Simple, Zero-Cost Trick to Prevent Oil Rings on Marble and Granite Counters If you have marble or granite countertops in your kitchen—or even if you have other types of stone or laminate—keeping oil rings from seeping into the surface is an important consideration when you cook. Instead of constantly wiping every bottle or worrying about … Read more

We’re making steady progress in the kitchen (we wish we could share daily updates, but this renovation is happening in real time). Our latest decision: selecting the new countertops. We debated material choices for weeks. There are countless options, each with its own pros and cons, and it can be overwhelming to determine the best … Read more

This week would have been my Aunt Kay’s birthday, and it felt heavy because she passed away last year. She lived with us while I was growing up and was like a second mother to me. Aunt Kay had a joyful, colorful spirit and loved to paint and draw — it was even her college … Read more

Happy New Year! (You’ll see why that’s fitting in a moment.) The time had come to say goodbye to the ceiling fan in our bedroom so we could install a light fixture with more personality. Before anyone gets upset: we’re not anti-fan. We removed the ceiling fan from our first home’s bedroom and replaced it … Read more

A few years ago we began a design project with a local builder that had us genuinely excited — only to have it fall apart for reasons we never expected. It still disappoints us when we think about it. In this post we share that story, the surprising way Sherry found an amazing secondhand piece … Read more

Dear IKEA, We adore you. Your affordable, stylish pieces and the ritual of “some assembly required” make many of us loyal customers. Still, I need to register a small but sincere complaint about one of your products: the Kassett storage box. Typically, assembling IKEA furniture is part of the experience. There’s a certain satisfaction in … Read more

Thanks for all the laundry room ideas last week — we really appreciated the feedback. We took time to consider every suggestion and even got a few quotes for more involved options like moving hookups, shifting the doorway, and possibly bumping out a wall. One recurring idea (call it “Option 3”) was to rotate the … Read more

Blue calcite is a less common, beautifully hued variety of a very familiar mineral. Calcite itself appears worldwide and is a major component of limestone, marble, and many construction materials. Blue calcite, by contrast, is prized by collectors for its soft, calming tones that call to mind a clear sky or still blue waters. I … Read more

Each month we like to brighten the house with an inexpensive—or sometimes free—bouquet or potted plant. The tradition began with a thoughtful holiday gift from my partner, and it’s become a simple way to keep our space feeling fresh. This month I strayed from our usual grocery-store flowers when I found a small, leafy plant … Read more

Ok, we’ll share a slightly gross little secret: our master bedroom mattress was ancient. It was a hand-me-down — John’s sister generously passed it along when we moved to Richmond three years ago after years of her own use. As mattresses age they tend to stiffen, and ours had become as hard and uncomfortable as … Read more