Our Cape Charles beach house taught us early on how valuable an outdoor shower can be. Giving people a place to rinse off before coming inside keeps sand off the floors and out of the plumbing. It took a couple of summers to fully enclose and finish our beach-house shower, so it was a pleasant … Read more

Now that we’re finishing up work on our current home and have finally shared the news about the new place, it feels like we’ve given ourselves permission to completely lose our minds with excitement. This new house video tour captures that chirpy, genuine enthusiasm—the kind you get when you find a home in your dream … Read more

I should warn you: most of the photos (and the video!) don’t look like “rebuilding” so much as “what happened to that house?!” But there has actually been a lot of progress at the duplex. Here’s an update on the flurry of activity from the past few weeks, along with the floor plan changes and … Read more

Many people are surprised that our entire pool area is lit using only solar LED landscape lights. The sun charges them during the day, and at night they provide a soft, effortless glow—no plugs, no wiring, and no noticeable change to our electric bill. Today I’m sharing the three solar products we use so you … Read more

The excitement started yesterday when we went to the stone yard to view our granite slabs and reached a surprising turning point when we saw a massive slab of Blanc Noir. The petite sample we fell for months ago — white with delicate gray and black flecks — looked nothing like the much larger slab … Read more

Welcome to the show notes for Episode #15 of Young House Love Has A Podcast. In this episode we talk about college students whose over-the-top dorm rooms have gone viral, and we share where we stand on the debate. We also open up about our own college housing memories. HGTV designer Vern Yip calls in … Read more

Removing that section of the wall and the contractor felt like a big step, but there’s still a lot to do before the opening feels finished. Unless you think an exposed construction zone makes a beautiful dining room. Local readers have asked for the contractor’s contact, and since we were very happy with his work … Read more

Thank you for the encouragement this morning to finally write out my long-held memories of September 11th. It’s hard to put into words, but I want to have this recorded — both for myself and for Clara, when she’s older and I need to explain the magnitude of that day. It was a terrible day, … Read more

As moving week arrives, we wanted to take one last look back at the exterior progress we’ve made over the years. Before we share photos of the empty house and a list of what stayed with the property, here’s a final outdoor tour recap. We recorded outdoor video tours in 2011 and 2012, and the … Read more

Welcome to the show notes for Episode #11 of Young House Love Has A Podcast. What happens when partners have different design tastes? In this episode we talk about how we balance contrasting aesthetics at home, share strategies other couples can use to meet in the middle, and offer practical tips for decorating together without … Read more