#homeimprovement — Public Fediverse posts

A black and grey bathroom fails when the black goes on the big surfaces. Keep the large areas grey, put black on the faucet, mirror frame and trim, and use one black finish throughout. Mixing matte black with oil rubbed bronze is what reads accidental.

https://www.omnihomeideas.com/design/interior/black-and-grey-bathroom-ideas/

#BathroomDesign #InteriorDesign #HomeImprovement

A black and grey bathroom fails when the black goes on the big surfaces. Keep the large areas grey, put black on the faucet, mirror frame and trim, and use one black finish throughout. Mixing matte black with oil rubbed bronze is what reads accidental.

https://www.omnihomeideas.com/design/interior/black-and-grey-bathroom-ideas/

#BathroomDesign #InteriorDesign #HomeImprovement

Home Improvement season three DVD I bought at Goodwill
#HomeImprovement #DVD #DVDCollector #GoodwillFinds #90s

VEVOR startet auf der IFA Berlin 2026 seinen Offline-Auftritt in Europa

VEVOR startet auf der IFA Berlin 2026 seinen Offline-Auftritt in Europa – erste europäische Filiale für 2027 in…
#EuropeSays #EU #Europa #Consumer&Cosmetics #ConsumerElectronics #FurnitureandFurnishings #HomeImprovement #Household #HouseholdProducts #Retail #TradeShowNews #VEVOR
https://www.europesays.com/europa/94209/

Myquillyn Smith’s New Book House Hushing Proves Minimalism Was Never the Point

Myquillyn Smith has a theory, and it’s a good one. Empty rooms don’t feel peaceful. They feel abandoned. In House Hushing: The Simple Method to Declutter and Decorate for a More Peaceful Home, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author known as The Nester argues that the decade-long push toward bare shelves and blank walls solved the wrong problem. Her fix isn’t less stuff for the sake of less stuff. It’s a nine-step process she calls backwards decluttering, and after spending real time with the method, I think she’s onto something most decluttering books miss entirely.

House Hushing hits shelves from Revell at 224 pages, and it lands at an odd moment for home content. TikTok is still pushing extreme minimalism. Pinterest is quietly swinging back toward maximalism and collected clutter. Smith splits the difference, and that’s exactly why House Hushing is worth taking seriously if you write about interiors, sell home products, or just can’t figure out why your living room feels loud even though you already donated three bags to Goodwill.

Does House Hushing Actually Work, or Is It Just Decluttering With Better Marketing?

Short answer: it works, but not for the reason the cover copy suggests. House Hushing isn’t a new decluttering philosophy so much as a new decluttering sequence. Every other method (KonMari, the 20/20 rule, minimalist purge challenges) asks you to decide what to remove before you’ve experienced the room without it. Smith flips that order. You remove first, live in the emptier room for two days, then decide. That single reversal is the entire mechanism, and it’s smarter than it sounds.

Here’s the part most reviews will skip: House Hushing only works because it removes the decision-making burden at the moment you’re least equipped to handle it. You’re not evaluating forty objects while standing in a cluttered room feeling overwhelmed. You’re evaluating four or five objects while standing in a calm one. That’s a real behavioral shift, not just a rebrand of purging.

What Backwards Decluttering Actually Means

Smith’s process runs through nine concrete steps, and none of them ask you to make a permanent decision until the very end. You pick one loud room and one holding area (a spare corner, a guest room, or wherever overflow can sit without you seeing it daily). You warn your household this is a two-day experiment, not a purge. Then you strip the surfaces, seating, and floors of loose items, leaving closets, big furniture, and art alone. That’s it for day one.

The genius move comes next. You don’t sort anything yet. You just live in the room. Eat lunch there. Let your kids do homework on the floor. Notice how it feels. Most decluttering books treat “living with less” as the reward at the end of the process. Smith treats it as the diagnostic tool that generates the data you need to make good calls later.

The Two-Day Threshold: The Book’s Smartest Idea

We’re calling this the Two-Day Threshold, our own shorthand for the mandatory waiting period Smith builds into the method. It’s not in the book by that name, but it deserves one, because it’s doing more psychological work than anything else in House Hushing. Two days is long enough to get past the “this looks so bare” panic and short enough that nobody in your house stages a revolt over a missing lamp.

Compare that to a one-afternoon purge, where every decision happens under time pressure, and regret hits three weeks later when you can’t find the thing you tossed. The Two-Day Threshold trades speed for accuracy. That trade is the whole book, honestly.

Quiet Decorating: Editing a Room’s Volume, Not Its Contents

Once the two days pass, Smith’s method asks a simple question: what actually earned its way back? We coined a term for this while working through the book: the Return on Object test, or ROO. It’s a quick gut check: did this item make the room better while it was gone, or did you simply not notice it was missing? Objects that pass ROO get to return. Everything else heads to a slower, calmer decision process instead of an instant “keep or toss” panic call.

This is where House Hushing separates itself from generic decorating advice. Smith isn’t telling you to buy fewer things. She’s telling you to rank the things you already own by how much they contribute, then let that ranking guide what stays visible.

Style Soulfully: The Difference Between Sentimental and Necessary

The soulful styling principle is where House Hushing pushes back hardest against sterile minimalism. Smith isn’t interested in a home that looks like nobody lives there. She wants rooms that hold real objects with real history, just fewer of them competing for attention at once. That distinction matters more than it sounds. A shelf with twelve trinkets reads as clutter. The same shelf with three, chosen with intention, reads as a story.

I’d push this idea further than the book does. Soulful styling only works if you’re honest about which objects actually carry meaning versus which ones you kept out of guilt or habit. House Hushing gives you the process to test that (the two days do the emotional heavy lifting), but it doesn’t fully prepare you for how uncomfortable that honesty gets around gifted items nobody actually likes.

Live Seasonally: Building a Rhythm Instead of a Reset

The fourth principle, living seasonally, is the least developed idea in the book and also the most quietly ambitious. Smith argues that a hushed home isn’t a one-time fix. It’s a rhythm you repeat as your life and the calendar shift. We’d call this the Seasonal Reset Rhythm, our term for treating house-hushing less like a spring-cleaning event and more like a recurring maintenance habit, the same way you’d rotate a wardrobe.

It’s a smart closing idea, but the book spends far less time on it than on backwards decluttering. If you’re hoping for a detailed seasonal calendar or room-by-room schedule, you won’t find one here. You’ll find a strong concept and a nudge to build your own system around it.

Where House Hushing Falls Short

No method is perfect, and House Hushing has a real limitation worth naming. It assumes you have a spare room or usable corner to act as a holding area. Anyone in a studio apartment or a genuinely small home is going to struggle to find that overflow space (what we’re calling the Overflow Buffer), and Smith doesn’t offer much of a workaround for tight square footage.

