This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Three years ago, I made a $6,800 mistake in my backyard. I was deep in the research rabbit hole on the stamped concrete vs pavers patio debate, I had gotten three contractor quotes, and I made a rushed decision because my … Read more
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I still get a little knot in my stomach when I think about that Tuesday morning last spring. A home inspector was crouched under my deck, flashlight in hand, and every few seconds I could hear him muttering something I couldn’t … Read more
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Let me tell you about the day I accidentally ordered enough concrete pavers to build a modest airport runway. I was deep in research mode on a DIY concrete paver patio budget project — coffee in hand, spreadsheet open, feeling extremely … Read more
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Five years ago, I almost ruined my marriage over a deck. I know how that sounds, but hear me out. My husband Kevin and I had saved up $14,000 to build our dream backyard deck, and we could not agree on … Read more
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Let me paint you a picture: it’s a Saturday morning in June, I’m standing in my backyard surrounded by $1,400 worth of pressure-treated lumber, I’ve watched approximately 47 YouTube tutorials, and I am absolutely, completely, catastrophically lost. I had gone into … Read more
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Let me set the scene. It’s a Tuesday evening in late September. My two teenagers are doing what teenagers do — one is upstairs watching something on a screen, the other is texting someone about something I’ll never fully understand. I’m … Read more
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. It was a Saturday evening in early October, the kind of night that practically begs you to light a fire. My neighbor Dave and I had just finished building a beautiful steel fire pit on my back patio — flagstone surface, … Read more
I want to tell you about the day I accidentally set my patio umbrella on fire. Not a metaphorical fire. An actual, “oh-no-the-fringe-is-definitely-melting” fire. It happened because I was determined to create the perfect fire pit table outdoor patio setup without really thinking through the whole “clearance above an open flame” situation. My husband watched … Read more
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Let me tell you about the night I nearly set my eyebrows on fire in front of twelve dinner guests. I had been going back and forth on the whole propane vs wood fire pit debate for months, and I finally … Read more
I still cringe when I think about the Saturday morning I stood in my backyard surrounded by a pile of mismatched stones, a crooked ring of bricks that looked like it had survived an earthquake, and a husband who was very diplomatically not saying “I told you so.” My grand plan to build a backyard … Read more