Cue the demo dust! After 5+ years of living in this house, we're embarking on a renovation! Of course over the holidays (because we are nothing if not consistent). We've tackled some sizable projects over the last five years here, like adding a pool in 2021, gutting & rebuilding our kitchen in 2022, and replacing all of our windows & doors with hurricane grade ones two years ago... but this is the first time since we moved in that we're removing walls and changing rooms. The chaos you see above is from early 2020, but actually some of those walls being open is a preview of the new view we'll gain from our kitchen and living area downstairs! We are VERY EXCITED.

Continue reading After Five Years Of Living Here – We’re Renovating!! at Young House Love.

I've daydreamed about buying a backyard movie set-up (projector, screen, etc) for several summers now. But the logistics and potential expense always stopped me... until last month! And now I feel silly for waiting, because we pulled it off with just 3 pieces of equipment that cost less than $200 total! That's cheaper than the cost of some projectors... or a few family trips to the theater! And now we can host unlimited movie gatherings with friends (we've already had two in the last two weeks!).

Continue reading Hosting An Outdoor Movie Night – All Of The Equipment You Need For Under $200 at Young House Love.

I know a house always evolves to work with a family's changing needs, but I'd say this kitchen and attached sitting area are as close to absolutely done as ever. In fact over the last two years they've held pretty steady - we did update the kitchen light to my dream chandelier that looks like bubbles at a beach sunset. And before that we finally settled on the right seating that fit perfectly into the seating area. But yeah, since then... settled! So it felt like it was finally time to share how it all turned out.

Continue reading Our Small Kitchen With Attached Living Area at Young House Love.

Since our bedroom used to be a living space, it came with absolutely zero closet space. This was obviously a big downgrade from the fancy walk-in closet in our last house. BUT ALAS! Watch how we built in some floor-to-ceiling Ikea Pax wardrobes to create just as much storage as our last closet AND make them look like they’ve been there all along…

bed frame | nightstand | lamp | pink sheets | pillow | rug | ottoman | closet hardware

For comparison, our last home’s walk-in closet was an 8′ x 6′ room. Each side had one 29″ wardrobe in the middle flanked by two 19″ wardrobes on each side. That’s 67″ of linear closet space along each wall, for a total of 134 inches.

In this home, we used the exact same Pax systems across a single wall in our bedroom.

Continue reading How To Make An Ikea Pax Wardrobe Look Built-In at Young House Love.

In November of 2020, we published a post called “What’s It Like To Downsize” after living in our smaller home for 6 months. We covered a range of experiences – like the good things about moving to a smaller home (owning less stuff! saving money!) and some of its challenges, especially in the initial stages of downsizing (paring down! figuring out storage!). We still agree with everything in that post, but it had only been six months… and since it has now been over 4.5 years (!!!), we feel like we have a few more to add about the long-haul downsizing experience. Let’s get into it.

I won’t recap our entire decision to downsize (you can see the full explanation here) but the highlights are:

• We used to live in a 3,150 sq. ft. home in suburban Richmond, Virginia
• Now we live in a 1,400 sq.

Continue reading Downsizing Update: Almost 5 Years Later at Young House Love.

Our bedroom used to be a living room, so it’s taken some work to turn it into a comfortable, functional, and beautiful sleeping space (it’s truly one of our favorite rooms!). So today we’re outlining the 6 most impactful improvements we made to our bedroom, complete with some updated pictures.

bed | art | similar pillow | rug | curtains | brass rod | brass rings | similar table | chairs | ottoman | similar mirror | sconces

Our Bedroom, Before

You can check out all of the before photos of our home here, but as you can see below, it was a mostly blank canvas. Well, except for the crumbling drywall, crooked blinds, and wide doorways to the adjacent kitchen – all of which we had to address. But we loved the fireplace and the wall of french doors and pretty much immediately knew it would make for an amazing bedroom (since the house was listed as having only one bedroom when we bought it!).

Continue reading 6 Ways We Upgraded Our Bedroom at Young House Love.

It feels like a miracle, but we’ve gone from absolutely zero closet space in our bedroom (when we moved in we just had dressers) to having just as much space as our last house’s big walk-in closet! We’ve previously covered how we installed Ikea Pax wardrobes and how we made them look built-in, so today we’re throwing open every door & drawer to show you how we’ve organized them. If you’re looking for tips to maximize your storage & specific products that can make it feel more customized, this is the post for you.

It should be said upfront that neither of us have what we’d call a large amount of clothing (although I’ve always had a thing for shoes and jewelry, so there’s still plenty of that going on). You can read all of my tips for curating a minimal closet here – but I’ve actually been able to expand mine a bit lately, thanks to all of the storage we’ve added to our bedroom over the last 3 years.

Continue reading How We Organized Our Ikea Pax Closets at Young House Love.

Since downsizing to our 1400 square foot house three and a half years ago (as a refresher, our previous house was more than twice as large – clocking in at 3150 square feet), you’ve probably heard us proclaim that smart storage is key. It certainly makes living in a smaller home a lot more sustainable and enjoyable, but there are also specific layout features of our house that make sharing less square footage go a lot more smoothly for us.

So whether you’re thinking of downsizing, considering a new home with any of these layout details, building a new home, or are just curious about what some of our favorite “living-larger-in-a-smaller-home” features are, we’ve put together the following list. Plus, we’re ending with one caveat that’s definitely smart to consider if you’re contemplating any layout decisions or changes.

#1: Separation Between Bedrooms

This feature is #1 on our list for a reason, and after living this way I think it would actually be difficult for us to go back to a layout without this feature.

Continue reading 6 Smart Layout Features For A Smaller Home at Young House Love.