The book also leans heavily on emotional language over hard data. There’s no visual clutter scoring system, no way to measure a room’s “loudness” before and after. We built something like that ourselves while testing the method, a rough Visual Volume Index scored from one to ten based on surface density, color competition, and sightline clutter, and it made the before-and-after comparison far easier to talk about. House Hushing would benefit from something similar built in.

Who Should Actually Buy House Hushing?

This book earns its spot on a shelf if you’ve tried extreme minimalism and hated how your home felt afterward. It’s built for people who want less noise, not less personality. If you’re already a committed maximalist who loves visual density, House Hushing will feel restrictive. And if you’re chasing a single afternoon fix, the two-day waiting period will test your patience.

Frequently Asked Questions About House Hushing

What is House Hushing by Myquillyn Smith about?

House Hushing is a decluttering and decorating book built around a nine-step method called backwards decluttering. Instead of deciding what to remove up front, you strip a room down, live in it for two days, then decide what earns its way back based on how the space actually felt without it.

Is house-hushing the same as minimalism?

No. House-hushing explicitly rejects empty-room minimalism. Smith argues that peace comes from intention, not emptiness, and the goal is a home with personality and fewer competing objects, not a bare one.

How long does the house-hushing method take?

The core process runs about two days per room, plus a follow-up session to deal with the holding area. Smith designed it as a low-pressure experiment, not a weekend purge.

Who is Myquillyn Smith?

Myquillyn Smith, known online as The Nester, is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. House Hushing follows her earlier books, Cozy Minimalist Home, The Nesting Place, and House Rules.

Is house-hushing good for small apartments?

It works best when you have a spare room or corner to use as a holding area. Very small homes may need to get creative with where the removed items live during the two-day period.

Check out other reviews of art and design books here at WE AND THE COLOR.

Subscribe to our newsletter!

Myquillyn Smith’s New Book House Hushing Proves Minimalism Was Never the Point

Myquillyn Smith has a theory, and it’s a good one. Empty rooms don’t feel peaceful. They feel abandoned. In House Hushing: The Simple Method to Declutter and Decorate for a More Peaceful Home, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author known as The Nester argues that the decade-long push toward bare shelves and blank walls solved the wrong problem. Her fix isn’t less stuff for the sake of less stuff. It’s a nine-step process she calls backwards decluttering, and after spending real time with the method, I think she’s onto something most decluttering books miss entirely.

House Hushing hits shelves from Revell at 224 pages, and it lands at an odd moment for home content. TikTok is still pushing extreme minimalism. Pinterest is quietly swinging back toward maximalism and collected clutter. Smith splits the difference, and that’s exactly why House Hushing is worth taking seriously if you write about interiors, sell home products, or just can’t figure out why your living room feels loud even though you already donated three bags to Goodwill.

Does House Hushing Actually Work, or Is It Just Decluttering With Better Marketing?

Short answer: it works, but not for the reason the cover copy suggests. House Hushing isn’t a new decluttering philosophy so much as a new decluttering sequence. Every other method (KonMari, the 20/20 rule, minimalist purge challenges) asks you to decide what to remove before you’ve experienced the room without it. Smith flips that order. You remove first, live in the emptier room for two days, then decide. That single reversal is the entire mechanism, and it’s smarter than it sounds.

Here’s the part most reviews will skip: House Hushing only works because it removes the decision-making burden at the moment you’re least equipped to handle it. You’re not evaluating forty objects while standing in a cluttered room feeling overwhelmed. You’re evaluating four or five objects while standing in a calm one. That’s a real behavioral shift, not just a rebrand of purging.

What Backwards Decluttering Actually Means

Smith’s process runs through nine concrete steps, and none of them ask you to make a permanent decision until the very end. You pick one loud room and one holding area (a spare corner, a guest room, or wherever overflow can sit without you seeing it daily). You warn your household this is a two-day experiment, not a purge. Then you strip the surfaces, seating, and floors of loose items, leaving closets, big furniture, and art alone. That’s it for day one.

The genius move comes next. You don’t sort anything yet. You just live in the room. Eat lunch there. Let your kids do homework on the floor. Notice how it feels. Most decluttering books treat “living with less” as the reward at the end of the process. Smith treats it as the diagnostic tool that generates the data you need to make good calls later.

The Two-Day Threshold: The Book’s Smartest Idea

We’re calling this the Two-Day Threshold, our own shorthand for the mandatory waiting period Smith builds into the method. It’s not in the book by that name, but it deserves one, because it’s doing more psychological work than anything else in House Hushing. Two days is long enough to get past the “this looks so bare” panic and short enough that nobody in your house stages a revolt over a missing lamp.

Compare that to a one-afternoon purge, where every decision happens under time pressure, and regret hits three weeks later when you can’t find the thing you tossed. The Two-Day Threshold trades speed for accuracy. That trade is the whole book, honestly.

Quiet Decorating: Editing a Room’s Volume, Not Its Contents

Once the two days pass, Smith’s method asks a simple question: what actually earned its way back? We coined a term for this while working through the book: the Return on Object test, or ROO. It’s a quick gut check: did this item make the room better while it was gone, or did you simply not notice it was missing? Objects that pass ROO get to return. Everything else heads to a slower, calmer decision process instead of an instant “keep or toss” panic call.

This is where House Hushing separates itself from generic decorating advice. Smith isn’t telling you to buy fewer things. She’s telling you to rank the things you already own by how much they contribute, then let that ranking guide what stays visible.

Style Soulfully: The Difference Between Sentimental and Necessary

The soulful styling principle is where House Hushing pushes back hardest against sterile minimalism. Smith isn’t interested in a home that looks like nobody lives there. She wants rooms that hold real objects with real history, just fewer of them competing for attention at once. That distinction matters more than it sounds. A shelf with twelve trinkets reads as clutter. The same shelf with three, chosen with intention, reads as a story.

I’d push this idea further than the book does. Soulful styling only works if you’re honest about which objects actually carry meaning versus which ones you kept out of guilt or habit. House Hushing gives you the process to test that (the two days do the emotional heavy lifting), but it doesn’t fully prepare you for how uncomfortable that honesty gets around gifted items nobody actually likes.

Live Seasonally: Building a Rhythm Instead of a Reset

The fourth principle, living seasonally, is the least developed idea in the book and also the most quietly ambitious. Smith argues that a hushed home isn’t a one-time fix. It’s a rhythm you repeat as your life and the calendar shift. We’d call this the Seasonal Reset Rhythm, our term for treating house-hushing less like a spring-cleaning event and more like a recurring maintenance habit, the same way you’d rotate a wardrobe.

It’s a smart closing idea, but the book spends far less time on it than on backwards decluttering. If you’re hoping for a detailed seasonal calendar or room-by-room schedule, you won’t find one here. You’ll find a strong concept and a nudge to build your own system around it.

Where House Hushing Falls Short

No method is perfect, and House Hushing has a real limitation worth naming. It assumes you have a spare room or usable corner to act as a holding area. Anyone in a studio apartment or a genuinely small home is going to struggle to find that overflow space (what we’re calling the Overflow Buffer), and Smith doesn’t offer much of a workaround for tight square footage.

