoman | curtains | curtain rod | similar table / wood chairs | door knobs

The exciting thing about eliminating that last set of double doors (which used to be where our left nightstand and the left half of our bed are in the photo below), is that we could then move our bed into that cozy nook that was created:

rug | similar lamps | bed frame | headboard | similar bench | ottoman | curtains | curtain rod | similar table / wood chairs | door knobs

As a reminder, this is what the room looked like when we bought our house (and the two-door area that’s half open in the photo below is what we drywalled over and we now have our bed along that wall).

Continue reading Our Bedroom Ten Months In (Houston, We Have A Closet!) at Young House Love.

We’ve been enjoying this fire pit hangout spot for months now, but it hasn’t been on the blog… until today. This is basically a lesson in how a fence can make a HUGE difference in defining an area, which can lead to adding some simple outdoor furnishings (in this case, it was four adirondak chairs and a fire pit – which hit the ground and instantly created an entirely new “outdoor room” for our whole family to enjoy).

We hang out here and make s’mores at least once a week (and sometimes a lot more than that), so it has been a very welcome addition. Especially during a time when everyone is spending A LOT of time at home, so something novel and new like this bonus hangout zone feels extra special We even made s’mores for dessert on Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, so it’s quickly becoming quite the family tradition.

Continue reading How We Created A Cozy Fire Pit Area at Young House Love.