Today I am sharing my favorite functional kitchen ideas to maximize efficiency and organization! When a kitchen is organized well, valuable time is given back to the homeowner. In the last 10 years, I have moved 8 times and have learned a thing or two about efficiently organizing my kitchen.

Today, I am sharing five popular Victorian homes designs and their key identifiable features. These include Gothic Revival, Queen Ann, Folk Victorian, Italianate, and Second Empire styles.

Choosing the right paint sheen for your project is almost as important as getting the right paint color – ALMOST. Choosing the right paint sheen for your project is almost as important as getting the right paint color – ALMOST. 🙂 Paint comes in a variety of sheens ranging from no shine at all to very shiny paint. As a general rule of thumb, you want your walls to blend into the design of your space. When you apply a sheen that is not appropriate for the space, it can be quite distracting to the eye. Today I am breaking down how to choose the appropriate paint sheen for your next paint project!

for all beginner bloggers so they can avoid my mistakes. Starting a blog is hard and scary. For most people starting out, you have to learn an entirely new skill to create your own website. Along with learning this new skill, you have to be vulnerable and open when writing about your experiences. Learning to tell a story in your own voice is harder than it looks!

Today I am sharing 7 kid-friendly activities in Toledo to check out this winter. The cold winter months in Northwest Ohio can make you want to hibernate in your home, but these activities encourage learning, exploration and are enjoyable for both kids and parents. This winter break we visited many of these places and had a blast!

Are you someone who follows the anticipated paint color trends each year? I love when big paint brands choose a color of the year and find it fascinating the thought that is put into each decision. Last year there were mixed reviews with the Sherwin Williams choice of Cavern Clay but I feel like 2020 has all crowd-pleasers!

2019 was a big year for me personally and professionally. As I prepare to enter a new year (and decade!), I wanted to share some of my favorite projects and …

Dried orange slice garland is all the rage this holiday season and I am loving this trend! I happily hopped on this bandwagon and made some dried orange slices of my own to decorate our home.

The DIY picture ledge in our dining room has been a huge hit!

I have had so many positive responses to this piece, someone even asked if it was from Pottery Barn! How’s that for a compliment?! Building this ledge is super easy, it only takes a few hours, costs less than $30 and I am going to show YOU how to build it.

The dollhouse makeover is complete!
In the words of Pinkalicious (my daughter’s favorite show), “it’s pinkatastic!” This was such a fun project for me. I loved designing this house with my daughter in mind, you will quickly realize that she LOVES the color pink and everything girly. I can’t wait to give it to her on Christmas morning.

Let me take you through the full makeover of this sweet little dollhouse!

Today I am sharing my step by step tutorial on how to install your kitchen backsplash. With this tutorial, you will get all of the tips and tricks I wish I had when I tackled my first tiling project!

My goal for our kitchen renovation was to create an open concept that complimented the traditional style of the home while also adding that modern vibe for our family today.

For the final week of this challenge, I am sharing the reveal of the dining room transformation AND a festive table setting designed for the holidays.

I say this all the time, but paint is so transformative! On the blog today, I am sharing a step by step tutorial on how to paint a room like a pro.

We are so close to the finish line for the One Room Challenge! This week we are getting art and decor up on the walls in our dining room.

The dining room was in need of a buffet and week 4 of the One Room Challenge was all about finding the perfect piece. When I couldn’t find the perfect buffet online, I decided to go thrifting and refinish a piece myself. We blew past the halfway point of this 6 week challenge and I love putting this room back together!

Week 3 of the One Room Challenge brought on the biggest transformation yet. I say this all the time and I will say it again…PAINT IS SO TRANSFORMATIVE!

Week 2 of the One Room Challenge is all about dining room prep! This week is all about prepping the room – making it ugly so it can look so beautiful at the end of this 6 week challenge! Specifically, I am focusing on removing wallpaper, moving the chandelier & repairing chipped paint.

The Better Homes & Gardens Fall One Room Challenge is here and I am so excited to be a guest participant! For the next 6 weeks, I will be transforming our dining room just in time for the holidays. Every Wednesday I will be posting updates on my progress and you can check out all of the behind-the-scenes fun over on Instagram.

In the last 10 years, Chris and I have moved 6 times and consider ourselves experts when moving and into a new house. We have learned lots of tips and tricks when we organize and unpack our new home and I am excited to share our top 5 tips today. These organizational tips are sure to turn your new house into a home.

I am excited to share the playroom progress and our design plans! We are in the process of decluttering the entire space and coming up with storage solutions for the …

With one dedicated weekend, we flexed our DIY skills and created a focal point and massive storage in our basement.

Our first backyard DIY project at our second home was building a swing set for Thomas. In the two years of living in this home (2013-2016), we completely transformed the backyard, including the wrap-around deck we built.