The book also leans heavily on emotional language over hard data. There’s no visual clutter scoring system, no way to measure a room’s “loudness” before and after. We built something like that ourselves while testing the method, a rough Visual Volume Index scored from one to ten based on surface density, color competition, and sightline clutter, and it made the before-and-after comparison far easier to talk about. House Hushing would benefit from something similar built in.

Who Should Actually Buy House Hushing?

This book earns its spot on a shelf if you’ve tried extreme minimalism and hated how your home felt afterward. It’s built for people who want less noise, not less personality. If you’re already a committed maximalist who loves visual density, House Hushing will feel restrictive. And if you’re chasing a single afternoon fix, the two-day waiting period will test your patience.

Frequently Asked Questions About House Hushing

What is House Hushing by Myquillyn Smith about?

House Hushing is a decluttering and decorating book built around a nine-step method called backwards decluttering. Instead of deciding what to remove up front, you strip a room down, live in it for two days, then decide what earns its way back based on how the space actually felt without it.

Is house-hushing the same as minimalism?

No. House-hushing explicitly rejects empty-room minimalism. Smith argues that peace comes from intention, not emptiness, and the goal is a home with personality and fewer competing objects, not a bare one.

How long does the house-hushing method take?

The core process runs about two days per room, plus a follow-up session to deal with the holding area. Smith designed it as a low-pressure experiment, not a weekend purge.

Who is Myquillyn Smith?

Myquillyn Smith, known online as The Nester, is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. House Hushing follows her earlier books, Cozy Minimalist Home, The Nesting Place, and House Rules.

Is house-hushing good for small apartments?

It works best when you have a spare room or corner to use as a holding area. Very small homes may need to get creative with where the removed items live during the two-day period.

Check out other reviews of art and design books here at WE AND THE COLOR.

Subscribe to our newsletter!

Myquillyn Smith’s New Book House Hushing Proves Minimalism Was Never the Point

Myquillyn Smith has a theory, and it’s a good one. Empty rooms don’t feel peaceful. They feel abandoned. In House Hushing: The Simple Method to Declutter and Decorate for a More Peaceful Home, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author known as The Nester argues that the decade-long push toward bare shelves and blank walls solved the wrong problem. Her fix isn’t less stuff for the sake of less stuff. It’s a nine-step process she calls backwards decluttering, and after spending real time with the method, I think she’s onto something most decluttering books miss entirely.

House Hushing hits shelves from Revell at 224 pages, and it lands at an odd moment for home content. TikTok is still pushing extreme minimalism. Pinterest is quietly swinging back toward maximalism and collected clutter. Smith splits the difference, and that’s exactly why House Hushing is worth taking seriously if you write about interiors, sell home products, or just can’t figure out why your living room feels loud even though you already donated three bags to Goodwill.

Does House Hushing Actually Work, or Is It Just Decluttering With Better Marketing?

Short answer: it works, but not for the reason the cover copy suggests. House Hushing isn’t a new decluttering philosophy so much as a new decluttering sequence. Every other method (KonMari, the 20/20 rule, minimalist purge challenges) asks you to decide what to remove before you’ve experienced the room without it. Smith flips that order. You remove first, live in the emptier room for two days, then decide. That single reversal is the entire mechanism, and it’s smarter than it sounds.

Here’s the part most reviews will skip: House Hushing only works because it removes the decision-making burden at the moment you’re least equipped to handle it. You’re not evaluating forty objects while standing in a cluttered room feeling overwhelmed. You’re evaluating four or five objects while standing in a calm one. That’s a real behavioral shift, not just a rebrand of purging.

What Backwards Decluttering Actually Means

Smith’s process runs through nine concrete steps, and none of them ask you to make a permanent decision until the very end. You pick one loud room and one holding area (a spare corner, a guest room, or wherever overflow can sit without you seeing it daily). You warn your household this is a two-day experiment, not a purge. Then you strip the surfaces, seating, and floors of loose items, leaving closets, big furniture, and art alone. That’s it for day one.

The genius move comes next. You don’t sort anything yet. You just live in the room. Eat lunch there. Let your kids do homework on the floor. Notice how it feels. Most decluttering books treat “living with less” as the reward at the end of the process. Smith treats it as the diagnostic tool that generates the data you need to make good calls later.

The Two-Day Threshold: The Book’s Smartest Idea

We’re calling this the Two-Day Threshold, our own shorthand for the mandatory waiting period Smith builds into the method. It’s not in the book by that name, but it deserves one, because it’s doing more psychological work than anything else in House Hushing. Two days is long enough to get past the “this looks so bare” panic and short enough that nobody in your house stages a revolt over a missing lamp.

Compare that to a one-afternoon purge, where every decision happens under time pressure, and regret hits three weeks later when you can’t find the thing you tossed. The Two-Day Threshold trades speed for accuracy. That trade is the whole book, honestly.

Quiet Decorating: Editing a Room’s Volume, Not Its Contents

Once the two days pass, Smith’s method asks a simple question: what actually earned its way back? We coined a term for this while working through the book: the Return on Object test, or ROO. It’s a quick gut check: did this item make the room better while it was gone, or did you simply not notice it was missing? Objects that pass ROO get to return. Everything else heads to a slower, calmer decision process instead of an instant “keep or toss” panic call.

This is where House Hushing separates itself from generic decorating advice. Smith isn’t telling you to buy fewer things. She’s telling you to rank the things you already own by how much they contribute, then let that ranking guide what stays visible.

Style Soulfully: The Difference Between Sentimental and Necessary

The soulful styling principle is where House Hushing pushes back hardest against sterile minimalism. Smith isn’t interested in a home that looks like nobody lives there. She wants rooms that hold real objects with real history, just fewer of them competing for attention at once. That distinction matters more than it sounds. A shelf with twelve trinkets reads as clutter. The same shelf with three, chosen with intention, reads as a story.

I’d push this idea further than the book does. Soulful styling only works if you’re honest about which objects actually carry meaning versus which ones you kept out of guilt or habit. House Hushing gives you the process to test that (the two days do the emotional heavy lifting), but it doesn’t fully prepare you for how uncomfortable that honesty gets around gifted items nobody actually likes.

Live Seasonally: Building a Rhythm Instead of a Reset

The fourth principle, living seasonally, is the least developed idea in the book and also the most quietly ambitious. Smith argues that a hushed home isn’t a one-time fix. It’s a rhythm you repeat as your life and the calendar shift. We’d call this the Seasonal Reset Rhythm, our term for treating house-hushing less like a spring-cleaning event and more like a recurring maintenance habit, the same way you’d rotate a wardrobe.

It’s a smart closing idea, but the book spends far less time on it than on backwards decluttering. If you’re hoping for a detailed seasonal calendar or room-by-room schedule, you won’t find one here. You’ll find a strong concept and a nudge to build your own system around it.

