Why did I wait so long to paint my front porch ceiling haint blue? No, really. Why? If I had known what joy this simple change of a haint blue porch ceiling would bring me, it would have been much higher on the priority list. Maybe not higher than replacing rotten siding, but higher than planting those boxwoods that may or may not be growing. Here’s how our porch looked in the fall of 2023. Perfectly delightful. Nothing wrong with it. I love, then and now, sitting out here with a drink in the early evenings and watching the world go by. Pictured below is almost the same view now.…

Do you know someone who is REALLY into running? Let me show you how to display running medals and race bibs in a fun, artistic way. All you need is a cork board or an old door and some cork. Now take the ever-growing collection of race bibs and running medals that are stuffed in every junk drawer, glove box, backpack, and coat closet you own and staple them to your cork board. That’s it! It’s faster than running a 5k and, dare I say, far more enjoyable. If you’re turning an old door into a cork board to display running medals and race bibs, it’s best to find an…

Let’s talk unusual stained glass art. Normally, when I think of stained glass I think of church windows or sun catchers that people hang in their windows. It’s all pretty (Hello, colorful glass!) but not always my personal style. There is probably a better word to use than unusual, but that’s the first word I thought of when I looked at the stained glass horse head I have that is unusually mounted onto felt and placed in a wood frame. I couldn’t find anything online like this. My horse is further unique in that it might be a combination of stained glass and painted glass but it’s hard for me…

Do you have something in your home you look at daily? Perhaps this thing has been fine for months or maybe years and not merely fine, but enjoyable to look at too. Then one day, out of the blue, you look at it and it’s all wrong. Has that happened to you? As long as that thing isn’t your spouse, I’m pretty sure that’s a normal reaction. But what do I know? I didn’t go to school for either psychology or interior design. The thing that was no longer fine in our home was the painting behind the sitting area in our bedroom. It wasn’t specifically the painting. It was…

Let’s talk about tiny art and where to display it so that it packs a big punch. By tiny art, I mean art that is a few inches in size or smaller. I’m not a designer, but I do pay attention when they all say something to the effect that art needs to have the right scale for a space. Same thing for furniture, lighting, etc. Scale, scale, scale. Got it. Then you find the cutest tiny painting at the thrift store. Did someone say something about scale? I tried stepping on one of those once. Didn’t like it. But I do like finding tiny art. Love it, actually. I…

Out with the old. In with the new! Or not? I recently read an article in Domino about why designers are saving vintage bathroom tile during remodels. We saved the vintage blue bathroom tile in our upstairs bathroom for a variety of reasons, so the article resonated with me. It was a tricky choice though. Is this vintage blue bathroom tile a tile I would have chosen?  Enthusiastically, no! Not in color. Not in pattern. Not in shape. Has the blue bathroom tile grown on me?  Yes. I’m not ready to pledge my undying love, but I don’t recoil in horror every time I walk into that bathroom either. Why…

Every time I pull out our popcorn maker I think to myself, “We got this for our wedding.” Well, I’ve now been saying that for 25 years. Twenty. Five. That’s a lot of popcorn! It’s hard to believe we reached that anniversary milestone earlier this year. It doesn’t feel like we’ve been married that long. But it did get me thinking. What other wedding gifts do we still use 25 years later? I’m going to share mine and I thought it would be fun, no matter how long you’ve been married, to see if you have and use some of the same things. Or maybe you have different wedding gifts…