Looking for gifts for your girlfriends, sisters, or mom? Or maybe you need a little treat for yourself? (No shame in that — I’ve been known to wrap gifts to myself, put them under the tree, and open them on Christmas morning!) Here are some of my top favorites from this year. If you’ve been following for a while, the sunglasses might look familiar — they’re my go-to brand, and I wear them every day. They usually go on sale on Black Friday, so I’ll be stalking the Quay website to…
I’m back with another round of gifts my 12-year-old daughter thinks her friends would LOVE. But, first, I have to share a disclaimer: I’m buying only a few of these products for my daughter. I’m concerned about these girls’ focus on “skincare” and their desire for extremely expensive creams and serums. I love the idea that they’re taking care of their skin, but influencers have convinced them that they need very pricey products. It’s become a status symbol. I guess it’s no different…
My two girls are now 12 and 13, and it’s pretty tough for me to pick out the perfect gifts for them. They used to be happy with most toys or pajamas or candy, and now they have such strong preferences . . . it’s the way things are supposed to go, I guess, but it sure makes it hard to shop for them. To make things easier for you, my 12-year-old consultant gathered the top gifts that she recommends for girls her age. And because she recommends so much stuff, I need to do this in…
Some dear friends of ours live in a beach town in the south, and they have an adorable house in an artsy neighborhood. They’re raising kids and working full time. Their jobs are extremely important and rewarding — they work with people who are homeless and people who have disabilities — but it’s tough work that can be exhausting. With all they have going on, they haven’t had much time to devote to their home, and the wife asked me to brainstorm ideas. I was very happy to help, since designing on a budget…
Do you decorate for Halloween? Over the past few years I’ve amassed quite a lot of spooky and silly decorations, but this year I wanted to do something different. I left most of those plastic decorations in the storage box and instead decided to try some low-cost (or even free) DIY decorations for our dining room and living room. I used black cardstock to make a witch’s hat for one of the portraits in our living room, and I cut out some bats for another part of the room. I attached all of these items…
If you’re new here, I’m sharing how we renovated a beach house and then rented it on Airbnb. Some of the rooms in this house needed only a facelift — new paint and new furniture — but we decided to completely renovate one of the bathrooms. This process took SO long . . . it’s hard to believe how much work went into it and how many delays we experienced. Here’s what the bathroom looked like when we bought the house. The vanity and toilet were fine, and we could’ve just painted the…
This post is a bit outside the box for me, but I thought it would be fun! Over the past year or two, I’ve read some fabulous books that really stuck with me, and I’m happy to recommend them to anyone and everyone. Plus, I’d love to hear what books you’ve enjoyed — I’m always looking for the next one to read. Lately I’ve been loving historical fiction about women during the time of World War II. It’s a very specific genre, I know, but I…
If you’re new here, I’m sharing how we renovated a condo in Bethany Beach, Delaware, and turned it into an Airbnb. It was a long process and took us an entire year, but I’m happy with the results! Today I’m sharing another bedroom renovation. This bedroom is upstairs, and since we already have a bunk room for kids, we figured this room would be for adults. Here’s what it looked like when we bought the house. (The furniture conveyed with the house.) I love the lines of the ceiling and…
Welcome back! Today I’m sharing how we updated one of the bathrooms at the beach condo. This house has two bathrooms, and we did a huge, expensive overhaul on the other bathroom that took weeks and weeks of my time. (Post on that one coming soon!) So for this bathroom, we wanted to make it look better without spending a lot of money or time. Here’s what it looked like when we bought the house. The room felt dingy and uninviting. And the shower was so old fashioned! It’s one of those full-piece…
I recently read this very fun book about parties — all kinds of parties! From adults’ birthday parties to kids’ parties to wedding showers, and it got me pumped up to host people more often. The book is Celebrate Everything, and the author is Darcy Miller. Here’s a sneak peek to show you how gorgeous the book is! I first read about Darcy’s parties in an issue of Martha Stewart magazine a few years ago, and my sister and I used some of Darcy’s ideas for our parents’ anniversary party. Darcy…