Where House Hushing Falls Short

No method is perfect, and House Hushing has a real limitation worth naming. It assumes you have a spare room or usable corner to act as a holding area. Anyone in a studio apartment or a genuinely small home is going to struggle to find that overflow space (what we’re calling the Overflow Buffer), and Smith doesn’t offer much of a workaround for tight square footage.

The book also leans heavily on emotional language over hard data. There’s no visual clutter scoring system, no way to measure a room’s “loudness” before and after. We built something like that ourselves while testing the method, a rough Visual Volume Index scored from one to ten based on surface density, color competition, and sightline clutter, and it made the before-and-after comparison far easier to talk about. House Hushing would benefit from something similar built in.

Who Should Actually Buy House Hushing?

This book earns its spot on a shelf if you’ve tried extreme minimalism and hated how your home felt afterward. It’s built for people who want less noise, not less personality. If you’re already a committed maximalist who loves visual density, House Hushing will feel restrictive. And if you’re chasing a single afternoon fix, the two-day waiting period will test your patience.

Frequently Asked Questions About House Hushing

What is House Hushing by Myquillyn Smith about?

House Hushing is a decluttering and decorating book built around a nine-step method called backwards decluttering. Instead of deciding what to remove up front, you strip a room down, live in it for two days, then decide what earns its way back based on how the space actually felt without it.

Is house-hushing the same as minimalism?

No. House-hushing explicitly rejects empty-room minimalism. Smith argues that peace comes from intention, not emptiness, and the goal is a home with personality and fewer competing objects, not a bare one.

How long does the house-hushing method take?

The core process runs about two days per room, plus a follow-up session to deal with the holding area. Smith designed it as a low-pressure experiment, not a weekend purge.

Who is Myquillyn Smith?

Myquillyn Smith, known online as The Nester, is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. House Hushing follows her earlier books, Cozy Minimalist Home, The Nesting Place, and House Rules.

Is house-hushing good for small apartments?

It works best when you have a spare room or corner to use as a holding area. Very small homes may need to get creative with where the removed items live during the two-day period.

Check out other reviews of art and design books here at WE AND THE COLOR.

Subscribe to our newsletter!

Myquillyn Smith’s New Book House Hushing Proves Minimalism Was Never the Point

Myquillyn Smith has a theory, and it’s a good one. Empty rooms don’t feel peaceful. They feel abandoned. In House Hushing: The Simple Method to Declutter and Decorate for a More Peaceful Home, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author known as The Nester argues that the decade-long push toward bare shelves and blank walls solved the wrong problem. Her fix isn’t less stuff for the sake of less stuff. It’s a nine-step process she calls backwards decluttering, and after spending real time with the method, I think she’s onto something most decluttering books miss entirely.

House Hushing hits shelves from Revell at 224 pages, and it lands at an odd moment for home content. TikTok is still pushing extreme minimalism. Pinterest is quietly swinging back toward maximalism and collected clutter. Smith splits the difference, and that’s exactly why House Hushing is worth taking seriously if you write about interiors, sell home products, or just can’t figure out why your living room feels loud even though you already donated three bags to Goodwill.

Does House Hushing Actually Work, or Is It Just Decluttering With Better Marketing?

Short answer: it works, but not for the reason the cover copy suggests. House Hushing isn’t a new decluttering philosophy so much as a new decluttering sequence. Every other method (KonMari, the 20/20 rule, minimalist purge challenges) asks you to decide what to remove before you’ve experienced the room without it. Smith flips that order. You remove first, live in the emptier room for two days, then decide. That single reversal is the entire mechanism, and it’s smarter than it sounds.

Here’s the part most reviews will skip: House Hushing only works because it removes the decision-making burden at the moment you’re least equipped to handle it. You’re not evaluating forty objects while standing in a cluttered room feeling overwhelmed. You’re evaluating four or five objects while standing in a calm one. That’s a real behavioral shift, not just a rebrand of purging.

What Backwards Decluttering Actually Means

Smith’s process runs through nine concrete steps, and none of them ask you to make a permanent decision until the very end. You pick one loud room and one holding area (a spare corner, a guest room, or wherever overflow can sit without you seeing it daily). You warn your household this is a two-day experiment, not a purge. Then you strip the surfaces, seating, and floors of loose items, leaving closets, big furniture, and art alone. That’s it for day one.

The genius move comes next. You don’t sort anything yet. You just live in the room. Eat lunch there. Let your kids do homework on the floor. Notice how it feels. Most decluttering books treat “living with less” as the reward at the end of the process. Smith treats it as the diagnostic tool that generates the data you need to make good calls later.

The Two-Day Threshold: The Book’s Smartest Idea

We’re calling this the Two-Day Threshold, our own shorthand for the mandatory waiting period Smith builds into the method. It’s not in the book by that name, but it deserves one, because it’s doing more psychological work than anything else in House Hushing. Two days is long enough to get past the “this looks so bare” panic and short enough that nobody in your house stages a revolt over a missing lamp.

Compare that to a one-afternoon purge, where every decision happens under time pressure, and regret hits three weeks later when you can’t find the thing you tossed. The Two-Day Threshold trades speed for accuracy. That trade is the whole book, honestly.

Quiet Decorating: Editing a Room’s Volume, Not Its Contents

Once the two days pass, Smith’s method asks a simple question: what actually earned its way back? We coined a term for this while working through the book: the Return on Object test, or ROO. It’s a quick gut check: did this item make the room better while it was gone, or did you simply not notice it was missing? Objects that pass ROO get to return. Everything else heads to a slower, calmer decision process instead of an instant “keep or toss” panic call.

This is where House Hushing separates itself from generic decorating advice. Smith isn’t telling you to buy fewer things. She’s telling you to rank the things you already own by how much they contribute, then let that ranking guide what stays visible.

Style Soulfully: The Difference Between Sentimental and Necessary

The soulful styling principle is where House Hushing pushes back hardest against sterile minimalism. Smith isn’t interested in a home that looks like nobody lives there. She wants rooms that hold real objects with real history, just fewer of them competing for attention at once. That distinction matters more than it sounds. A shelf with twelve trinkets reads as clutter. The same shelf with three, chosen with intention, reads as a story.

I’d push this idea further than the book does. Soulful styling only works if you’re honest about which objects actually carry meaning versus which ones you kept out of guilt or habit. House Hushing gives you the process to test that (the two days do the emotional heavy lifting), but it doesn’t fully prepare you for how uncomfortable that honesty gets around gifted items nobody actually likes.

Live Seasonally: Building a Rhythm Instead of a Reset

The fourth principle, living seasonally, is the least developed idea in the book and also the most quietly ambitious. Smith argues that a hushed home isn’t a one-time fix. It’s a rhythm you repeat as your life and the calendar shift. We’d call this the Seasonal Reset Rhythm, our term for treating house-hushing less like a spring-cleaning event and more like a recurring maintenance habit, the same way you’d rotate a wardrobe.

