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Hello! I'm Suzannah, a serious DIYer. Follow along with my DIY fixer upper house renovations, sewing and crafty projects, real food recipes, and de-stressing goals. I'm a recovering former vegan and vegetarian, now healing with a nutrient-dense mostly Paleo diet, and love at-home CrossFit and yoga workouts. I'm also the author of DIY Wardrobe Makeovers!

New mom to baby Otto born April 2018!

3.19.2019

Current house project updates!

It's only March but I've done a lot of projects and updates already this year and am deep in planning some big ones for this summer!

This week on the Your Home Story podcast Ashley and I share what we've been up to in each of our homes. Painting, repairs, functionality upgrades... not to mention the planning for our kitchen and main bathroom projects! (You can read my 2019 house project goals HERE!)

We talked about...
  1. Ashley’s living room trim and painting it green
  2. My built-in cabinet transformation in her breakfast nook
  3. My post about custom window and non-custom window treatments (pros and cons/huge success and big failure!)
  4. Ashley’s dilemma between quartz and marble
  5. My living room updates including her new slipcover, rug, and chairs
  6. Ashley’s progress in controlling the lego situation in Greyson’s room
  7. My updates in her dining room (coming to the blog this week, stay tuned and sign up for emails about new posts if you're not already!)

Our work-in-progress-but-so-much-better breakfast nook

Remember you can connect with each of us on Instagram:
@suzannahstanley
@biggerthanthethreeofus
@yourhomestorypodcast

And we'd love to have you join our Facebook group, where you can ask questions and get ideas from other listeners!


Listen here or in your podcast player!
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3.14.2019

Our new high-end look sofa: Comfort Works skirted slipcover on our IKEA classic!

A couch is a defining feature of a living room... so making this one change recently in ours has had a huge impact!!

We have an IKEA Karlstad 3-seater sofa that I bought on Craigslist in 2013?? for $100. At our last house we got this green velvet slipcover for it and it made the room!! In this house, our living room is already so full of color and character with the warm wood trim and original fireplace... I was ready to calm down the color and try something more neutral.

I also wanted a more classic/modern traditional look, less midcentury. So, I got a custom skirted sofa cover from Comfort Works and... WOW.... it has made me love our living room so much more!!

Comfort Works sent this slipcover for my review! All opinions are my own, I genuinely love their products!

You can see our previous Comfort Works slipcover here, plus in our 500 SF apartment tour while we were house-hunting, and then in this house. It has held up so well and is still that bold, beautiful green and stain-resistant washable velvet! I absolutely love their concept--replacement slipcovers for IKEA and other brands of couches and chairs--and they come in a lot of styles and colors I like. I'm just not ready to replace our Karlstad yet, so I looked at the options for recovering it.

I got quite a few samples from Comfort Works, and compared them based on color in real life plus durability and texture. I definitely recommend ordering samples!

I chose the Karlstad 3 seater sofa covers in Kino Natural fabric in a long skirt style. The Kino fabric is one of their more durable ones, a must since we're getting a lighter-colored sofa and have a baby, cat, and two sometimes messy adults. Plus, the skirt is so fabulous!! Our $100 sofa is looking like a designer one!

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3.12.2019

Designing with a Spouse + Small Space Living with Jojotastic

We have the master of glamorous, practical small-space living on the Your Home Story podcast this week! She's also a super talented stylist and creative with a really unique story of how she bought her home. Plus, you'll love her tips for outdoor living, staying sane during a long kitchen renovation, organizing...

Few sneak peeks below, and you can hear the full episode in this blog post or in your podcast player!


I'm talking about the design and home styling blogger Joanna Hawley from the blog jojotastic, and Ashley and I had the best time interviewing her! A few of her projects we talked about:


Here's a pic from her gorgeous bedroom project!
Source: Joanna's bedroom reveal

Check out Jojotastic and follow her on Instagram @jojotastic. You can also follow her adventures through the Seattle area on @themcbrawleys.

Remember you can find us on our blogs or connect with each of us on Instagram:

And you can join the conversation in our Facebook group here!

Listen to this week's episode with Joanna here or in your podcast player!
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3.07.2019

DIY dining room buffet makeover

I have been working on updates to our dining room and I knew I would need to hunt a while for ONE final piece to finish it off! We were lacking in storage and furniture in this almost-square room that had a lot of extra space on the sides because our dining table is rectangular. Plus we have one perfect, blank, long back wall just screaming for a statement piece of furniture!

I hunted and hunted on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace, and online sources, but my budget was small and I wanted a specific color, so I planned to DIY. Well, about a month ago I got very lucky and found a fantastic piece!!

It's now sanded, primed, painted, sealed, and installed and looking great! This is a really fun before/after!


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3.05.2019

Nursery design--and making it really functional!

We moved twice while I was pregnant with Otto, the last time into a one-bedroom apartment, and then into our house when he was 3 months old... so I wasn't able to decorate a nursery for him until then (and it's still not "finished"). But nursery design can be so fun and cute--but baby rooms also have to be super functional. THAT I am a pro at by now!!

This week on the Your Home Story podcast, Ashley and I talk allllll about style plus function for nurseries. We cover all the essential items you need in the room, ways to add your personal design touches (without going too trendy and doing something you'll be tired of soon), some favorite pieces, and some inspirational baby rooms. We also talk about how to design a nursery that’s perfect for baby but still fits within your home!

Resources and inspirations:
  1. Best picture I have so far of Otto's nursery/progress
  2. My nursery pinboard
  3. My ultimate glider/rocking chair
  4. My affordable rocking chair research blog post and how we like it/review
  5. Baby clothing divider tags
  6. Blue light-free nighlight
  7. Some inspiraation rooms we talked about:
    1. @carpendaughter’s playful nursery
    2. @price_landing’s elegant, muted nursery (and a recent update here)
    3. DIY Playbook’s larger space with great nursery to grow into
    4. Cassie Bustamante’s wallpapered nursery closet and simple built-in shelves
Here's a favorite very elegant nursery by @price_landing on Instagram. (I mean, make the bed bigger and I would love this room for myself!)

You can find us on our blogs or connect with each of us on Instagram:

We love to hear from you! Join our Facebook group here!

Listen here or in your podcast app!
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2.28.2019

Lessons I learned after solo parenting for 6 weeks!

Jason was gone for 6 weeks on a clinical rotation 3.5+ hours away from January through mid-February. He came home a couple of weekends, but still, it was rough!! Evenings after work 3 days/week by myself making dinner, cleaning up, getting ready for the next day... some long (4-day) weekends with just me and the baby at home! I am SO glad to have him back, but a week plus after we've transitioned back to being a 2-parent household, I'm reflecting on what I learned! (Plus, I'm still able to use these lessons now that he's back--hooray for making parenting feel easier!)

(I know some people have partners who are deployed or away much longer periods of time, or more often, or have more kids! I can't imagine. It is never easy. But I hope my experience is helpful!)


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