It’s hard to believe it’s been a month since our last house-crashing feature. This time we visited a local Richmond-area home, so we could appreciate every detail in person.
Meet Becky and Brian and their dog Fergie. They live just outside Richmond with their two daughters and a welcoming red front door painted in Heritage Red by Benjamin Moore, complete with a cheerful “Hello” decal.
Inside, the music room sits to the right of the entry. Becky transformed Brian’s grandmother’s piano with a bold yellow paint—an heirloom given new life. She also reupholstered a vintage swivel stool she found at an antique store, sewing the slipcover herself. Many pieces throughout the house carry secondhand stories or handmade touches, which gives the home a warm, collected feel.
In one of the bathrooms they repurposed a dresser into a vanity. Becky rescued the piece from a local secondhand shop, painted and distressed it, and then she and Brian’s dad cut out the middle to install a recycled sink basin sourced from Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Becky also has a habit of collecting old mirrors and arranging them in groupings on the wall, hunting thrift and antique shops for just the right pieces.
A cheerful guest room on the first floor balances moody walls (Gravel Gray by Benjamin Moore) with playful accents. A rooster print purchased at a local store adds personality without feeling precious. The bedding came from a national retailer, while the dresser is another thrifted find that Becky painted, sanded for a distressed look, and touched up with walnut oil or glaze. She finished each drawer with numbered hardware for a charming, utilitarian detail.
The kitchen features simple, practical DIY updates: a chalkboard-painted panel on the pantry door and red-painted Ikea stools refreshed with Becky’s homemade chalk paint recipe. These small changes add whimsy and function to everyday spaces.
The main bedroom is soft and inviting. A floral coverlet Becky found at a flea market adds vintage charm on a budget, and the room mixes finishes—an unpainted wooden bed from Pier 1 paired with a pine bench from HomeGoods—to create a layered, lived-in look. Becky isn’t certain of the exact wall color, but something like Palladian Blue or Quiet Moments by Benjamin Moore would be in the right family.
Becky’s knack for repurposing shows up in a homemade jewelry rack made from an old crib railing discovered at a flea market. She initially imagined using it for magazines or blankets, but it proved perfect for hanging necklaces and bracelets.
Her daughter’s room features soft, feminine details and a delightful secondhand hutch Becky found while thrifting. The hutch already had the perfect finish, so she left it as-is.
One of the standout spaces is Becky’s basement studio, where she runs her Etsy shop, Farmgirl Paints. The studio is where she crafts stamped leather cuffs from recycled belts and manages all parts of the business, from stamping metal disks to adding snaps and packaging orders. The back wall is painted in a custom “Spring Green” chalkboard finish mixed at a local store, and Becky displays a handmade shop sign with reclaimed-wood styling.
The basement is designed for productivity and inspiration: multiple workstations, colorful storage, playful wall decor, and plenty of surface area for making. Becky created a twine Farmgirl Paints sign and even shared a short tutorial for making it on social media. Organization is smart and stylish here—an old wire display case stores tubes of craft paint perfectly, and a chalkboard wall behind it features a hand-drawn camper that adds personality to the workspace.
Not everything is vintage: Becky mixes big-box finds with thrifted and handmade pieces, which keeps the house approachable and practical. One surprising discovery was a numbered wall cubby originally purchased at a national retailer—proof that a well-curated home can combine both sources seamlessly.
Tucked at the far end of the basement is Becky’s art studio. For the long craft desk she and Brian salvaged old doors from a local salvage yard and braced them to create a 13-foot workspace supported with spindle legs they fashioned themselves. The desk is packed with supplies and is the ideal “kid in a candy store” space for anyone who loves to craft.
Small treasures throughout the home tell stories: a large barn-style lamp purchased during an antiquing trip, a humble sign found while hunting through markets, and the countless thrift-store belts that supply Becky’s jewelry-making business. Together these pieces create a joyful, lived-in home full of creativity and resourceful design.
A huge thank you to Becky and Brian for welcoming us into their warm, inventive home and letting us photograph the spaces. Their mix of thrifted finds, DIY projects, and practical retail purchases offers plenty of inspiration—whether you’re refreshing a room, starting a creative workspace, or learning to spot great pieces while thrifting. We’d love to hear which details inspired you most: the bright front door, the painted piano, or the thoughtfully organized basement studio?