I get a lot of questions about which brass spray I used for the exterior fixtures, where the door knob is from, and if I used a weather proof enamel. Today, I am going to share all of the details of this simple DIY so that I have a full blog post to refer to when ya'll have questions!

If I could give ONE piece of advice when it comes to home design, it would be this: PILLOWS CHANGE THE ROOM. That may sound dramatic, but truly, designer pillows have the ability to elevate a space. Today, I am sharing my favorite affordable pillows that mimic high design pieces. I shop these sources often. You can find many of these pillows in our home!

Painting the bunk room paneling was the most tedious, excruciating paint project I have ever embarked upon. We had gotten a quote to get is professionally sprayed for around $2,000. Looking back, it had probably been worth it! Because this paint project began back in Feb/March, I figured it was good a time as ever to tackle a DIY project. Save $2,000 and keep busy during the covid lockdown? Why not?

Older, wiser Hannah can think of many reasons "why not"

I've linked everything we have selected thus far for the lake house! I will update this page as we renovate and move in!

Big Sky is a place that exudes serenity. It's hard not to slow down and to take in the 360 degree views of mountains, pines, and you guessed it--a sky as blue and beautiful as it is big. We scooted away for the Labor Day weekend, and were able to drive an hour down to Yellowstone and The Grand Tetons as well! It's a road trip that EVERYONE must do. These national parks are as good as it gets!

If you have been following along on Instagram for a while, you may remember that we built a house in Holland two years ago! This was our very first rental property! We bought a lot downtown Holland (one of the very last lots downtown!), and built this 4 bed, 2 bath home, and rented it out for two years before selling. We learned SO MUCH through this process, and are immensely thankful that we embarked on this journey.

We recently embarked on a little road trip to 30a, Florida. We blogged a 30a travel guide here. As described in our travel guide, 30a is truly a special place, especially for anyone with a deep love for home design! The curated neighborhoods, unique architecture, and West Indie color schemes are unexplainably dreamy. Today, we're sharing a few snippets of our most recent trip. Honestly, we love this place so much that we want to share it with everyone, while simultaneously want to keep it a complete secret so that it doesn't get too busy, ha! One of these days I may delete all 30a content for that selfish reason. TBD. she types while laughing nervously

We definitely have a love/hate relationship with IKEA. When Ty and I first got married, we furnished nearly our entire home with IKEA. Half of the things in our home fell apart, or didn't assemble quite as depicted (as I'm sure you suspected). While IKEA does sell many "cheap" products; we keep going back for the same few things that are tried and true. We are living in our 5th home. As you can imagine, we know our way around IKEA. Today, we're sharing what we think are IKEA's best finds!

Yesterday, we shared the completed bunk room, which is adjacent to the upstairs guest bedroom. Originally, this was going to be our office. Long story short, we decided to put our office in the bunk room as we'd rather work in the room facing the lake! Last minute, we threw a queen bed into this room and it became another space for guests. The queen bed fits perfectly, and we love having a separate space that sleep 4 (perfect for family and friends with little kiddos!). Our home's bed per square foot ratio is pretty sweet. Currently, we have two queens, two twins, and one king in this little abode, ha! That's a lot of beds for a family of two; but remember, we are designing this space as a cottage!

When we bought this house, Ty referred to the second floor as "Paul Bunyan's cabin in the woods." Knotty pine paneling and dark wood flooring made this space feel cramped and dreary. We knew that there was a fun, whimsical space hiding beneath the old pine! The scariest space in the house soon became our favorite. When we moved into the house, we slept up here for a few days (our queen mattress had not yet been delivered). Yes, we slept in the little twin bunks (Ty and his 6'2" stature managed to fit!). Those first few nights were memorable as we stayed up playing Scrabble and chatting late into the night. Something about the slanted ceilings and built in bunks made us feel like we were at summer camp!

Remember when we said we were going to wait to tackle the exterior until early fall? HA! We have no chill. When our carpenter was installing the interior doors, he asked if we wanted him to install a new front door....that turned into new siding, new light fixture, new windows, and soon, a new, extended front porch and railing. Project creep at its finest.

