Suzannah Hamlin Stanley's Blog, page 48

What can you do with $100?? The $100 Room Challenge

It can be intimidating to try to update your home when what you really want could take thousands of dollars, months of construction, and/or professional contractors. That doesn't mean you have to live with a space you hate. That's the premise behind The $100 Room Challenge, a 1-month room makeover project that's gained national media attention.


We have a guest on the Your Home Story podcast today, Erin of Lemons, Lavender, & Laundry. She started the $100 Room Challenge ...

What we did with all our STUFF while house-hunting

We are finally, maybe, about to start feeling settled in our new house - and the last time we really felt that way was September 2016 before we moved from our townhouse! The fixer upper life means stuff in boxes and moving 4 times in a year... and I've had some questions about how we did it, and what we did with our stuff. Well... several different things! Let me explain!

Moving out of our last house

In December of 2017, we sold our fixer upper home to buy a for-sale-by-owner house that was...

Our affordable alternative to the magical SNOO bassinet

When Otto was brand new, sleeping 1-3 hour chunks all night, I read everything I could find on baby sleep!! (I had more time than usual on my hands for reading and scrounging the Internet--I was up multiple times a night for 1-2 hours at a time!!) This book that a friend gave me was a great starting point and I also discovered some good baby sleep resource sites.

We had this simple bassinet that we put next to our bed, plus a Rock N Play in the living room that Otto took great naps in. He...

The question of my year: How to BUY a home

This topic has been on my mind a lot the past year!! Real estate is tough in our area right now and after we sold the Stanley 90's Reno we had several experiences trying to buy our next place. I now have experience buying 3 homes and unfortunately, almost buying several more!
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One month progress update at the Stanley Tudor - Revived!

Back when we were first working on the Stanley 90s Reno, I shared weekly progress updates recapping the random but significant things we did. We were working every evening and weekends for months! We lived with my parents a full 4 weeks till we made it livable over there and moved in. 

Well, we’re going about this house reno completely differently. It needed way less work before we moved in, but will need way MORE work over the long term (so no point trying to do it now). Plus, we are ab...

Going back to work after maternity leave: how I'm making it work!

I took the pretty standard 12 weeks of maternity leave after Otto was born, but I "went back to work" a couple weeks ago. All in all I would say it's been going well, but it's been a huge shift and definitely hard to process!

First, I'll say this: I really like my job. I've been there just over 5 years and I'm very good at what I do (I'm a land use planner for an architecture and engineering firm). I love the people I work with, I feel ownership in what I do, I get to mentor and collaborate al...

Plant care! Plus where I stand on real vs. fake, and how to decorate with them!

I'm not an expert on house plants, but I do have experience with quite a few varieties - my success rate for keeping them alive is about 75%.

Ashley is more experienced with a few more common houseplants and has quite a list of recommendations for easy-to-care for plants. We ran through all of our faves in episode 32 of the Your Home Story podcast! Plus, she shares how she makes fake house plants look more realistic.

We also talk about what types of pots to grow and display plants in, and what...

Hospital bag packing list - if you're planning a homebirth

As I shared in Otto's birth story, we planned a homebirth. Around week 34 our midwives gave us a tote bag of essentials, plus a list of things to prepare at home - towels, clothes for the baby, etc. But I wanted to be prepared in case we ended up going to the hospital, too. I did some reading on what to pack in your hospital bag... but most of the tips felt foreign to me since our birth plan had been for a homebirth since day 1. I wanted to put together this list for others planning to give b...

Full "before" video tour of the Stanley Tudor Revived!

We did a FULL tour of the Stanley Tudor Revived and I just figured out the editing enough to finish it up! I shared a lot more in depth than in the before photos I posted here. Man, these videos are good to watch even a few weeks in!

We had been in the house so many times over the past year and during the 30 days before we closed - for quotes, to talk with the owner, etc. - that I am so used to seeing it looking like this. And yet, I look around, and it's so different already!! Thank goodness...

Super important but pretty daunting - exterior home maintenance

The Stanley Tudor Revived project is a project house from first sight. It's surrounded by mature hedges (and tons of plants, really) and the paint and roof are clearly weathered. Jason and I will have LOTS of exterior repairs to do over the next few years--and then maintenance!

Ashley and I do a thorough run-down on exterior maintenance tasks in spring, summer, fall, and winter on the Your Home Story podcast this week! It can be super intimidating to think about--it's hard enough to keep up wi...