NewlyWoodwards

an unconventional home

Building stairs for the UPS guy

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When living in the middle of nowhere, you need stairs. Not for guests or for anyone entering through the front door. (Who does that? That’s what the garage is for.) Nope. Stairs are needed for the UPS guy to leave packages on the covered porch. Because if you are me, your UPS guy delivers something almost every […]

3 reasons your house doesn’t look more put-together

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You aren’t a clean freak. You don’t find joy and happiness from scrubbing your shower grout with a toothbrush. (And if you do, bless your heart. You can come over to my house and find joy anytime.) But, just because you don’t look forward to cleaning, doesn’t mean you don’t care about your home. You want a […]

Curb appeal and landscaping on a budget

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There are a lot of things you can do to make your house look great from the outside. But none of them entail doing nothing. And that, my friends, is exactly what we have done. Nothing on our landscaping for curb appeal. Until now. Why did we wait so long? Because we are out of money. […]

8 secrets for your unique holiday home

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There are 9 weeks until Christmas. You’re welcome. And I’m sorry. You know I love holiday decorating. And when it comes to THE BIGGEST FA-LA-LA-I-DAY, I’m already thinking and planning about how our home will come together. Because once Thanksgiving hits, it’s time to get all those decorations up. And by that point, you need to have a […]

Forget the Joneses

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Home improvement projects and building are a delicate balance of wants and needs. And the process must come with some prudence – especially if you want to complete the project without becoming “house poor.” And if you want to come out the other end without massive amounts of debt, it will take compromise.

This means thinking about your family’s future and not worrying about what finishes your neighbors and friends can (or can’t) afford.

Built-in hidden dog gate

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When customizing our cabinets, there were some features we knew were a bit unique but for our family, they made sense. We worked with our cabinet builder to create a Built-In Hidden Dog Gate! There are a lot of really great advantages to working with a cabinet builder. One of the biggest is customization. In many […]