Week 1 has come and gone for this half bath challenge, and while it may not look like it, we have accomplished quite a bit!

I am so excited to show you how we doubled our outdoor living space at our second flip house.  This is by far one of my favorite renovations we have …

Week 3 of the Half Bath Renovation Challenge and we are making some good progress! This week is all about half bath paint projects! I want to apologize for missing …

Today I am so excited to share how my friend created a photography studio in her basement. Sarah is a small business owner (Sarah Renee Photography) and also a crafty DIYer who transformed her basement into a fabulous photography studio.  She wanted a space that was functional for photo shoots but also comfortable for families who spent a few hours there for newborn shoots.

It was extremely important to nail the kitchen layout at the Drummond Flip House. The kitchen is the heart of the home and can make or break the sale of …

Today I am sharing our phase 1 kitchen renovation plans at Flip 3! When we first moved into this house, I was amazed by the size of the kitchen! It …

Our second house had a tiny, closed-off kitchen. By removing half a wall in the kitchen and installing a breakfast bar, we added value to our home and achieved an …

Drum roll please! My tiny, dingy, dated half bath has had a major makeover! We extended the challenge by a week to complete the finishing touches and it was well …

Today I am sharing our next big project – installing a new roof and painting the exterior of our home! These major exterior renovations will not only add value to our home, but also improve the curb appeal.

Phase 2 of our kitchen renovation at Flip 3 is complete just in time for Friendsgiving! I don’t know about you, but hosting an event always gives me that push …

Our office needed a little love but we weren’t going to break the bank fixing it up. Today I am going to share with you our affordable office updates we …

I first learned about investing in mobile home parks through my friend Kate. We both loved learning about real estate investing and decided that this could be a great strategy to partner up and work together. We booked a three-day course in California to learn how to buy ourselves a mobile home park.

It has been almost a week since my last day at SpotX and I am continuing to adjust to my career transition.  I started SpotX when I first moved to …

This beautiful Victorian-style home was built in the late 1800s and is located in Toledo’s Historic Old West End. If you are a fan of architecture and old homes, touring the Old West End is a MUST!

Welcome to our new, temporary home for the next year in Toledo, Ohio!

For our first year in Ohio, we will be living with my in-laws. Our boxes are all unpacked and we are settling into our new routine in Ohio. We want to take our time finding the right neighborhood for us to move into as a family considering location, school district, etc. But for now, we are living in a fantastic neighborhood and have enjoyed meeting our new neighbors. Check out our temporary, Ohio digs!

Today I am excited to share styling tips to sell your house fast from local interior decorator, Debbie Jacoby! Debbie is selling her beautiful house in NW Ohio and these clever styling tips are sure to bring in multiple buyers!

I am lucky to call her my aunt and am always inspired by her designs and budget-friendly solutions to create a high-end look.

Are you ready for this super simple tutorial for how to wallpaper your staircase?! I am excited to share this fun wallpaper project with you and the best part is that it took less than 3 hours to install!

Once you identify a flip house and have it under contract, there are a few actions investors can immediately take. Along with being an active realtor in NW Ohio, I have experience with three live-in flips, one fix and flip, and as well as owning a few income properties.

Today I am sharing how to create a custom homeowner’s manual to sell your home fast! This manual is an open house cheat sheet and it allows you to share the great features of your home that may go unnoticed at an open house. What home renovations did you complete while living in the home? What upgrades are included that may not be visible to potential home buyers?

I am excited to take you on a tour of the Drummond Flip house before our renovations begin. This is our fourth flip house and our first investment in Toledo, …

Once I had my first child, I automatically started thinking about how I would pay for his college tuition! If you are like me, the idea of paying for your …

It’s demo day at the Drummond Flip House! This flip is a bigger beast than my previous 3 flips. When we lived in Denver, we were living in the homes …

Meet Woody – our first rental property in Toledo, Ohio! This is our first buy and hold investment property and we can’t wait to buy more. Today I am sharing …

Are you a new real estate investor who is looking to find their first property? I am breaking down five simple questions for you to answer that will help you move forward and find your first real estate investment property!

After renovating four homes (while living there), Chris and I have a few tips for renovating a home with young kids. Over those 10 years, we both had full-time jobs and were raising two rambunctious kiddos and still survived living through construction zones.