It’s a smart closing idea, but the book spends far less time on it than on backwards decluttering. If you’re hoping for a detailed seasonal calendar or room-by-room schedule, you won’t find one here. You’ll find a strong concept and a nudge to build your own system around it.

Where House Hushing Falls Short

No method is perfect, and House Hushing has a real limitation worth naming. It assumes you have a spare room or usable corner to act as a holding area. Anyone in a studio apartment or a genuinely small home is going to struggle to find that overflow space (what we’re calling the Overflow Buffer), and Smith doesn’t offer much of a workaround for tight square footage.

The book also leans heavily on emotional language over hard data. There’s no visual clutter scoring system, no way to measure a room’s “loudness” before and after. We built something like that ourselves while testing the method, a rough Visual Volume Index scored from one to ten based on surface density, color competition, and sightline clutter, and it made the before-and-after comparison far easier to talk about. House Hushing would benefit from something similar built in.

Who Should Actually Buy House Hushing?

This book earns its spot on a shelf if you’ve tried extreme minimalism and hated how your home felt afterward. It’s built for people who want less noise, not less personality. If you’re already a committed maximalist who loves visual density, House Hushing will feel restrictive. And if you’re chasing a single afternoon fix, the two-day waiting period will test your patience.

Frequently Asked Questions About House Hushing

What is House Hushing by Myquillyn Smith about?

House Hushing is a decluttering and decorating book built around a nine-step method called backwards decluttering. Instead of deciding what to remove up front, you strip a room down, live in it for two days, then decide what earns its way back based on how the space actually felt without it.

Is house-hushing the same as minimalism?

No. House-hushing explicitly rejects empty-room minimalism. Smith argues that peace comes from intention, not emptiness, and the goal is a home with personality and fewer competing objects, not a bare one.

How long does the house-hushing method take?

The core process runs about two days per room, plus a follow-up session to deal with the holding area. Smith designed it as a low-pressure experiment, not a weekend purge.

Who is Myquillyn Smith?

Myquillyn Smith, known online as The Nester, is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. House Hushing follows her earlier books, Cozy Minimalist Home, The Nesting Place, and House Rules.

Is house-hushing good for small apartments?

It works best when you have a spare room or corner to use as a holding area. Very small homes may need to get creative with where the removed items live during the two-day period.

Check out other reviews of art and design books here at WE AND THE COLOR.

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Myquillyn Smith’s New Book House Hushing Proves Minimalism Was Never the Point

Myquillyn Smith has a theory, and it’s a good one. Empty rooms don’t feel peaceful. They feel abandoned. In House Hushing: The Simple Method to Declutter and Decorate for a More Peaceful Home, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author known as The Nester argues that the decade-long push toward bare shelves and blank walls solved the wrong problem. Her fix isn’t less stuff for the sake of less stuff. It’s a nine-step process she calls backwards decluttering, and after spending real time with the method, I think she’s onto something most decluttering books miss entirely.

House Hushing hits shelves from Revell at 224 pages, and it lands at an odd moment for home content. TikTok is still pushing extreme minimalism. Pinterest is quietly swinging back toward maximalism and collected clutter. Smith splits the difference, and that’s exactly why House Hushing is worth taking seriously if you write about interiors, sell home products, or just can’t figure out why your living room feels loud even though you already donated three bags to Goodwill.

Does House Hushing Actually Work, or Is It Just Decluttering With Better Marketing?

Short answer: it works, but not for the reason the cover copy suggests. House Hushing isn’t a new decluttering philosophy so much as a new decluttering sequence. Every other method (KonMari, the 20/20 rule, minimalist purge challenges) asks you to decide what to remove before you’ve experienced the room without it. Smith flips that order. You remove first, live in the emptier room for two days, then decide. That single reversal is the entire mechanism, and it’s smarter than it sounds.

Here’s the part most reviews will skip: House Hushing only works because it removes the decision-making burden at the moment you’re least equipped to handle it. You’re not evaluating forty objects while standing in a cluttered room feeling overwhelmed. You’re evaluating four or five objects while standing in a calm one. That’s a real behavioral shift, not just a rebrand of purging.

What Backwards Decluttering Actually Means

Smith’s process runs through nine concrete steps, and none of them ask you to make a permanent decision until the very end. You pick one loud room and one holding area (a spare corner, a guest room, or wherever overflow can sit without you seeing it daily). You warn your household this is a two-day experiment, not a purge. Then you strip the surfaces, seating, and floors of loose items, leaving closets, big furniture, and art alone. That’s it for day one.

The genius move comes next. You don’t sort anything yet. You just live in the room. Eat lunch there. Let your kids do homework on the floor. Notice how it feels. Most decluttering books treat “living with less” as the reward at the end of the process. Smith treats it as the diagnostic tool that generates the data you need to make good calls later.

The Two-Day Threshold: The Book’s Smartest Idea

We’re calling this the Two-Day Threshold, our own shorthand for the mandatory waiting period Smith builds into the method. It’s not in the book by that name, but it deserves one, because it’s doing more psychological work than anything else in House Hushing. Two days is long enough to get past the “this looks so bare” panic and short enough that nobody in your house stages a revolt over a missing lamp.

Compare that to a one-afternoon purge, where every decision happens under time pressure, and regret hits three weeks later when you can’t find the thing you tossed. The Two-Day Threshold trades speed for accuracy. That trade is the whole book, honestly.

Quiet Decorating: Editing a Room’s Volume, Not Its Contents

Once the two days pass, Smith’s method asks a simple question: what actually earned its way back? We coined a term for this while working through the book: the Return on Object test, or ROO. It’s a quick gut check: did this item make the room better while it was gone, or did you simply not notice it was missing? Objects that pass ROO get to return. Everything else heads to a slower, calmer decision process instead of an instant “keep or toss” panic call.

This is where House Hushing separates itself from generic decorating advice. Smith isn’t telling you to buy fewer things. She’s telling you to rank the things you already own by how much they contribute, then let that ranking guide what stays visible.

Style Soulfully: The Difference Between Sentimental and Necessary

The soulful styling principle is where House Hushing pushes back hardest against sterile minimalism. Smith isn’t interested in a home that looks like nobody lives there. She wants rooms that hold real objects with real history, just fewer of them competing for attention at once. That distinction matters more than it sounds. A shelf with twelve trinkets reads as clutter. The same shelf with three, chosen with intention, reads as a story.

I’d push this idea further than the book does. Soulful styling only works if you’re honest about which objects actually carry meaning versus which ones you kept out of guilt or habit. House Hushing gives you the process to test that (the two days do the emotional heavy lifting), but it doesn’t fully prepare you for how uncomfortable that honesty gets around gifted items nobody actually likes.

