The Secret to the Perfect Night In

If there's one thing we've learned over the last eight years, it's how to properly spend a night at home, completely content and comfortable. It has little to do with who you’re with (although that certainly helps) and everything to do with creating the perfect atmoshphere.

We’re usually in for the night by 7p, either cooking something or ordering a pizza from the local pizzeria down the street. If we’re cooking, it’s usually pasta. Lately, we’ve been doing our best to eat healthier, so it’s been vegetables and some form of grilled chicken or fish. We love staying in putzing around the house, maybe picking up a little, maybe playing with the girls, maybe watching Netflix.

While the itinerary changes night to night, there’s a couple of things we do every night that we swear by to create that perfect cozy, no-place-I’d-rather-be-than-home feel:

Wine: A glass of wine (or two). We always go for a good red; either a cab or a pinot noir. Over the summer when it was almost too hot to drink anything but water, we started getting into whites, specifically chardonnay, but our go-to is always red. We’ve been obsessed with 7 Moons Red Blend lately. Have you tried it?

Music: Music is a necessity. We usually play some in the background while we’re cooking or just hanging around the house. Our favorite is Bossa Nova radio on Pandora. It instantly makes you feel like you’re in a Nancy Meyer’s movie, or some other romantic comedy where you live in a perfectly decorated NYC apartment that you could never actually afford. No matter how bad or good the day is, as soon as we turn on Bossa Nova, it’s instantly better.

Food: This doesn’t have to be anything special. It can be as simple as some grapes and cheese, or homemade guacamole and tortilla chips. Or, if you’re feeling something light and easy, try making popcorn. For as long as we can remember, we’ve been making our own popcorn and it tastes SO MUCH BETTER than the bagged kind. We like the white kernels of Jolly Time best. To make it, add one kernel to a pan/pot, pour just enough vegetable oil (or olive oil) in to cover the kernel. Make sure the heat is on high, and leave it uncovered until that kernel pops. Once it pops, you know it’s hot enough to pour in the desired amount of popcorn kernels. Then cover with a lid, but make sure a little bit of air gets out so the corn will pop. Once it’s finished popping, cover with sea salt and you’re good to go! It’s our favorite food to snack on while we’re at home and it’s not terrible for you, so there’s no feelings of guilt!

As long as you have those three things on hand, your night should be relaxing and cozy, and the perfect end to the day. What about you? What other things do you do to have a nice evening at home? We’re always looking for tips!

We're Giving Our Primary Bathroom a Refresh a Year and a Half Later

This is a sponsored conversation written by us on behalf of Delta® Faucet. The opinions and text are all ours.

Even though we just moved in a little over a year ago, we’re making big changes to our primary bath with the help of our friends at Delta.

When we renovated our home last year, it was for a television pilot and the filming schedule was STRICT. We had to have everything done in a tight time frame, and because of that, we weren’t able to completely renovate our primary bath the way we wanted to. We ended up going with two pedestal sinks in lieu of a double vanity because our cabinet maker didn’t have time to build the one we designed, and we went with less elevated faucets that were pretty, but not the exact ones we wanted for our primary bath.

So here we are, one year later and ready to tackle another renovation, though this time we’re just making subtle changes that will have a big payoff. Isn’t it crazy how changing one or two things in a room can completely transform a space? We love a good before and after and this one won’t disappoint. So let’s get right to it!

Our plan is to switch out our old faucets with a new, high-end Delta faucet that will better match the overall feel of this old craftsman style home of ours. We went with mostly traditional, classic style & décor in all of the other rooms in our house, and we want to make sure that cohesiveness is reflected in our master bath as well. For that reason, we’re going with the Delta Cassidy Collection. It’s more traditional (you know our feelings about traditional styling) and features clean lines & elegant design details, something we desperately wanted for our bathroom. We want the space to have that spa-like quality to it, a place where as soon as we walk in we immediately feel relaxed.

After we decided which collection we were going with, we began to look through the different options. In the end we confidently chose the Two Handle Widespread Bathroom Faucet with cross handles and we’re so glad we did!

We felt the classic shape of the cross handles, the beautiful curve of the tall spout, and the chrome finish were the perfect mix of old meets new. They have the glamour and high-end look we were craving and honestly would be something you would have originally seen (or a version of them, at least) when our house was built back in 1924. They won’t look out of place and are very much in line with the rest of the design of our house, and that was important to us.

Along with the faucets, we are also replacing the pedestal sinks with a wood stained double vanity for added storage. Like we mentioned, our cabinetmaker wasn’t able to get to that in time last year, so we’ve been living with two sinks that provide absolutely zero storage. We got by adding a small cabinet, which works alright, but even that isn’t ideal. It’s wobbly, so we leveled it by adding a flossing tool underneath the foot so it doesn’t shake. Comical, right?

