NewlyWoodwards

an unconventional home

Getting the screened porch summer-ready

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Dudes. Owning a home isn’t all sunshine and roses. It’s also not all just the fun and exciting parts of decorating and coming up with big, grand plans and ideas. It’s not all Pinterest boards and paint colors. (Although this is how I would prefer it.)

Unfortunately, once you live in a place for a certain amount of time, you are required to do certain things to keep it hospitable. Things like cleaning and maintaining everything.

Bleh.

It can feel like a full time job at times. Because all I WANT to do is come up with new and exciting projects. All my brain WANTS to do is make lists of all the things we can still do to make the house even better. But all my house wants is for me to dust the baseboards and pull the weeds and change the furnace filters and mow the lawn (again).

DIY carpet installation on stairs

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The basement project continues. Maybe it never ends. I don’t know.

But the most recent completed project makes a huge impact – we finally have carpeting on the stairs going to the basement! With two kiddos (one who’s still a little shaky), having safe stairs is pretty important. And we have found that just having the stairs completed makes us even more likely to go to the basement to play. (And as the temperatures rise, the cool basement will be a wonderful respite.)

We didn’t have a huge budget to finish the basement, and stairs are a fairly straightforward DIY job if you have the right tools. We did have the main stairs in our home professionally installed, but these are used much less and were a great way to save some money. (Ryan has installed carpeting in our rental homes, so it’s not a new skill for him.)

DIY outdoor chairs for the porch

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When my birthday came around this year, I had a list of projects I was hoping could be completed.

Because while normal people make a wish list, I have a hubby to-do list. That’s because when holidays come around, I can ask for things that may not ever make the list at other times of the year. And NOBODY CAN TELL ME NO.

(Insert evil laugh here.)

But because I’m not UNREASONABLE, I have a few options depending on what fits into Ryan’s schedule.

This year at the top of my list – building outdoor chairs for the front porch.

Plant a tree for Earth Day | & $10 off from Arbor Day Foundation

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Earth Day was Monday, and we believe that one of the best ways to celebrate is by planting a tree (or a dozen).

We live in the country with 17 acres of land, and we want nothing more than to be surrounded by trees. They are beautiful, great for us and for wildlife, and an investment in the future generation. When we bought our land, trees had already been planted on 9 acres through a government program. And over the past year, we have nurtured and watched those trees grow every year. All the while, we have been adding and replacing trees where we could.

But whether you live in the country or in a small city lot (been there, too), trees are a great addition to your yard – for the environment AND for curb appeal. (Win-win.)

3 steps to create a more beautiful and functional dining space

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In our home, our dining room is a hard-working space. It’s not a space that’s used only for holidays and company. It is used all day, everyday. From breakfast to artwork to homework to dinner (and many other things in between). 

But while the dining room is hardworking, it also has to look good.
Because it’s always visible – at the very center of our home. That means we look at it and pass through it dozens of times every single day. 

I’ve been imagining a few simple tweaks to make the space work better for our family. After three years of heavy use, I think it can be more beautiful and more functional. 

Here are the steps I’m taking to get there. 

How we are finishing the basement on a budget

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The beginning of the new year is a great time to plan projects for your home. One project on our list is to finally finish up the basement. We started finishing the basement with the main family room in 2017. It was a great way to give our family more usable space. You may remember […]