Live Seasonally: Building a Rhythm Instead of a Reset

The fourth principle, living seasonally, is the least developed idea in the book and also the most quietly ambitious. Smith argues that a hushed home isn’t a one-time fix. It’s a rhythm you repeat as your life and the calendar shift. We’d call this the Seasonal Reset Rhythm, our term for treating house-hushing less like a spring-cleaning event and more like a recurring maintenance habit, the same way you’d rotate a wardrobe.

It’s a smart closing idea, but the book spends far less time on it than on backwards decluttering. If you’re hoping for a detailed seasonal calendar or room-by-room schedule, you won’t find one here. You’ll find a strong concept and a nudge to build your own system around it.

Where House Hushing Falls Short

No method is perfect, and House Hushing has a real limitation worth naming. It assumes you have a spare room or usable corner to act as a holding area. Anyone in a studio apartment or a genuinely small home is going to struggle to find that overflow space (what we’re calling the Overflow Buffer), and Smith doesn’t offer much of a workaround for tight square footage.

The book also leans heavily on emotional language over hard data. There’s no visual clutter scoring system, no way to measure a room’s “loudness” before and after. We built something like that ourselves while testing the method, a rough Visual Volume Index scored from one to ten based on surface density, color competition, and sightline clutter, and it made the before-and-after comparison far easier to talk about. House Hushing would benefit from something similar built in.

Who Should Actually Buy House Hushing?

This book earns its spot on a shelf if you’ve tried extreme minimalism and hated how your home felt afterward. It’s built for people who want less noise, not less personality. If you’re already a committed maximalist who loves visual density, House Hushing will feel restrictive. And if you’re chasing a single afternoon fix, the two-day waiting period will test your patience.

Frequently Asked Questions About House Hushing

What is House Hushing by Myquillyn Smith about?

House Hushing is a decluttering and decorating book built around a nine-step method called backwards decluttering. Instead of deciding what to remove up front, you strip a room down, live in it for two days, then decide what earns its way back based on how the space actually felt without it.

Is house-hushing the same as minimalism?

No. House-hushing explicitly rejects empty-room minimalism. Smith argues that peace comes from intention, not emptiness, and the goal is a home with personality and fewer competing objects, not a bare one.

How long does the house-hushing method take?

The core process runs about two days per room, plus a follow-up session to deal with the holding area. Smith designed it as a low-pressure experiment, not a weekend purge.

Who is Myquillyn Smith?

Myquillyn Smith, known online as The Nester, is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. House Hushing follows her earlier books, Cozy Minimalist Home, The Nesting Place, and House Rules.

Is house-hushing good for small apartments?

It works best when you have a spare room or corner to use as a holding area. Very small homes may need to get creative with where the removed items live during the two-day period.

Check out other reviews of art and design books here at WE AND THE COLOR.

Subscribe to our newsletter!

The trick with a black and gold bathroom is knowing where the gold goes. Put it on the metal you touch, so faucets, hardware and lighting, and let black carry the tile and cabinetry. Three materials total. Past that it stops looking expensive and starts looking staged.

https://www.omnihomeideas.com/design/interior/black-and-gold-bathroom-ideas/

#InteriorDesign #BathroomDesign #HomeImprovement

The trick with a black and gold bathroom is knowing where the gold goes. Put it on the metal you touch, so faucets, hardware and lighting, and let black carry the tile and cabinetry. Three materials total. Past that it stops looking expensive and starts looking staged.

https://www.omnihomeideas.com/design/interior/black-and-gold-bathroom-ideas/

#InteriorDesign #BathroomDesign #HomeImprovement

So.. Had a week of what I candidly refer to as "mental hygiene week", and it's been very rewarding. We're paying to get a new bathroom built, but being the cheapskate I am, I'm doing some work myself. Today, on the last day of my "fuck all of you fucking bastards" vacation, I finished my part. Ceiling has been torn down and refitted with proper moister-whatnot membrane and electricity tubes have been put in the walls. Why tubes and not cables? Because my dad was en electrician, and damn you, PVC pipes are better than cables, because what the fuck are ypu going to do when you drill into a cable? Anyhoo. Work's done.

#diy #homeimprovement

So.. Had a week of what I candidly refer to as "mental hygiene week", and it's been very rewarding. We're paying to get a new bathroom built, but being the cheapskate I am, I'm doing some work myself. Today, on the last day of my "fuck all of you fucking bastards" vacation, I finished my part. Ceiling has been torn down and refitted with proper moister-whatnot membrane and electricity tubes have been put in the walls. Why tubes and not cables? Because my dad was en electrician, and damn you, PVC pipes are better than cables, because what the fuck are ypu going to do when you drill into a cable? Anyhoo. Work's done.

#diy #homeimprovement

So.. Had a week of what I candidly refer to as "mental hygiene week", and it's been very rewarding. We're paying to get a new bathroom built, but being the cheapskate I am, I'm doing some work myself. Today, on the last day of my "fuck all of you fucking bastards" vacation, I finished my part. Ceiling has been torn down and refitted with proper moister-whatnot membrane and electricity tubes have been put in the walls. Why tubes and not cables? Because my dad was en electrician, and damn you, PVC pipes are better than cables, because what the fuck are ypu going to do when you drill into a cable? Anyhoo. Work's done.

#diy #homeimprovement

So.. Had a week of what I candidly refer to as "mental hygiene week", and it's been very rewarding. We're paying to get a new bathroom built, but being the cheapskate I am, I'm doing some work myself. Today, on the last day of my "fuck all of you fucking bastards" vacation, I finished my part. Ceiling has been torn down and refitted with proper moister-whatnot membrane and electricity tubes have been put in the walls. Why tubes and not cables? Because my dad was en electrician, and damn you, PVC pipes are better than cables, because what the fuck are ypu going to do when you drill into a cable? Anyhoo. Work's done.

#diy #homeimprovement

So.. Had a week of what I candidly refer to as "mental hygiene week", and it's been very rewarding. We're paying to get a new bathroom built, but being the cheapskate I am, I'm doing some work myself. Today, on the last day of my "fuck all of you fucking bastards" vacation, I finished my part. Ceiling has been torn down and refitted with proper moister-whatnot membrane and electricity tubes have been put in the walls. Why tubes and not cables? Because my dad was en electrician, and damn you, PVC pipes are better than cables, because what the fuck are ypu going to do when you drill into a cable? Anyhoo. Work's done.

#diy #homeimprovement

I'm between clients at the moment, for the first time in the 11 years I've been consulting. Well, technically a contract with a new client was signed before I left the previous one, I just very explicitly needed a little time off to reset.

It's just one week, and I've been keeping busy. Early hours have been spent digging into the finer details of designing and building a self hosted CI/CD solution based on #WoodpeckerCI, #Forgejo and #Harbor running on #Kubernetes.

Evenings are spent on the couch, watching reruns of #Farscape or #DeathInParadise.

I between? Well, we bought a house from the late #60s and decided to make a new bathroom on the second floor. We're getting the pros to pour a new heated concrete floor, but I'm doing a lot of the other stuff. Right now, that means rebuilding the ceiling and fixing electricity. It's a super messy, sweaty and itchy job, but very fulfilling.

