We have officially demoed our bedroom, bathroom, and closets!
Yes, it looks absolutely nuts. Yes, I’ve had more than a few “ohhhh noooo whatdidwedo!?” moments. But every time I walk into this space I get a jolt of excitement that easily puts those fears at bay. Also, LOOK AT ALL THAT NATURAL LIGHT!
Read MoreEach summer, our city has a festival in the historic district where homeowners open up their beautiful old houses for curious eyes like ours to stroll through. Well, one of those houses is for sale, and Lucius, being a local real-estate agent and all, is fortunate enough to be the listing agent! That means I have an “in” and absolutely HAVE to share this house with the world because it’ll BLOW YOUR MIND!
Read MoreBack in March, I posted about the beginning of our dining room renovation. In that post, I shared the progress of what we had accomplished so far and our plans for rounding out the room.
Since then, we’ve slowly been working on the dining room (while getting sidetracked with working on my office and the yard) and it’s about time for a progress report - especially because we’ve made some pretty big changes recently!
Read MoreSometimes I forget that not everyone has painted several houses worth of rooms and may not know what to say when the person at the paint counter asks, “what finish do you want that in?”. So this week, I’d like to bring back the basics and break down how to choose the best paint finish for every room in your house.
Read MoreBack in March I posted a tour of our current house and promised to take pictures of the exterior once everything was in bloom again. Well, now that it’s summer and everything is lush and green it’s about time I followed through on my promise.
Read MoreRemember back in math class when they taught you the order of operations - PEDMAS (or, Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally, as I like to remember it)? I've never been good at math, but I do know that the order of operations is an integral part of it. Well, I believe there’s an order of operations to painting a room that makes it easier and faster to complete. And I’m here to break it down for you!
Read MoreWhile working on the flip recently we had one of those “oh crap” moments when we realized we ruined the brand new butcher block counters. It would be easy to pretend we didn’t screw anything up and post a perfectly flawless “how-to” post, but where’s the fun in that? So follow along, because in this post I’ll share what went wrong and how we made it right so you can avoid making the same mistakes!
Read MoreI’m so excited I’m not even gonna try to think of a formal introduction for this post… THE FLIP IS DONE!!! We put it up for sale 4 days ago and as of yesterday, it’s officially under contract!!! Picture me (and Lucius) with all the jazz hands!
Okay, now that that’s out of my system, I’ll take a step back and think of a more formal introduction… Oh yeah, here we go….
Read MoreWhen I was pregnant with my second daughter and couldn’t continue with my normal home renovations, I had to redirect my energy somewhere else. I spent some time reupholstering our dining room chairs, painting, and creating curtains for our front door and sidelights. Then I got the idea to create a mobile for her room. Today I’d like to share my process with you so you can create one of your very own at little to no cost!
Read MoreI’ve been spending a lot of time on Pinterest lately. Like, a lot more than usual. And I’m noticing some design trends that are really catching my eye. It’s very possible I’m behind the curve on these and most everyone already knows about them. But for those of you that don’t, in this post I’m going to talk about 5 trends I’m seeing a ton of right now that I’m really digging. Ready. Set. GO!
Read MoreI posted last week about how we majorly changed the appearance of the exterior of the flip house by limewashing it. While the outcome is a huge improvement from what we started with, it left the house pretty monochromatic and kinda blah. Well, now it’s time to shake things up by adding some color!
Read MoreIf you’ve read some of my previous posts, you may have come across the post where I wrote about the flip that we bought. In that post, I talked about painting our little brick flip house white. Well, I’m excited to say that now it IS white! But I didn’t end up painting it - I limewashed it!
Read MoreBy now you’ve seen the lay of the land and you’ve probably noticed the massive mantel we have on the brick wall in the living room. What you may have not noticed is that since we’ve moved in, we’ve actually made some updates to it…
Read MoreI never really thought I’d need a home office, so until recently I hadn’t given much consideration as to how I would want it to look if I were to create one. But now that it was actually happening, my mind was buzzing with possibilities. In this post (and subsequent posts on this subject, since I’m just in the beginning stages of this room makeover) I’ll give you a sense of how I tackle a room and walk you through my overall design thought process start to finish.
Read MoreWe put our house on the market and moved so quickly after announcing to our family and friends that we were going to make that our forever home, that I think we left many of them baffled as to the sudden change. Most people didn’t get a chance to even see the listing – let alone how the house looked when it was complete. So I’d like to take the opportunity now to show the before and afters and give those who know us personally, and those who don’t, a peek at how we modernized our 1927 American Foursquare, while still keeping its charm.
Read MoreUnlike most people, I love painting. I love it so much I got my BFA in painting - true story! Not only do I love painting paintings, I also love painting rooms. I love the process of turning my mind off, getting in the zone, and drastically changing the look of a room in just a few hours with a gallon or two of paint. Let’s be honest - some of that might be the paint fumes talking.
Read MoreCome take a peek at the beginning of our dining room renovation - and all the mess involved. Then finish up with some beautiful design inspiration and my future plans for this room!
Read MoreYou’re probably thinking, “But didn’t you just move into your house?” Well, yes, but this new house isn’t one we’ll be living in. We bought a flip!
Read MoreIf you’ve been following along, you’ve seen bits and pieces of the house as we’ve been making updates and writing individual posts. But today I’m going to show you the whole house, top to bottom, so you can get a feel for the flow and all the spaces we plan on updating. I’ve included TONS of pictures, and even took a (possibly motion sickness-inducing) video.
Read MoreA few days after we moved into this house I took the day off work to get things organized. 8 hours later I had ripped the hideous carpet runner (and 8,000 staples) off the stairs. And 3 months later I got my butt in gear, painted our stairs, and haven’t looked back since!
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Hi! I’m Erika.
I have a passion for high design, but realize that comes at an unrealistic cost for most people (including me!). Here, you’ll find the daily feats and failures of creating a budget-friendly high-class design from conception to completion - providing tutorials for you to do the same along the way!
Want the look of a designer light fixture without the price tag? I DIYed a $140 version of a $340 AllModern fixture using a tube of Rub ‘n Buff—and it turned out so good.
My once “meh” mudroom is starting to give serious main character energy. Let’s dive into the three big updates that changed everything.
Let’s be real—planter boxes are expensive. And the bigger they get, the pricier they are. And of course, I needed a large one, but couldn’t dropping big bucks on something I could build myself. So I rolled up my sleeves and took on this DIY planter box project.
Ready for your space to feel bold, curated, and completely reimagined? Then color drenching is your next design power move. Dive into color - and this blog - to learn how to make color drenching work in your space.
If you’re dreaming of a moody color drenched space but you’ve got an open concept floor plan, I hear you. It’s a common conundrum—especially with how popular open layouts have become. One of my readers recently asked this same question. Here’s my take.