Thanks for tuning in to episode 6 of From the Nest Podcast! On today’s episode, Chris and I are discussing 5 different ways to finance your first investment property. 1. …

On today’s episode of From the Nest Podcast, Chris and I talk about buying an investment property site unseen! We are breaking down how we found this deal and our …

Thanks for tuning in to episode 12 of From the Nest Podcast! On today’s episode, Chris and I are discussing the kitchen design at the Drummond Flip House. Designing the …

On today’s episode of From the Nest Podcast, we discuss a year in review of my entrepreneurship journey. One year ago I left my corporate job and have been through …

Today Chris and I are discussing 8 easy and affordable ways to make your home more energy efficient. With Earth Day coming up this month, we thought this topic would …

I am excited to take you through a before and after tour of our first flip house! Along with being our first flip house, it was also our first home! I recently realized that I never created a good before and after post of our first flip.

We have so many wonderful memories in this home, most prominent is being pregnant for the first time and bringing home Thomas from the hospital, and celebrating so many of his firsts at this house.

hoosing the type of flooring for your home is a BIG decision! It has to hold up to the wear and tear of your family, and not all flooring is created equally. I am breaking down my top tips for choosing the best flooring material for your family and home.

On today’s episode, Chris and I are sharing our top 5 lessons we learned from our many home inspection experiences. Home inspections can be stressful and it is easy to …

On today’s episode, we are reviewing how to easily find comparables for your home or investment property. Understanding how to pull comps is a valuable skill as a real estate …

When purchasing an income property the goal is obvious, to make income! We purchased our second income property (site unseen) and had the rental ready to list within 30 days. Today I am sharing the steps we took to get our rental property ready for renters and making money quickly.

Welcome to our new home, our Cape Cottage, let’s take a tour! It is still a little surreal that we now own our own home in Toledo, Ohio. It’s also …

Today I am sharing all of the before and after makeovers from our second home in Denver, CO! We made some major improvements to this house that paid off big when we sold it after 2 years.

Episode 22 is really a time capsule of our journey to finding the perfect family home. We share our experience buying this house and all of the ups and downs …

On episode 21 of From the Nest Podcast, Chris and I are reviewing 1031 exchanges and capital gains tax with our listeners. We are by NO means experts, but we …

In our third flip house, we turned what was once the formal living room into the adult family room. I am a firm believer that you should design your house …

The basement renovation was a game-changer at our first flip house because we added living space to our small bungalow. Our house in the Highlands neighborhood was about 1,200 square feet and having that finished area in the basement made a huge difference.

When we first moved into our third home/flip, the guest bathroom was way too big. We cut it down to 1/3 of its original size and used the rest for …

Today I am excited to share a beautiful restoration of this classic, colonial style home. Who doesn’t like to see an old home be brought back to life? My brother and his wife spent two years restoring every piece of this home and the transformation is jaw-dropping.

We purchased our first home in Denver, CO, and couldn’t wait to start working in the backyard. Our little brick bungalow was 1,300 square feet and we had big plans to add outdoor living space with a DIY backyard deck / covered porch.

Our master bedroom makeover at our third home was an important project that I wanted to tackle before the birth of our daughter, Evelyn. We moved into this home when I was 5 months pregnant, so the pressure was on to turn our master bedroom into a calming retreat!

One way we added value to our first home was with landscaping improvements. This is especially valuable with smaller homes and locations where you spend a lot of time outside. Including the word “landscaping” to a home listing can add 2.7 percent more to the sale price. With a $300,000 home, that’s a gain of $8,100, according to Zillow.

Welcome to the tour before our renovations at flip 3! When I first saw the photos of this property online, I immediately connected with it. I felt confident that we …

Adding a bathroom in our basement was the first project on the list when we moved into our third flip house. The basement level of our home was huge with half of the space finished and the other half unfinished as a storage room.

Welcome to our first live-in flip house!

We bought this sweet little bungalow in the Highlands neighborhood of Denver and saw the potential right away.  This home was where we really started to get our feet wet with home renovations.

Bathroom renovations can be costly, so I was very excited to save some money by framing our bathroom mirror with this easy DIY!

This is a quick and easy project that we knocked out in a weekend and spent less than $50. The design for our new master bathroom included pale green walls with gray accents for a spa-like feel. I chose distressed wood to build the mirror frame and it was the perfect rustic touch!

Today I am sharing our mudroom makeover where we built a DIY locker system that is guaranteed to keep us organized!

The mudroom in our third flip house was the first space that you saw when you walked in from the garage and it quickly became the dumping zone for all of our things. I really wanted to clean this space up and add some organization.

The focus of my blog is usually on my home improvement, but today I am taking a slight detour today to talk about self improvement. Mindful meditation practice is very …

I am SO excited that I can finally share the big plans I have in store for Building Bluebird! Chris and I have made the decision to move our family home …

Today I am sharing 10 quick and easy tips to improve the curb appeal and exterior of your home. For all three of our flip houses, we did major work

10 tips for starting a successful short term rental business

I am so excited to share my interview with Jen McMurray, real estate broker, investor, and owner of Bachelorettepadflip.com. Jen started flipping houses with the goal of paying off over …