I'm calling this my #metalhygiene week.

#diy #homeimprovement

Quality Shutters, Made in the UK — Now With Klarna

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.goodnewspost.co.uk/quality-shutters-made-in-the-uk-now-with-klarna/

I ain’t the handiest motherfucker around, but I’m getting pretty good at doing things cheaply.

#handy #homeimprovement

Hacking IKEA Furniture

https://greenlightning.eu/diy/hacking-ikea-furniture/

Comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49497810

#HackerNews #Hacking #IKEA #Furniture #DIYFurniture #HackYourIKEA #HomeImprovement #CreativeProjects

#BathME - #HabitatReStores: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

"Habitat for Humanity/7 Rivers Maine is a locally governed non-profit organization addressing the housing needs of low income families. We are an affiliate of #HabitatForHumanity International founded in 1991 by a passionate group of volunteers. Our service area includes Lincoln and Sagadahoc Counties and the towns of Brunswick and #HarpswellME.

Proceeds from the ReStore support our affordable housing programs. In addition to selling affordable home improvement products to the public, the resale of unwanted building materials, appliances, furniture, and other items prevents tons of waste ending up in landfills each year.

Whether you are renovating an existing home, furnishing a new room, making repairs, or need supplies for a new craft project, stop by the Habitat ReStore to shop for your materials and supplies!"

Bath Shopping Center
1 Chandler Drive.
Bath, ME 04530

Open to the Public
Tuesday – Saturday
10:00am – 5:00pm

Donation Drop Offs
10:00am – 3:00pm

Closed on Sunday & Monday

https://habitat7rivers.org/restore

#SolarPunkSunday #ReduceWaste #Reuse #ReduceReuseRecycle #ReStores #HomeImprovement

I've had my tv, and thus its remote for about nine years now. How has it taken me THIS LONG to remove the "netflix", "amazon prime" and "rakuten" buttons?!?

I've had this so long I had to look up pictures of my model to be sure I disabled the correct buttons. Even though I keep accedentally pressing them all the time 🤣

#remote #mod #homeimprovement

I have always been interested in learning practical ways to improve and maintain properties, and exploring home improvement topics has helped me discover valuable ideas and solutions. From renovation tips to construction techniques and maintenance advice, I enjoy gaining knowledge from experienced professionals and fellow homeowners. These insights have helped me better understand building materials, landscaping.

#introduction #HomeImprovement #HomeRenovation

The last few days have been a tiring blur of damage control, repairs and way too many waterproofing products.

https://www.arnan.me/damage-control

#diy #home #renovation #homeimprovement #work #rain #weather

Also, local store is sold out. #HomeImprovement #BackToTheStore

Building a backyard office, the build and cost breakdown

https://www.imkylelambert.com/articles/building-a-backyard-office-the-build-and-cost-breakdown

Comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49434645

#HackerNews #backyardoffice #homeimprovement #costbreakdown #DIYprojects #remoteoffice

Melissa turned on the kitchen faucet this evening and the base split in half. Though the outside showed no damage the inside was eaten away. It was installed 13 years ago and a budget model so we got our money's worth. We picked up a new Delta detachable sprayer, non touch model. After a few curses it's installed and working. My thumb arthritis is acting up which didn't help. Not how I planned spending Monday evening but it was productive.

Have a wonderful night!

#DIY #homeimprovement

Learn the ideal residential elevator pit depth, safety requirements, installation tips, and expert guidance for smooth, reliable, and long-lasting elevator performance.

https://atticoelevators.wordpress.com/2026/08/04/home-elevator-space-requirements-minimum-shaft-size-pit-depth-headroom-explained

#homeelevator #residentialelevator #pitdepth #homelift #elevatorinstallation #elevatorsafety #residentiallift #modernhomes #homeimprovement #atticoelevators

How to Mount a Balcony Awning

https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2025/07/how-to-mount-a-balcony-awning/

Comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49048728

#HackerNews #balconyawning #homeimprovement #DIYtips #outdoorliving #solarenergy

Floor of the shed coop is done ^_^ working on back wall next.

#building #framing #shed #homeimprovement #construction #backyardchickens #chickens

We Turned Our Front Entrance into a Vibrant Vegetable Garden

#FrontGarden #VegetableGarden #GardenMakeover #DIYGarden #RaisedBeds #HomeGarden #Gardening #BeforeAfter #GardenTransformation #OutdoorLiving #GrowYourOwn #KitchenGarden #SmallGarden #GardenInspiration #HomeImprovement
#dining #cooking #diet #food #VegetableGardening #VegetableGarden #VegetableGardenVideos #VegetableGardeningVideos
https://www.diningandcooking.com/2728579/we-turned-our-front-entrance-into-a-vibrant-vegetable-garden/

Maryland Fall Home & Garden + Craft Show returning in October https://www.allforgardening.com/1878071/maryland-fall-home-garden-craft-show-returning-in-october/ #crafter's #diy #FamilyActivities #garden #HolidaySeason #HomeImprovement #landscaping #MaineCabinMasters #MakersMarket #MarylandStateFairgrounds #OutdoorLiving #PettingZoo #TheMarylandFallHome&Garden+CraftShow

🌿 Imagine swapping out your weathered wood deck for something that stands the test of time!

Composite decking materials provide an ideal blend of aesthetics and practicality, making outdoor areas welcoming and functional.

https://ukpavingtalkgroup.com/go/cc6d

#CompositeDecking #OutdoorLiving #EcoFriendly #HomeImprovement #GardeningLife #LowMaintenance #DeckingSolutions

“From Dirty Corner to Dream Garden 😍🌿 | So Satisfying!”#usa #gardendesign #shorts #shortsfeed https://www.allforgardening.com/1704652/from-dirty-corner-to-dream-garden-%f0%9f%98%8d%f0%9f%8c%bf-so-satisfyingusa-gardendesign-shorts-shortsfeed/ ##ytshorts #AestheticGarden #BackyardIdeas #BackyardMakeover #BeforeAndAfter #BudgetGardenIdeas #CleanUpTransformation #DiyBackyard #DiyGarden #GardenDécor #GardenDesign #GardenMakeover #GardenTransformation #Home&Garden #HomeImprovement #LandscapingIdeas #OddlySatisfying #RelaxingVideo #SatisfyingVideo #SmallGardenIdeas #TransformationShorts #UsaShorts #ViralShorts #ViralUsa

Here is a list of Screw Types

#ScrewDrives #DIY #HomeImprovement #Tools #Handyman #Crafts #Woodworking #Engineering #Hardware #ToolLovers #DIYCommunity #SlottedScrew #PhillipsScrew #PozidrivScrew #HexSocketScrew #AllenScrew #HexScrew #TorxScrew #StarScrew #SquareScrew #RobertsonScrew #HexagonScrew #Hexagon #SecurityHex #SecurityHexScrew #SecurityTorxScrew #SecurityTorx #Screw

🪛 🔧 What's your favorite screw drive type? 🔧

Whether you're a DIY enthusiast or a professional, share your go-to screw drive in the comments below! 💬

If your favorite isn't listed, let us know what it is. The more the merrier! 😊

#ScrewDrives #DIY #HomeImprovement #Tools #Handyman #Crafts #Woodworking #Engineering #Hardware #ToolLovers #DIYCommunity #SlottedScrew #PhillipsScrew #PozidrivScrew #HexSocketScrew #AllenScrew #HexScrew #TorxScrew #StarScrew #SquareScrew #RobertsonScrew #HexagonScrew #Hexagon #SecurityHex #SecurityHexScrew #SecurityTorxScrew #SecurityTorx #Screw @gutocarvalho

Wednesday marked a personal milestone that I had to research before gracing it with a calendar entry: Twenty years earlier, my wife and I moved into the house that we still occupy today.