FIRST LAKEHOUSE BLOG POST IS HERE!! We bought this house around Christmas and began renovating in February. It's been mad chaos since. FINALLY, it time to slow down and enjoy our new home as we tackle the final details. Five months of being covered in paint and sawdust every evening and weekend, and we are thrilled to be nearing the finish line. We are also excited to have the time to share ALL the renovation details with you all on the blog! First #HTlakehouse blog post (of many), commence!

We are adding these before and afters to the "Home Tour" tab above! This minimalist living adventure has taught us so much, mainly, how little we truly need to live happily. We have thoroughly enjoyed this simple living excursion. Cleaning is quick, and simple; and we have little to no clutter! For links to sources in each of our homes, head to the "Shop our Home" tab!

Like many of you, this year our Spring Break trip has been cancelled. We are truly disappointed, but understand the rationale. That said, we had the incredible chance to spend a week on three separate occasions in my former home of Rosemary Beach, Florida last year. I was fortunate to live there while in college studying at Florida State, often making the commute to campus. I couldn't wait to share this place with which I have been able to enjoy since birth with Hannah, and a few years ago, we made our first trip here together. Needless to say, Hannah fell head over heels in love!

Before we move to the lakehouse, we want to share the full reveal of the GR condo renovation! For those of you who were not around when we bought this place, the full story is in this post. Long story short, we sold our mid century haven in the woods (1800 square feet on an acre in the suburbs) for 730 square feet near the city! We've truly grown to the love the simple life that this condo promotes. Rather than spending our weekends maintaining a large backyard or cleaning multiple bathrooms, we are spending more time outside, pursuing creative outlets, and investing in relationships. We have also LOVED being a short drive from our favorite walking path, local restaurants, and coffee shops.

Throughout the years, you've asked for more insight on the design process...and we've listened! So, going forward, I am going to begin sharing more of how we design our spaces. The first decision we ultimately make is what "theme" suits the home. Typically, factors that help us select a theme are existing features of the home, location, and original architecture. Next, we consider personality. If we were helping a client design a home, I would try to nail down their personal preferences and lifestyle so that I could design a space that reflects them. For example, for our residences, this translates to minimal decor and clean spaces.

We loved hearing your guesses on Instagram as to what our big news would be! For those of you who guessed that we bought an Airbnb, you were right! For those of you who guessed we are moving, you were also right! (for the 5th time in under 4 years! I know, I know, you are laughing!)

​We've been keeping this quiet for a while, and my insides have been screaming to tell y'all. WE ARE SO EXCITED FOR THIS RENOVATION!! More excited than ever before! Okay, where to start with this story.... We bought this property right before Christmas. It was extremely impulsive, 0% premeditated.

The second largest American state, Texas, is an underrated place. Fun fact, my beautiful wife used to live in Dallas way back in 2015. Things have changed, and DTX is on the up and up from eats to coffee and more. And trust us when we say, it really is bigger in Texas, y’all!

One of our greatest pleasures is waking up while on the road and finding a local cup of coffee. It's about so much more than the jolt of caffeine to get us up and going. It's the experience that makes one feel as if they are living amongst a new city, with new people--immersed fully into another's scope and experience. We love a great cold brew or americano with oat milk, don't get me wrong--and that's mostly what this list is about. However, a coffee shop that offers a welcoming aesthetic that is customer centric and people-forward helps it climb the ranks in our books.

Since 2017, we've visited 140 coffee shops. We made a top 10 post in January of 2019 that covered our top 10 shops from our first two years of searching. This new list adds an additional 10 coffee shops, all of which we visited in 2019.

Believe it or not, in first place, we had a tie. We couldn't decide which was first.

We are so excited to talk to you guys about this TV! I have not gotten excited about a new piece of "technology' in years...okay, ever. Our living room TV had been lagging a bit. This did not fly with Ty on college football Saturdays. Being a kind wife, I encouraged Ty to research TV's...specifically the Frame TV, which I had heard several bloggers mention prior. (Ty, who had never heard me "encourage" him to look for a new TV, realized that this gift was as much for me as it was for him!) The Frame is much more than a TV...it's also artwork!