While they’re charming and add a bit of an old school touch to the space, it will be nice to have somewhere to store towels and bathroom essentials so they’re not always out in the open. You can see the original drawing PJ did a year ago of what we had in mind for the vanity:

We’re going with a Carrera marble countertop (to match our marble window ledge directly across from the vanity) and finishing the room off with chrome hardware to match the lights and faucets. We are also considering adding a few shelves to the bathroom for even more storage. Maybe above the toilet? Or a long one in the middle of the windows to set plants on? We haven’t decided entirely on that just yet, but we’ll let you know when we do.

What we DO know, however, is the feel we want our bathroom to have. We want it to feel like an oasis, like we’re bringing the outside in. Our biggest inspiration for this reno is water and the way we use it every day. We are going with natural elements with things like the slate-like floor tile, the wooden vanity, and the use of stone in our marble countertops. We plan to incorporate more plants in the finished space, too, to add a touch of nature because let’s be honest, every room deserves a little green here and there. To complete the room, we’re bringing in new washcloths and towels to freshen the space up.

We are so excited to get started on this project, y’all. The vanity has been built and was just installed a few days ago, and our brand new Delta faucets just came in the mail last week! This has been a year in the making and we can’t wait to show you the finished results. Stay tuned to see how it all comes together!

A Light-Filled Friday Night

Tonight was kind of magical.

The trees separating our house from our neighbor’s have started to lose some of their leaves, which means natural light floods our kitchen and breakfast nook this time of year. Most of the time, those two rooms don’t get as much light as our living room (in the front of the house where the sun rises) and dining room (in the back of the house where the sun sets) do, because they’re squished in the center of our house and the tree branches are usually blocking all the sun from coming in.

But tonight was a different story. For the first time this year we could really see the first little signs of fall in our house and man, did it get us excited. The light was dancing all over the floors and walls and Alexa was playing our favorite radio station (Bossa Nova). We made some coffee to wake us up for a few more hours and took it all in for a second. We were running around all day making sure we have everything ready for our trip tomorrow and it felt nice to just relax, take a breather, and just be.

There’s nothing like the feeling of being home on a Friday night when you know you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Do you know what we mean?

We hope you have a great Friday night as well, friend! Here’s to the weekend!

xx

A Perfectly Cluttered Brooklyn Brownstone

We came across this brownstone this past weekend and haven't been able to get it out of our minds since. 

We have a thing for Brooklyn brownstones (the character! the history! the layout!) and this one definitely doesn't disappoint. Is it not the most cozy-cluttered home, but in the best possible way? Loving the library sconces over the bookcases, and how about the chandelier that's shaped like an old pirate ship? Don't even get us started on that fireplace. 

It's four stories, has five bedrooms, and is 16.5 ft wide. It was listed for $5.25 million back in Feb 2017 (wonder if it sold?) so it was/is a bit out of our price range, but we can dream can't we? 

PS: how to get the style of a Brooklyn brownstone in your own home.

Where Does All the Time Go?

How do you find time to:

• water the plants
• walk the dogs
• mow the yard
• sweep the front porch
• vacuum the rugs
• dust the wood furniture
• change the cat's litter box
• feed the dogs
• give the dogs a bath
• see your friends
• see your family
• shop and cook for dinner
• drink a half-gallon of water a day
• sweep and mop the house
• respond to emails
• go to social events
• watch Netflix
• read a book
• read a blog
• listen to a podcast
• listen to your favorite music
• watch your favorite movie
• spend time with your significant other
• get your oil changed
• go to the doctor/dentist/chiropractor
• post to Instagram
• post to Facebook
• post to Twitter
• post to YouTube
• post to Tumblr
• workout
• eat healthy
• keep your cholesterol down 
• have a life

What else? Asking for a friend.

New PO Box!

We have a brand new PO Box number! 

Everything else about our PO Box address is the same, the only thing that has changed is the number. So if you want to send us any letters, packages, or even Swedish chocolate (we've gotten that before!), you can send it to:

PO Box 485 Cleveland, TN 37364-0939.

We write back to each and every letter and love hearing from you guys. It makes our day each time we open the box and see something new from y'all. The internet is amazing and we look forward to your comments, but nothing beats an actual hand-written letter, don't you think?

We Finally Got Haircuts

It's Thomas' first haircut in six months and it was long overdue. He wanted to grow it out for as long as he could, but when it's longer, he can't seem to stop touching it and messing with it. Rather than having to deal with it, he decided to cut it all off! PJ went with a quick trim. We always feel 100 times better after getting our haircut. Do you feel like that, too?

Click here to see how they turned out!