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Why Does My Room Look Better in the Daytime?
You know that room in your house that looks lovely during the day? You walk through, admire your handiwork, and think, Yep, I nailed this one. Then the sun goes down and that same room has all the charm of a cave with a sofa.
Read on to learn how to fix it and, potentially, make it look even better at night than in daylight.
Before You Carve That Pumpkin...
I have nothing against a good old-fashioned jack-o'-lantern. But the minute you cut into a pumpkin, the clock starts ticking. Suddenly that perfectly good pumpkin has a much shorter decorating life - and after all that scooping, carving and seed-covered-kitchen-counter business, it seems a little rude.
So a few years ago, I started playing with another idea: What if I decorated the pumpkins instead?
Matching Adjacent: The Art of Not Quite Matching
There was a time when furnishing a family room was straightforward. You bought the sofa and matching loveseat. Maybe you added a matching chair. Then came the coffee table and two matching end tables. If you were furnishing a bedroom, you brought in five pieces of matching cherry furniture that were arriving on the same truck. Matchy matchy. Not that there’s anything wrongy wrongy with that.
There still isn’t. Matching pieces can make sense for a room. But not everything has to match exactly to work together. In fact, things can get a whole lot more interesting when they don’t.
Something Feels Off: 5 Things To Check When a Room Isn’t Working
You know the feeling. You enter a room in your home and think something feels off.
Furniture is nice. Colors are fine. Accessories are well placed. You’ve fluffed the pillows within an inch of their lives, and maybe even wandered through HomeGoods hoping the answer would jump into your cart.
Yet the room still isn’t working.
When this happens, it’s helpful to put away your credit card. Often the solution isn’t to buy your way to a better place. I strongly recommend figuring out what’s causing that “something’s off” feeling in the first place. This blog provides a checklist for you to do exactly that.
From $10 Goodwill Find to One-of-a-Kind Wooden Tray
Certain things I simply cannot leave behind at Goodwill. Apparently, a giant solid-wood tray with a scratched-up finish and space-age chrome handles is one of them.
But in my defense…it was $10.
And underneath that tired finish was a 24" × 24" solid-wood tray. This thing was substantial. If you've ever shopped for an oversized solid-wood tray, you already know they don't usually come with a ten-dollar price tag. The tray itself was in good shape. It just needed someone to look past the scratches, the marred finish, and those handles that appeared ready to launch into orbit. Naturally, it came home with me. Leaving a two-foot-square solid-wood tray at Goodwill for ten bucks would have required a level of self-control I simply do not possess.
And then…
It sat in my workshop for four months.
Confessions of a Serial Arranger
It started with a vase. My best friend Amy made the innocent mistake of moving one from her mantel.
Now, you might think moving a vase is a fairly straightforward activity. You pick it up. You carry it somewhere else. You put it down. Clearly, you are not a serial arranger. Because a moved vase creates a spot on the mantel where the vase used to be. That spot could not possibly remain empty. Action is required.
You dutifully find something to fill the void. Except the something came from somewhere. Now that spot is empty. You see the dilemma, right?
I've Been Framed!
Sometimes I bring home a thrift-store find because I know exactly what I'm going to do with it. And sometimes I bring something home because it's $10, has good bones, and apparently, I have absolutely no ability to walk away from that combination. This oversized collage frame fell squarely into category number two. Read on to see what I actually came up with in this fun DIY/Craft Project!
DIY Botanical Artwork: When a Project Changes the Plan
Sometimes the Best Ideas Aren’t the Ones You Start With
I wasn’t looking for botanical artwork project that day. I was simply doing what I usually do when I walk into a thrift store—looking for possibilities.
Tucked among the shelves were two square shadowbox-style frames. Though they were solid and came with mats and backing, their faux cherry finish had seen better days. However, they had potential (code for “This is probably going to take a lot longer than I’m telling Freddy.”)
Some projects begin with a detailed plan. Others begin with a thrift store find and a little curiosity.
Confessions of a DIY Addict
If you've been around this redesign space for a while, you've probably started to notice a few things about me. I can find possibility where other people see something past its prime. I own far more sandpaper than any reasonable person should. And somewhere along the way, spray paint became one of my favorite decorating tools.
So today, I thought it might be fun to share a few honest confessions from someone who's been happily covered in sawdust for more years than she'd probably care to admit.
The Question Was, "Do You Want This?"
"Do you want this?"
That was the text I received one afternoon from my daughter, along with a picture of a dark faux wood laminate credenza she no longer wanted. I looked at the photo for about one second before texting back, "Yes!"
The Kitchen Told the Whole Story
When we first moved into our house nearly nine years ago, the kitchen was the room that constantly reminded us just how much work the house needed. The appliances were original. Some barely worked, others worked inconsistently, and a few simply needed to go. Replacing them wasn’t about creating a dream kitchen yet. It was about function. About making the space usable for everyday life.
Layered Investment & Compounding Progress
At some point in a long home journey, the small decisions, patient improvements, and thoughtful investments start building on top of one another in ways you can finally see and feel. Not overnight, and certainly not because life suddenly turns into a perfectly edited renovation show. But one completed project creates momentum for the next. Savings, patience, skillsets, and timing slowly begin aligning in ways they simply couldn’t during the earlier years of homeownership.
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