

Our Finished IKEA Kitchen Tour
Take a tour with us as we show you the final results, including IKEA cabinets, white concrete countertops, and Samsung appliances. We'll


Cedar and Metal Wrapped Beams
Here we'll explain the materials and process we used to bring an industrial style to our bedroom with cedar and metal wrapped beams.

IKEA Hack: Kitchen Pantry
When we started planning our kitchen, one of the first problems we wanted to solve was the lack of a pantry. Using IKEA cabinets, we created


Flashback Friday: New maple hardwood floors
We started with engineered maple hardwood and finished with Rubio Monocoat to give our floors a modern makeover.


Evolution of a Flower Garden
See how our front garden has changed over the years and what we've done to improve curb appeal.


Flashback Friday: Concrete kitchen countertops
We get by with [a lot] of help from our friends and family. This time it was Erik's dad assisting with our concrete countertops - thanks Jim! All the materials for our counters are from Z Counterform Concrete Countertop Solutions. You can find great tutorial videos online, which Erik studied several times before starting the process. First, we covered the cabinets with plastic sheeting. Then cement board was cut and attached to the cabinets along with supports under the i


Throwback Thursday: IKEA kitchen install
We did it - we got our IKEA kitchen! After about a year of planning, financial prep, over 10 layouts/design adjustments, two van loads, and a day of driving, we were ready to install our new kitchen. A trip like this definitely requires reinforcements, so Erik's parents came along to help us pick up our entire kitchen - and yes, we made it in one trip. It took a few days with help from Karyssa's mom to assemble all the cabinets, but once we understood how everything went to


Flashback Friday: White kitchen windows and walls
With today's flashback Friday we hope to show the amazing things a simple coat of paint can do. A few cans of high gloss white spray paint took our kitchen the next step in its transformation. We wouldn't normally recommend spray painting inside a house - the fumes are intense and overspray is a mess - but we thought the spray paint would provide an easier application in this case. (In hind sight, a regular trim paint mixed with extender would have probably produced similar


Throwback Thursday: Trim-Tex shadow reveal window trim
Once we had our kitchen layout confirmed and the walls skim-coated, it was time to update the window trim. Instead of painting the window trim in the kitchen or replacing it with traditional trim, we decided to try something different. Erik had been eyeing up different shadow reveal options for the baseboard and found the same concept in trim form through Trim-Tex. The minimalist, modern look was a perfect fit for the developing style of our house. The old trim was already


Living in a home renovation
It's time to be brutally honest and talk about the dirty details of a home renovation - more specifically, what it's like living right in the middle of one. Up until now we've shared progress updates for the most part, with a few lessons-learned thrown in along the way. We have tried to consciously appreciate each moment and every project - big and small - but reflecting can be challenging in the whirlwind of jumping from one dust pile to the next can of paint. Today is a