Suzannah Hamlin Stanley's Blog, page 54

Budget kitchen reno before/after, cost, and DIYs

I shared last week how we budget for DIY projects... I guess budgets are on my mind a lot right now!! I realized I never shared a complete post about our kitchen reno, so I finally got my act together and added up ALL the expenses of our kitchen project at the Stanley 90's Reno.

We painted the cabinets instead of replacing them which saved a ton of money, but you'd be shocked at what the whole project actually cost us!!

Okay, I'll spill the beans--add up everything and it's well...

When to stop DIY-ing

In 2014 I renamed this blog from Adventures in Dressmaking to Create/Enjoy. I had made myself tons and tons of cute cottony clothing items and done lots of cheapie vintage decor piece makeovers for our homes and found myself surrounded by things I didn't need but didn't feel I could get rid of. I was a very skilled DIY-er (sewing and otherwise) but to what end??

This week in the Your Home Story podcast, we talk about how it is easy to get caught up in DIY projects and lose sight of the...

3 ways we budget for reno projects

Got a question from a listener recently about how to budget for a remodel project. Ashley and I both answer it briefly in an upcoming Q&A episode of the Your Home Story podcast, but I realized I have a lot more to add and wanted to go in-depth here on the blog, with a few examples from the Stanley 90's Reno and honestly, several other houses we didn't buy.

This is beefy post! Lots of elements to the budget question and I share some real talk on process and dollars.


The question is:

Q...

33 weeks! Plus, weirdest pregnancy symptoms

33 weeks along now, and feeling really close to meeting baby. Cause it could safely happen in the next 1-2 months. Plus, my belly is looking really big and I've been feeling a lot more kicking lately!

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When and how to use gallery walls, and how to choose photos and art for them

What is a gallery wall? I tried to find a definition but couldn't. You probably know one when you see one, though. On Episode 10 of the Your Home Story podcast we talk allll about gallery walls, including types (3D, grid-style, family photographs, more free-flowing...) and how to choose photographs and art for them.

Read on to see my favorite tips, and my big gallery wall fail!!!

We talk about different looks for gallery walls--eclectic, bohemian, preppy…? A mix of frame sizes/3D elements i...

Home Decor Trends for 2018

I am excited about this one!! Every January you see a bunch of posts about trends to watch in the coming year--fashion, colors, home design, kitchens... (and trends that we should see going out). Often these articles seem a little arbitrary, sometimes even contradictory... but occasionally I see where they're coming from and can get behind them!

We talked about home dec trends for 2018 (and what's going out from 2017 and before) on this week's episode of the Your Home Story Podcast...

Beautiful Tudor home living room refresh

I recently started offering e-design services, but one of my first clients was actually in-person! A blog reader, this fellow Portlander just purchased her first home with her husband and two small children in a great neighborhood in Portland. It's a beautiful Tudor revival-style home built in 1926 and very well-maintained, but it doesn't fit her style yet and she wanted some help with the living room, library/sunroom, kitchen, and general updates throughout like lighting.

Living Room
R...

Your Home Story Episode 8: Consistency Throughout a Home

This is a question I've been trying to get confident in for a long time. We've had opportunities to do two houses from scratch (our new construction townhouse and then our fixer upper that we stripped/did all at once) and it's a LOT of pressure to pick lighting, hardware, window treatments, paint, and of course decor for a whole house at once. I grew up in a historic house that my parents fixed up room by room, and it's very different than a new build where all the light fixtu...

Can't believe-it's-the-third trimester, 30-week pregnancy update

I bet a lot of people feel this way when it happens, but wow, I can't believe I'm in the third trimester already. The second one was pretty uneventful (thankfully) and I only started really seeing the bump at week... 25, maybe? Now I'm getting more pregnancy symptoms and really feeling big and pregnant!

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Your Home Story Episode 7: How We Live vs. How We Want a Space to Look

Episode 7 of our podcast is up today! It's a thinker... decorating a beautiful home versus creating a space that works well for your family--how do you balance those goals??

This is an age-old question and there's no one answer! First, how do you determine how you live in a space? What are the challenges in smaller vs. larger spaces? How do you want the space to look, anyway? Some specific issues we talk about are tools like hiding cords, storing toys, dealing with lots of books, and m...