Remember the very first project that dragged on throughout our initial home renovation? Our beloved office that I love to hate and hate to love? Well, we recently made more subtle changes in there, including (another) paint color change, and the addition of a custom desk that Dan built. The previous gray that was on… Continue reading Building a Walnut Desk
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times. Dan’s need for constant, continuous improvement is admirable. Even if it comes at the expense of projects that were once perceived as his pride and joy. Remember that impressive furniture set he built for our garage last summer? Those beautiful wooden frames with the… Continue reading Updated: (Re)Building Outdoor Furniture
Our summer Saturday mornings often take us through winding back roads that lead to the nearby village of East Aurora. And while Dan sorts through wood at Niagara Lumber, you can find me sneaking across the parking lot to the Elm Street Bakery. Every time Dan walks through their door of Niagara Lumber, he lights… Continue reading Building a Nelson Bench
While it’s not yet officially summer, the weather is telling us otherwise. And as long of a winter as we had, that’s how quickly the warm weather has graced us with its presence. Which means I also quickly transitioned from hibernating in the house to spending my free time playing in the gardens. And while… Continue reading Building an Industrial (sized) Bar Table
It’s April 30th and finally starting to warm up around here. Which means I can finally stop hibernating and get back to enjoying the outdoors. I recently told Dan that I’m only as productive as the weather is nice, and it really couldn’t be a more accurate statement. While Dan works on projects throughout the… Continue reading Building an Outdoor Pub Table
Now that it’s spring, which will one day actually translate to warmer weather, Dan’s focus has turned to updating our outdoor space with custom furniture designs. His butcher block coffee table was the first, and there are plenty more in progress that are quickly taking over the workshop, garage, and basement. His latest project is… Continue reading Stacked Wood Bench
It may still be cold out, but we’ve been thinking about summer (and how to update our outdoor space) all winter long. And while the writing has slowed, the projects have not. Dan has about 4-5 projects that he’s in the middle of as we speak. In fact, as I sit at the dining room… Continue reading Butcher Block Coffee Table
As I sit here and write this, I’m staring out my window trying to imagine what my backyard looked like before all the snow took over. There’s just something about a fresh snowfall that brings out the beauty and pureness of nature. But with the deep freeze of a winter we’ve been having, I can’t… Continue reading Open Shelving in an Outdoor Space
It’s not every day you get to turn your childhood bedroom into a custom walk-in closet. But that’s exactly what Dan was about to do, helping his mom double the size of her storage space. This would be an undertaking similar to the mudroom storage Dan built in our basement. The closet would consist of… Continue reading DIY Walk-In Closet
My cousin and his fiance recently moved into a new house that has a good size bathroom, but was lacking storage space for towels and toiletries. They came to us with an idea of either a bench or shelf that could hold storage baskets to help keep everything organized. First of all, I was thrilled… Continue reading DIY Storage Cabinet
Two years ago, I began piecing a vanity together with the idea that I would one day refinish it. The seat and vanity itself came from one seller, and the mirror from another. Each piece with a ton of character and beauty in their own right, that when together, look like they were made for each… Continue reading Furniture Flip: Vanity Edition
Over the past year, Dan’s brother has started to introduce him to the wonderful world of whiskey. And throughout the summer, our nights were often spent relaxing in our backyard, drinking wine and whiskey, and burning scrap wood in a campfire. Our “perfect nights,” we’d call them. So this one pays tribute to those perfect… Continue reading DIY Whiskey Caddy
With the interior doors now completely refinished throughout the house, we’re getting closer to bringing all the “old” in the house back to it’s original life. But there was still something missing to give the old plaster walls a more finished look. And for Dan, that was crown molding. When we first bought the house,… Continue reading Installing Crown Molding
All summer long we’ve had a lot of fun working on outdoor projects, building furniture, and updating our rec space in the garage. But that hasn’t stopped us from all the home improvement projects we also have going on indoors. While the major updates like bathroom remodels, refinishing floors, and painting walls and trim were… Continue reading Refinishing Interior Doors
Between Dan’s time spent working on projects, and the rec space we’ve made with the bar, we  sure spend a lot of time out in the garage. In the summer months, we likely spend more time on our patio and in the garage than we do in our own living room. So it only makes… Continue reading Building Outdoor Furniture
One of Dan’s summer-long projects was updating our bar in the garage. Little by little, he added some new features and upgraded other original features. This is one of those ever-evolving projects that I’m sure we’ll add to year after year, and is definitely one of the more fun ones we work on. And of… Continue reading A girl walks into a bar…
After our Memorial Day Weekend wedding, we visited Cape Cod for our honeymoon. We stayed in a quaint little cottage and spent our days visiting quiet little towns, taking bike rides, and strolling through the neighborhood streets. Every way we turned, we saw beautiful trellis archways that led to a garden or framed a cottage’s… Continue reading Building a Trellis Archway
A quick furniture flip for you guys. We spotted this dresser on the side of the road one day and of course couldn’t pass it up. Clearly, I have a thing for old furniture, so when we drove by, Dan already knew that he was about to have to pull over. Busy street or not.… Continue reading Furniture Flip: Dresser Edition
You soon may start to notice that Dan tends to change his mind about projects. A lot. Remember when Dan stumbled upon his inner pyro and built that awesome barn door for our garage? Well guess what? He woke up one day, decided he didn’t like it, took it apart, and started building a new… Continue reading DIY Barn Door 2.0
One of the home improvement projects I’ve been looking forward to the most is adding window seats to the master bedroom. You might remember that we previously tore down, rebuilt and added more closet space, filling each corner of the room and giving us 2 closets each (or as Dan would say, 3 for him,… Continue reading DIY Window Seats
With each project, I become more and more impressed with Dan’s creativity and woodworking skills. He usually blows it off like it’s nothing, or finds the tiniest of flaws and says “it could be better,” but he’s really just being too hard on himself. While he may not always see the potential in his work,… Continue reading Building Buffalo’s Skyline
Our basement has come a long way since we first bought this old house. From a run down bathroom and spray painted walls, to a refinished space with plenty of room for storage. When we first renovated the basement bathroom, we also bumped out the wall of our basement landing with the idea that we… Continue reading Building Mudroom Storage
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