Signing the papers for that 1920 bungalow represented a step into the real-estate unknown in 2004. A few months earlier, realizing that the condo I’d bought four years earlier had appreciated to almost double that purchase price, it had seemed sensible at least to see what was on the market nearby–and after visiting 10 properties, one with a big old front porch and what we thought was well-renovated kitchen seemed like it would fit into our budget and provide just enough room for a family.

So we considered the reality of housing not getting any cheaper around here and chose to take the step that turned out to be more of a leap.

We didn’t want to move anytime soon afterwards–I hate moving so much–two of us became three of us, the seasons rolled on by, and at a point I didn’t even think to look up in 2019, our tenure in this house surpassed the 15 years or so that I had spent in my childhood home.

An equally unknown date in 2020 marked our home’s presumptive 100th birthday (“presumptive” meaning that the property-tax records that aren’t specific on the construction date could have the year wrong too). But the pandemic that gave us so much around-the-house time meant we couldn’t properly celebate our abode achieving century-home status anyway.

Another four years have elapsed, during which I have begun to enjoy seeing how much the balance on the mortgage drops with each payment, and here we are.

We’ve shaped the house in our own ways, repainting it on the inside and out while making minor and major repairs and improvements that in 2008 turned a shoebox of a room upstairs into a legitimate home office and this winter finally gave us a new kitchen. And it’s shaped us, turning me in particular into not just a cook but a baker and occasional homebrewer and providing me with a much bigger canvas for my gardening than the condo’s balcony (alas, I still suck at growing tomatoes).

The neighborhood, meanwhile, has advanced immensely as buildings have continued to sprout around the two closest Metro stops while Arlington continues to carve out more room along our streets for pedestrians and cyclists. It’s not always clear that individual blocks near us have improved as much when homes looking like ours keep getting torn down and replaced by McMansions–but I know one address where that’s not going to happen anytime soon.

https://robpegoraro.com/2024/07/20/twenty-years-is-a-long-time-in-one-house/

#bungalow #centuryHome #frontPorch #homeImprovement #homeownership #house #houseiversary #mortgage

Happy Friday, everyone. Hopefully Friday has meaning for most if not all of us. It has extra meaning for me this week. Starting this month my company has changed it’s hybrid work requirements. Where it used to be that we had to be in the office for 20% of each pay period (basically one day each week), as of March 1st we have to be in the office for 40% of each pay period (basically twice per week). Today is my first, second day of a week. None of us our happy with this, but it’s a whole ton better than being back 80%, which is what we had prior to the pandemic shut down. Oh well. I’ll deal with it. I am still coming in every Wednesday. My group has Wednesdays as a mandate and the second day each week is at everyone’s personal discretion. I am sort of planning on making Mondays my regular second day, just to get it over with, but that didn’t work this week due to the contractors working in the kitchen. Friday was the only day that worked for me. Fortunately there was zero traffic today. I made the 40 mile drive to the office in 45 minutes. If only it were like that every morning.

In other news, the kids are on the ground. Bellana’s flight landed in Georgia (the US state, not the European country) before I went to sleep last night. Harry’s first flight landed in London well after I nodded off for the night, and his connecting flight landed in Scotland before I woke up this morning. All is well on both of those fronts. Here’s hoping they both have a great time on their trips.

I am taking advantage of the fact that I am 40 miles from home right now to make my way to IKEA after work. IKEA is about 60 miles from home, but only 20 miles from work. I will head down there as soon as I am free and go to the returns department and bring back a great big pile of stuff that IKEA included in our kitchen redesign blue print that we didn’t end up needing. There is a lot of stuff to return. A lot of stuff. If I get it all done tonight then we don’t have to worry about it, and with the money we get back maybe I’ll be able to afford a hair cut this weekend because damn, do I need a hair cut!

Anyway, here’s today’s photo-a-day picture. I took it before I did my workout this morning at about 5:40am. It’s only 9:14am now but it’s already felt like a long day.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/03/08/happy-friday-4/

#collegeKids #commute #commuter #es335 #Family #Gibson #gibsonEs335 #GibsonES335Pro #Guitar #homeImprovement #hybridWork #hybridWorkSchedule #IKEA #Kids #kitchenRedesign #kitchenRemodel #kitchenRemodeling #morning #Nikon #nikonZ5 #photography #returnToTheOffice #springBreak #StepKids #Travel #trips #work #z5

The progress being made in the kitchen is stunning. The demo is done and they are installing cabinets. It feels like they might be as much as half a day ahead of schedule. We’re already starting to talk about things that weren’t supposed to happen this weekend. Tiling and painting, specifically. The tile guy is coming on Sunday. It’s absolutely nuts!

Anyway, here’s today’s photo a day pic. I took it before the kitchen guys got here this morning because I didn’t know if I would get a chance for anything once the crazy arrived.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/03/01/photo-a-day-14/

#365 #365Challenge #contracotrs #es335 #es335Pro #GibsonES335Pro #Guitar #homeImprovement #homeImprovements #homeOwner #iphoneography #kitchen #kitchenImprovements #kitchenRemodel #kitchenRemodeling #kitchenUpgrades #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography

From what I understand, they also do power washing and hang Christmas lights. Feel free to support a local small business.

#johnstonCountyNC #homeImprovement #shudderInstall #dangerousJobs #smallBusiness #smallBusinessSupport #thankYou #christmasLightsInstallation #powerWashing

A huge THANK YOU goes out to CV Power Washing Services LLC for taking this task on when so many others failed to respond.

#johnstonCountyNC #homeImprovement #shudderInstall #dangerousJobs #smallBusiness #smallBusinessSupport #thankYou #christmasLightsInstallation #powerWashing

I am so happy to finally have my shudders put back on the house. We took them down a season or two ago to paint them but couldn't put them back on. Instead of risking my life to put them back, I called in an expert.

#johnstonCountyNC #homeImprovement #shudderInstall #dangerousJobs #smallBusiness #smallBusinessSupport #thankYou #christmasLightsInstallation #powerWashing