-
gifts for preteen girls, part 2
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…
-
gifts for preteen girls, part 1
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…
-
renovating a bedroom on a budget
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…
-
favorite books
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…
-
an easy and inexpensive bathroom refresh
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…
-
tips for easy hosting (plus a printable invitation for a neighborhood party)
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…
-
design your summer (with a printable!)
Have you heard of Gretchen Rubin? I’m a super fan of hers — I love the way she encourages her readers and listeners to seek moments of joy in daily life. So many of her ideas and suggestions resonate deeply with me. One of my absolute favorites is her suggestion to design your summer. Many…
-
easy DIY: tiling a fireplace
We finally have our finished photos from the beach place, and I’m so excited to share each room with you! First up is one of the easiest transformations — the fireplace. As you can see in the photos below, when we bought the place, the fireplace was pretty blah. It just wasn’t my style at…
-
framing hack: spray paint the mat
A few weeks ago I was chatting with the guy who works in the framing department at Michaels, and I complained about how expensive it is to get things framed (despite the frequent sales at Michaels). He leaned across the counter and said in a conspiratorial whisper, “You should buy frames off the shelf and…
-
how to use a paint sprayer
For our beach house reno, our first task was to paint all the walls. Nothing had been painted for at least 30 years — when you removed any framed picture that was hanging on the wall, the square behind the picture was several shades lighter than the rest of the wall! Plus, the former owners…
