To everyone who has been asking about Teddy’s birth story, thank you for your patience. I like to let these memories settle before I write about them—Clara’s story took me almost a year—so I could tell it clearly. Compared with that traumatic first birth, Teddy’s arrival was calm, straightforward, and mostly exactly what we hoped … Read more

We made good progress updating our $6 cabinets with primer and glossy white paint until a hurricane knocked out our power for three days. Fortunately the power came back on, but the outage delayed the final steps: John needs to finish some carpentry that requires electric tools before we can paint and reassemble everything in … Read more

Hi everyone! I’ve been quietly working on some digital organization while my wife tackles her own projects. Today I want to share the results of a larger rework we finally completed: a streamlined, more browsable Projects page for the blog. Over time our original Projects listing had become unwieldy — hundreds of linked items packed … Read more

Anyone can make a photo Christmas card—especially if they have a dog and a baby. As the holiday weekend approaches, we’re excited about watching “the kids” open presents (yes, Burger gets gifts too), sampling festive treats, and spending time with family and friends. Before the celebrations officially begin, we wanted to wish you HAPPY HOLIDAYS … Read more

Ready for a post full of embarrassing photos (of me and Katie B) and adorable photos (of Clara and Will), with a few house-crashing and shopping-on-the-road sneak peeks mixed in? Let’s do this. This recap of our four days in Atlanta includes more than 40 photos but it’s still just the tip of the road-trip … Read more

Behold our DIY wire trellis! I’d wanted to try this project for years, and I’m thrilled with how it turned out. With basic tools, wire and hooks, a climbing vine, and a bit of planning, we turned a plain wall into an elegant garden feature. Here’s a clear, practical guide to make your own. After … Read more

Let’s talk about DIY haircuts, shall we? This is one of those posts I never expected to write, but after several requests here it is: a practical, down-to-earth guide to cutting a man’s hair at home. I don’t have formal training—my experience started in high school and continued through college as I experimented on friends … Read more

This may be hard to believe, but this is our final book tour recap. All scheduled tour stops have wrapped, and we have three last cities to share: New York, Charlotte, and Atlanta. If you missed earlier recaps, they’re linked on our site. This final installment is long too, but our encounter with Mark McGrath … Read more

We shared a small glimpse of Kirsten’s beautiful Portland home in last week’s Portland post, but here’s the full House Crashing feature. The exterior of Kirsten and her husband Kyle’s house is painted a rich gray, and the porch is detailed with oversized white corbels flanking the door (note: house numbers have been changed to … Read more

How We Prepped Our Cabinets for Primer: Putty, Sanding, and Deglosser We prepped all of our kitchen cabinets for primer by following a clear, methodical process: filling holes and cracks with wood filler, sanding surfaces smooth and scuffing them for better adhesion, wiping everything with a deglosser, and laying doors and drawers out to dry … Read more