I haven't said much about the house that we purchased in Pennsylvania.

It's weird.

Just a quick list of the weirdness...

No lighting in any of the bedrooms... peel and stick flooring... three different ceiling textures...

About the only thing that's been updated since 1979 is the kitchen. It's not too bad.

We saw it as a blank slate. After building our last three houses, we thought we'd try our hand at home renovation.

We're starting simple with paint.

This week, Jesse made headway on the kitchen. Here's the before.


And here are the intermediate results!



The green is so serene and really opens up the space. We initially thought we would paint all of the trim white, but the stained wood seems to work now that there is color on the walls.


Our remaining plans for this room include new appliances, lighting, crown molding, tile, and granite.

We'll be replacing this chandelier, but I really want to repurpose it.


It's so nice and sparkly. I want to refinish the bright brass and maybe talk Jesse into installing it in my studio.

Any tips for dulling the brass?


The good news is... we've finally moved into our house!

The bad news is... I feel like I'm still ages away from rejoining all of my creative friends.

Take a look at the state of my new studio space.




I feel like this needs to be the last space that I organize so that the rest of my family can exist in peace. But, I can see into the future and I think this will be a great room to work in!

There are two beautiful skylights and plenty of natural light.


I'll be sure to share pics as I make progress. I'll also share the changes we're making to the house that we purchased. The list of to-dos is LONGGGGGGGG...

More on that in just a bit.

Hope you're staying dry and warm during this weekend of extreme winter weather!