The Best 15 Woven Pendant Light Ideas Under $150.

Whether you're looking for rattan, wicker, or bamboo pendant lights, we've pulled together 15 of the best woven pendant light ideas for you—all kept under $150! And now it's time for our first installment of the new series, "Go Internet Shopping with Jess!" Whether you actually need a new woven pendant light, want a new pendant light, or don't need or want any lights of any kind, come along and see what we can find…

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12 Life-changing Entryway Solutions: New Mudroom Storage!

What do you do when you want an entryway or mudroom bench or cubbies for storage but don't think you have the space? We figured out how to create a mudroom out of seemingly nothing, and the storage we now have is incredible (and includes our favorite woven mudroom baskets)! My neighbor asked me, when I mentioned we were working on creating mudroom storage, "What's a mudroom?" I refrained from answering what I really wanted…

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When Fire Threatened Our House (Seeing Life By Fire Light)

A few weeks ago, a fire threatened our house yet again. Two years ago, because of another wildfire, we had to evacuate our home with a four- and one-yr-old at 2am. Last year, a fire moved so close to our house that we had to actually pack and be ready to evacuate again. And then for the third time, this year we were so close to a wildfire that we could see the fire trucks…

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The Most Stunning DIY Bookcase Makeover On The Internet.

Today, we're making some big claims with our super-simple but crazy-high-impact DIY bookcase makeover! Those of you who have taken the private tour of our upstairs may remember some unsightly looking built-ins. (And no, it wasn't these linen cabinets! Although they're close.) We're talking about these bad boys. To the left of our fireplace in the master bedroom. Can you spot them? How we created a stress-free master bedroom sitting area! There they are again.…

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Painted Brick Fireplace Before & After: Should You DIY or Hire Out?

Today we're sharing pictures of our painted brick fireplace before & after...but are we finished? When we first toured the upstairs of our current house, we were pleasantly surprised to see there was a red brick fireplace in the bedroom. (Well, technically it's in the master bedroom's raised sitting room.) While a bedroom fireplace wasn't something we were looking for, I wasn't going to kick it out of bed in the morning. (Bad metaphor, but…

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DIY Minimalist Bed Frame: 5 Coziest Bed Must-haves!

Have you been wanting to design your own bed? Today we're sharing our 5 bed must haves, as well as how that led us to designing our own DIY minimalist bed frame! Who says minimal can't equal cozy?! After giving away the beautiful Brazilian hardwood bed Matt made for us (and that we'd had the first 15 years of our marriage), we started sleeping on our mattress on the floor. Not because of poor planning…

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Let It Go: 3 Refreshing Reasons to Declutter Sentimental Items.

Decluttering sentimental items can be one of the hardest projects to tackle—but also the most pleasurable in the end! Today we're sharing what we've learned from our personal experiences of purging unnecessary items—and the benefits we've enjoyed! (And there are more than 3!) Over 15 years ago, when Matt and I had just gotten married and had very little furniture, he made us our first bed. Furniture making being his dream job, Matt was chomping…

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Mercilessly Ripping Out the Wood Railing Dividing Our Bedroom

You may not know this about us yet, but when we were house shopping, we were actually looking for a home half the size of this one. We had just moved from New Zealand back to the U.S. One reason we were looking for a smaller house was simply because we got used to living in smaller spaces (and we liked it). Another reason was because we knew housing was (and is) expensive in southern…

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Before & Afters of Our Dry Bar Makeover.

When we first walked through this house, we weren't looking for a bar area. But—whether we liked it or not—the house already had one. I'll show you a backed-up picture (from when the prior owners lived there) so you can better see where it is in relationship to the rest of the Great Room: A complete before tour of our downstairs! More pictures can be found on the tour of our house's downstairs. Why you…

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3 Things to Do While You’re Waiting.

Are you waiting for something? I am. Have you had to wait before? I have. Did you learn something helpful during that waiting? Oh man, I did. Do you remember and apply those lessons each time you have to wait now? I DON’T!  (I’m raising both my hands high while dancing a goofy dance as I say this, because it’s that hilariously incredible to me that I forget so easily. Hellooooo human nature!) Yep, I…

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