Suzannah Hamlin Stanley's Blog, page 36

I am dishing on my kitchen reno!

I know I've shared a ton of information-heavy posts about our DIY kitchen reno, but today you can hear me talk candidly about it and get the behind-the-scenes scoop!


This week on the Your Home Story podcast, hear about the biggest projects and design decisions, plus... why I chose white cabinets despite being a little bored of them these days!, would I do anything different in hindsight?, my favorite finishes, and more! This project was almost “down to the studs”--hear why I kept and covered s...

You know you want to know: DIY kitchen reno BUDGET

Creating good design on a realistic budget is one of my primary goals in our home renovation. I love watching designers create beautiful homes and transformations, but I can't imagine ever spending $75k (or more) on a kitchen. No judgment for those who do, it's just not my style.

I am so proud of how our kitchen renovation turned out AND I am proud of how we kept it affordable. Replacing our cabinets meant this was not going to be an under $2,000 DIY kitchen reno like our last one, but...

Design, Make, & Live: Front Porches

Today, we are sharing all about how to design, makeover, and use (and LOVE!) your front porch. Form, function, DIYs, and more!!

This week's episode of the Your Home Story podcast really inspired me, since our front porch is still in its "before" state--a space we haven't tackled yet! In the episode I describe my current front porch setup and some wishes for the future (specifically with curb appeal). Ashley shares that she loves the updates that she’s done in her space, but in recording a...

DIY building and installing cabinets to finished kitchen! VIDEO

Looking back on where we started with this kitchen reno two months ago... I am so proud! We worked so hard to do this completely DIY kitchen project and learn a ton of new skills, installing kitchen cabinets one of them!

I put together a video of the steps involved in getting our new cabinets built, installed, and in use.

Thanks to Walcraft Cabinetry for working with me on this reno by providing me a discount on our cabinets!

Here's the video, which you can also see on my YouTube chann...

DIY or hire out: open kitchen shelving

Open shelving is all the rage! And for good reason! Ashley and I have both done open shelves in our last kitchens (and I just did some more DIY ones in my current kitchen reno. Sometimes you can do them yourself, but to get certain looks you might want to hire a pro or buy something custom. More on that today...

Kitchen open shelves need to be deep (about 10”) and sturdy, but can be made of wood, metal, or glass and can be floating or mounted with basic or beautiful brackets. There are several...

Best toys for 1-year-olds: Otto's favorite toys at 15 months!

We have done a pretty good job of keeping our toys, books, and other baby stuff from getting out of hand. We keep most of it in the living room but it's not hard to store, and we have plenty of toys for Otto without letting them take over our house! We are all about avoiding purchasing more-more-more for ourselves or Otto, but definitely want him to have lots of options of things to be creative with. And, we can see which types of things he really, really enjoys and keeps playing with--so...

Comparison of budget-friendly kitchen cabinet sources (IKEA and beyond!)

Cabinets are often the biggest, most impactful, most exciting, even most expensive part of a kitchen reno. I put a LOT of thought into where we purchased our cabinets from and am happy to share my research with you!!

As you may know, we just completed a full kitchen reno, entirely DIY. (See the full reveal here!) Here's the scoop on our cabinet decision!

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A foyer makeover and multi-phase transformation

On the Your Home Story podcast we talk about how our homes and design evolve, and what the story of your spaces are. Today, Ashley is sharing all about her foyer’s story, from where it started (formal and dated), to the more eclectic updates that she did a few years ago and now, to the space that she really feels is the perfect addition to her home.


Some links we talked about in the episode:


Foyer Reveal Get a good look at that purple spray painted chandelier and where her space was 6 years ago...

Modern traditional DIY kitchen reno REVEAL!

I LOVE THIS KITCHEN!!!! Such an exciting day after lots of hard work in here!

Almost two months ago now we demolished the cabinets, flooring, trim, and lighting in our 1980's oak kitchen and rebuilt everything ourselves. The end goal: the white kitchen I've been dreaming of since Pinterest began (!), plus some very 2019 touches including a modern traditional/updated classic/Emily Henderson-approved vibe.

The budget: not much to speak of. The time commitment: ~5 days of work work work, t...

DIY custom straight-sided vent hood with Zephyr insert

This is the LAST tutorial of our kitchen reno!! We've done the whole project ourselves so there are lots of DIYs to share with you, but this one was a brand new skill for us and I admit I was a little nervous before starting--but it turned out to be one of the most straightforward projects!

We wanted a modern, sleek, straight-sided built-in vent hood over our range, with an attractive insert visible underneath (as opposed to an independent, up-the-wall stainless steel vent hood like at our...