We don’t always agree on every project or decorating choice. Lately we’ve been in the middle of some pretty active home debates. For Valentine’s Day, we’re sharing our current home-related disagreements and how we plan to resolve them—ideally without too many hurt feelings (though Sherry is already fired up about one of these). We also cover several updates: the historic review board’s decision on our duplex roof proposal, Sherry’s ongoing Invisalign journey (which is turning out to be a long one), and the ever-amusing question of whether our neighbor still thinks Sherry’s name is Laura. Plus, we share our favorite solution for organizing shampoos and soaps in the shower, and confess a new obsession with some very shiny rocks.
You can download the episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, or Spotify, or listen on your preferred podcast app. Use this page to find the links, notes, and photos we mention.
What’s New
- Above is the image of the pink armchair from Target that we considered returning. The online rendering looked great, but seeing it in person revealed the high arms created a “cube fortress” effect that blocked the adjacent bookcase.
- Below are photos taken the night we finally brought the chair to the beach house. Forgive the poor lighting—these were shot at night—but they clearly show why the scale and arm height didn’t work in that spot.
- In place of that armchair we ordered a slipper chair, which will be arriving at the beach house soon.
- We previously discussed buying furniture online in Episode #83, where we also shared an earlier update on our duplex roof situation and linked to the start of that story on the blog.
Updates
- Sherry’s Invisalign story goes back a while—she first mentioned it in Episode #20, and gave another update in Episode #62 (that’s where the elastic GIF comes from).
- The “Laura” neighbor story first appeared in Episode #59 and remains a podcast favorite.
Design Disagreements
Our bathroom layout is one of those spaces that’s hard to photograph clearly. The shower and toilet sit just beyond the separate vanity area, and we keep going back and forth about whether the layout makes sense or if a different configuration—maybe a tub/shower combo or a relocated vanity—would work better. It’s on the “to research” list, including measurements and tub size options, but for now it remains unresolved and often debated.
For context on the beach house shed debate: the original shed that came with the house was large, rusted, full of holes, and even had poison ivy growing inside and on the roof. Eventually the door would only stay closed with a pile of bricks.
The backyard has looked like this for most of the time we’ve owned the house, though over the past year and a half it became more overgrown and covered in brush. The photos below were taken soon after we bought the property two Octobers ago.
To show how close the old shed sat to the house, here’s a shot from when our HVAC units were installed—this helps explain some of the decisions and frustrations we’ve had with placement and property-line restrictions.
After the old shed and brush were cleared we could finally see the backyard’s potential, and Sherry’s excitement in the moment was infectious. Unfortunately, a later property-line discovery tempered some of that optimism.
The vine-covered metal shed visible on the neighboring property is essentially identical to our old shed, and it sits partially across the property line, so there’s little we can do other than let it remain hidden by vines. We also sketched a rough outline from an upstairs window to show how a smaller 9×12 shed—while physically smaller than the original—would still encroach on usable yard space because of setback rules. That mismatch between physical size and legal setbacks has been a major frustration.
Another debate involved repurposing parts of a 100-year-old bed. We have the headboard in our daughter’s room and could have used the footboard in our son’s room to create a matching set. Ultimately, we chose a daybed for our son’s room for practical reasons, which you can read more about in the post documenting his new bed.
We’re Digging
One home solution we love is the Ikea IMMELN shower baskets. We now own four of them, plus a pack of matching hooks, to keep shampoo, soap, and other bath items organized in showers at both our main house and the beach house. They’ve been reliably sturdy—far better than a few Target alternatives we tried, which fell off the wall almost immediately.
Sherry has also fallen into a crystal-collecting phase. She discovered a local rock shop she used to visit with her dad and picked up a heart-shaped celestite and a chunky pyrite cube. The rest of her little collection came from a handful of Etsy sellers and independent shops.
If you’re curious about shapes and types of stones, terms like “point,” “pyramid,” and “cluster” are helpful when searching. Bead strands are another great option—Howlite, for example, looks like marble beads and photographs beautifully. Below are more pieces Sherry has added to her collection.
If you want to learn more about crystals and their meanings, we’ve written a short series highlighting favorites like aura quartz, blue calcite, green aventurine, ocean jasper, rainbow fluorite, and creative projects like a selenite fireplace.
If you’re searching for an item mentioned in an earlier episode but can’t recall which show notes to check, we compiled a master list of items we’ve explored across past episodes. It’s a handy reference for anything we’ve been “digging” on the podcast.
Finally, thanks to Grove Collaborative for supporting the episode. As a special offer, new members can receive a promotional gift set with qualifying purchases from Grove.
Thanks for listening and following along with our projects and debates. We appreciate your company as we work through ideas, test solutions, and sometimes change our minds.
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