Category Archives: small house

One Room Challenge Week 1: A Rustic Modern Porch Makeover

Rustic Modern Porch Inspiration BoardThis year I’ve decided to take on the One Room Challenge! It’s a biannual event where designers make over one room over the course of six weeks. 20 designers take on the challenge and guests are encouraged to participate, as well.

I’m participating this year as a guest and I’ve decided to make over our porch! It’s not exactly a “room,” but it counts, y’all! We’ve done a lot of work on the exterior of the house, but I want to get a few more things done before it gets too cold, so I thought this would be the perfect kick in the pants! Continue reading

Vote for Me in Domino Magazine’s Blog Design Awards!

Domino Magazine Small Space Design Finalist

VERY EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT!!!  I’m jumping on the couch like a deranged Tom Cruise because ya girl has been named a finalist in Domino Magazine’s Design Blog awards in the small space category!  This is big y’all.

I have to admit, for the past few days I’ve been feeling like a slave to the everyday grind and I was fuggin’ grumpy about it. (Do the chores ever end?!?)  But getting this piece of recognition really made my month, maybe my year!  I obviously want you all to go vote for me. You can vote every day, once a day for the next two weeks. The link is right here (scroll all the way down): https://www.domino.com/content/design-blog-awards/

But, I also want you to take some time to recognize someone doing a good job this week.  It’s something that is easily forgotten but it means so, so much. Tell that girl she kicked ass in yoga today. Tell your mail carrier that you appreciate them being out there in the rain. ️ Tell your kid they did a good job washing the dishes.  I know our self-worth is supposed to come from within and all that Jazz, but sometimes we need to hear just a tiny bit of acknowledgement. I see you, you’re doing a good job, keep going.

Our Small Bedroom Makeover

Small BedroomMan, this bedroom makeover has been a long time coming. As you may or may not remember, we completely ripped out all of the drywall in our home and took it back to the studs a little less than 2 years ago. Since then, we’ve painted bare drywall (which is a huge pain in the a**), hung new doors, put up lighting and a fan, built new closets, built the bed, built bedside shelving, hung blinds and curtains and created art. Not to mention all the cleaning and organizing! I’m tired just thinking about it.

But today, well today is a monumental day because today, I can say we’re finally finished with out bedroom! It’s only the second room in the house that’s completely finished, so this feels like a win. Continue reading

How to Choose Lighting for a Small Space

I believe it was the designer, Jonathan Adler that said if he was designing a room on the sun, he’d still put lighting on it. And that has stuck with me. Lighting is incredibly important to the ambiance, feel and style of the home. It’s truly the functional jewelry of your home!

I’m no Jonathan Adler, but I’ve learned a few thing about lighting a small space, ‘cuz it ain’t easy! You’d think it was no problem. A small space only needs a few lights, right? Well, yes and no. I’ve made the mistake of choosing lighting that wasn’t bright enough, was too small and was poorly made. Here’s what I’ve learned about choosing lighting for a small space. Continue reading

Living Room and Dining Room DIY Updates

Easy DIY Record StorageGeorge’s parents came to stay with us one weekend, so we used that as a catalyst to get some much needed projects done around the house. There’s nothing like your in-laws coming into town to kick your butt into high gear.  Continue reading

New Siding!

Before Pictures of the Vinyl Siding on our Home

Before Pictures of the Vinyl Siding on our Home

Man, oh man, what a journey this has been. Hiring someone to install new vinyl siding on our house has been one of the most stressful and expensive home projects to date. Continue reading

Little Projects

New doors and puppy snugglesSometimes it’s the little projects that are the most difficult to complete. You think, “Oh, that’ll just take a minute, I’ll do it later.” And then the little projects add up into a big honkin’ project. We’ve been trying to knock some little to-dos out lately, but our list doesn’t seem to get shorter. In fact, it seems to keep getting longer! That’s life, right? Anyway, I thought I’d update you on some little projects that we’ve recently accomplished. Continue reading

How to DIY a Wood Stove Heat Shield

How to DIY a Wood Stove Heat ShieldAlright y’all. I had planned to write this post to explain how we created our DIY wood stove heat shield with lots of helpful photos. But, I can’t find the photos of the back of the heat shield for the life of me and George would kill me if I asked him to take it off the wall. So, wordy explanations are going to have to do!  Continue reading

Our Small Bathroom Remodel: Before and After!

The Bathroom entrance before renovations.

I’m happy to say that we’ve finally finished the one and only bathroom in our small house. Or it’s at least done enough. It’s never really finished, is it? 😉

We did almost a complete gut job. The pictures don’t really show the sad shape the bathroom was in. Our house was a rental and was not loved for many years. The only thing we kept in the bathroom was the tub– which we had refinished.  Continue reading

On Slow Renovating

On Slow Renovating

Our incomplete living room.

I’m sure y’all have heard of the slow movement– slow food, slow fashion, etc. It’s a whole thing. (Check out the Wikipedia post if you’re interested.) But what I haven’t heard much about is slow renovating. It’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately because, well, I’m living in a house that we’re slowly renovating.

If you turn on HGTV or even browse home design accounts on Instagram, it seems like everyone is renovating rooms in their homes or their entire homes(!) in a few weeks. WEEKS, people! We’ve now had our small home for about a year and we don’t have even one room completely done. For a long time, I was embarrassed and frustrated that we couldn’t get it done by ourselves in a few months. Then, I was frustrated that we didn’t have the time or money to just pay someone to do it for us and be done with it. I felt like I was going through the five stages of grief, people.

But the more I think about it, the more thankful I am for the slow renovation process. Taking our renovation slower than we had anticipated has given us a chance to make back the money we’ve spent on our home renovations. We haven’t had to take out a home renovation loan and I’m proud of that.

It’s also allowed me to think long and hard about what our needs are and what our style is. The longer we live in this home, the more I realize, it would be nice if we had a small dresser here, or it would be nice if we had a place for coffee cups there.

Honestly, George and I don’t always agree on a style for our home either. I like ultra-modern pieces and he likes more farmhouse. I want us both to be happy and comfortable in our home, so sometimes it takes us a long time to come to a happy medium.

I am also grateful that I’ve been given time to gather pieces that mean something to me. I’m not just going to a big box store and picking out a bunch of meaningless stuff all willy nilly. I’ve had time to search out pieces that I love and in some cases, I’m still looking for the perfect piece to complete the room. And that’s ok.

I’m tired of just seeing the before and after house porn pictures. The middle part is important too. Home renovation is a process and it takes time. So let’s all just slow down and enjoy it.

What do you think? Are slow home renovations just frustrating or should they be celebrated? Chat with me in the comments.