Suzannah Hamlin Stanley's Blog, page 27

Cost and process for replacing our gutters

Last week I shared about our exterior painting, all finished. That was actually the last part of our hire-out exterior projects planned for the spring, but we needed to do some other work including the awkward chicken-or-egg relationship of the gutter replacement with the painting, so I'm sharing about that now.

All the details of replacing our gutters, including cost and timing, in this post!


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How to choose a rug for an awkward room size, & my faves: Guest room ORC week 2

"Start with the rug"--common decor advice!! Aside from the wall color, the floor treatment is the next biggest surface area in most rooms and it can change a lot about how a room feels. Many designers say they pick the rug first when starting from scratch on a design!

"Go bigger" is also common advice when it comes to rugs, and trust me--putting a 5'x8' rug in a room of any usable size will make it feel smaller or more awkward. We are so used to buying too-small...

How to avoid BORING design

I love this question. It's a bit controversial--trends are fun, but when we all do them it gets boring for sure. Plus, not all homes come with unique character.


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DIY striped or plaid cube ottoman tutorial

I have been meaning to do this project since last fall!! Quarantine energy kicked in, I guess, and I finally did this fun simple upholstery project. Full tutorial below!

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EXTERIOR PAINTING! Cost, scope, and finished product

I am soooooo excited to share about this project. We've had so many things on our wish list for this fixer upper house the past almost 2 years, and repainting the exterior was one of the most fun/big impact, but had to wait for a lot of other projects to get done first.

Historic Tudor revival home exterior paint updateHere she is--our 1937 home, with 1990's (?) paint job, freshly painted and taken care of!
Before/After
The original blue color wasn't my fave but wasn't the biggest...

Guest bedroom makeover!!! Before and design: One Room Challenge Week 1

I'm so excited to announce this project!! After a pretty quiet spring of staying at home, I'm excited to be working on a new decor project: an earthy, relaxed, but rich an comfortable guest room.


This guest room belongs to my friends Gabriela and Matt. (You might remember them from this midcentury modern-inspired full bathroom reno last spring's One Room Challenge.) They're doing a lot of improvements to their 1961 home these days and I'm helping them transform their guest...

Fave simple home products I'm loving right now!

I've been on the less is more train this year, but also always love improving my life with simple solutions like replacing my spatulas. (Literally.)


This week on the Your Home Story podcast we're taking a look at how weve improved life in our kitchens, laundry rooms, etc. Small tweaks with new/better home products have made us so much happier. In this episode we are sharing those simple products that we are loving and why!

Some of our favorite products right now are:
Label MakerAmber glass...

Outdoor furniture inspiration: gazebo makeover progress and plans

As you can probably tell, we're focusing on our exterior this spring/summer... new roof, new exterior painting, new gutters, new garage door, and new fence! Plus we're doing a ton of hard work getting our yard and garden usable.

So, our large corner gazebo/fireplace is looking extra shabby next to all the new stuff, and I'm so excited to be decorating an outdoor space there for the first time ever! Sharing my picks today!

I'll be working with Joss & Main on this project....

Quick and easy office makeover reveal!

The office/spare room on our second floor has been through a lot. When we first moved in it literally had two built-in platform beds and a train track platform on the walls. Then we got that out and got it cleaned out enough to be used as a sewing room, but it was never pretty. Then it was kind of a guest room and was used a few times, and then we put the desks back but there was still plenty of random stuff stored in there, nothing pretty.

Now with the health crisis, I've been working...

Two inspiring design books, plus fave decor/home improvement podcast episodes from around the globe

Back when we did Your Home Story podcast episode 72 about our favorite design books, we knew wed love designer and blogger Lauren Liesss new book  Down to Earth  and her now-classic  Habitat . We talk about our fave parts of both this week, plus share our top few design/decor/home improvement-related podcast episodes from other podcasts.
Image source
Links we talked about:
Habitat by Lauren LiessDown to Earth by Lauren LiessThe Daily Edit Podcast: Timeless style with...