After we sold our rural cabin, we put the proceeds into a cute-but-tired beach house on the Delaware shore. We found an adorable house in a Key West style (elevated on pilings) and took the plunge! But the house was in terrible shape. It smelled awful, the furniture was unpleasant, and the flowery couch was always mildewy and slightly damp. Yuck!! Here are some of the photos we took on our walk-through. Did you notice that the mirror in the living room is framed using the same material as the couches? Wow. We took possession of the…
We’ve been dreaming about this living room for years and working on it for about twelve months. You can follow our progress here and here and here. And, now, we’re finally finished! Here’s what the room looked like when we bought the house 6 years ago. There was a LOT of sea green! And the seating was awkward because the chairs were too far from the couch for a comfortable conversation. Plus there weren’t many places to set a drink, and there wasn’t any place to prop up your feet…
Do you make resolutions? For years, I tried . . . I’d come up with a long list of things like losing weight, eating healthier foods, working out more . . . and it never, ever stuck. Then, a couple of years ago, I heard Gretchen Rubin talking about how she makes lists for the new year. She focuses on fun things, activities that will bring her joy, plus maybe a few tasks that need to be done in order to make her life easier. I started using her technique in January 2021, and I’ve really enjoyed the process. This year I…
This Christmas our boys will be 13 and 12, and it’s getting really hard to shop for them. Here are a few ideas I’ve settled on, but I’d love to hear your suggestions, too! If your preteen boy likes workout clothes, you might want to check out Lululemon Like New. For stocking stuffers, I highly recommend Archie McPhee’s (the source of the rubber chicken pictured above). Another fun idea is to give your kid the promise of a memorable and fun experience with you. I’ve found that it’s…
Are you shopping for preteen girls this year? It sure is a hard age to please! One minute, they’re playing with dolls, and the next minute they’re putting on mascara. Here are some things my girls (ages 11 and 12) are loving, as well as a few surprises I’m planning to get for them. And if you’re cheap like me, you might love shopping at Lululemon like new. It’s an official Lululemon site with used clothes, but they clothes are in great shape (and they smell lovely). Don’t…
I have two more lessons learned, and I’ve saved the biggest ones for last! These are a little bit unexpected, perhaps, and I’m curious to hear your thoughts. If you’re an Airbnb host or a guest, what do you think about these ideas? Have you experienced these issues firsthand? 4. Allow dogs. I was dead-set against this one, but John insisted. And now I have to admit he was right! Probably 80% of our guests brought their dogs. We had a few very minor issues — one dog chewed the armrest on one…
After we finished the cabin in late 2020, we rented it on Airbnb. It was a good side gig for us for a while, but then the extra work became overwhelming. (We both have full-time jobs, we have four kids, and the cabin was two hours from our home.) If we had set up the business differently from the beginning, I think it would’ve been much easier for us. Now that we’re planning to open a new Airbnb in a few months, I’ve been thinking about the lessons we learned and how we…
I can hardly believe that Halloween is tomorrow! My costume is barely coming together, and Maggie’s is still en route. Are you dressing up this year? Handing out candy? If you’re hosting a celebration at your house or bringing a tray of food to someone else’s house, I have some quick and easy ideas for you. Inspired by Two Peas and their Pod, I made a Halloween snack tray yesterday using mostly items we had on hand. I made witches’ brooms using half a cheese stick, a pretzel stick, and a chive to…
If you follow me on Instagram, you know that this past summer we sold a rural cabin we owned in West Virginia. We’d operated it as an Airbnb for about two years, and the business was going well. But the property required a lot of upkeep, and every time we needed someone like a plumber or an electrician, it was a huge pain to find someone to drive to such a rural location. We decided to switch things up and used the proceeds from the sale to buy a condo in Bethany Beach, Delaware. More on that later…
I mentioned a few months ago that we’ve been working on our basement (like all parts of our house, progress happens very slowly!). But now I think we’re finally done. We recently put the finishing touches on the desk area in the basement, and it feels whimsical and cozy. As a reminder, this is what the basement looked like when we bought the house. Ugh. After four years, lots and lots of bleach, new flooring, and new paint, the basement now looks like this. But the desk area was still a little sad. My parents added…