In September of 2020, six months into a global pandemic, lockdowns, a crazy presidential election, etc., as if the year couldn’t become any more difficult, I found a circle of fuzzy mold growing in our basement ceiling. As it turned out, our master shower had been leaking for who-knows-how-long. What ensued was yet another “When you give a mouse a cookie” journey for us.

I’ve always been frugal, but special circumstances call for nicer things. Jason and I saved for A FULL YEAR before we could remodel (and once again—finally!!—use) our master bathroom after discovering a leak in the shower pan. Curious to know where I shopped for bathroom decor suitable for the prettiest bathroom I’ve ever had? Read on to find out!

We used our formal dining room for dining only three times in the nearly three years we’ve lived here: two were Thanksgiving, and one was for a photoshoot. Therefore, we decided to give the space new purpose by turning it into a study, and we did so on a pretty tight budget. Here are all the pieces we used to make it happen, as well as some notes about the process!

When we removed the final wall that separated the formal dining room from the rest of the main living areas, we were left with a wide, open gap. With a two-and-a-half year-old boy, a dog, and two zombie adults walking around holding a newborn, we knew we needed to fill that big opening as quickly as possible, and no, a dining table on its side was not going to cut it. Enter the beautiful, easy-to-install, custom railing from L.J. Smith Stair Systems, a Novo Building Products company.