OUR CONTENT HOME

I've never been much of a cook. But, even before we bought Content. I always imagined myself in a kitchen.  I love the idea of wearing a ruffle pipped apron and effortlessly flitting from fridge, to stove. Unfortunately, for John, I wasn't dreaming of producing elaborate steak dinners, kept warm for his grand entrance at the end of a hard day. Rather, I had my mind set on making pretty cakes, dozens of perfectly golden cookies and, for some strange reason, canning and jarring.

The other night, a friend casually mentioned that summer was already half way over. What!? How dare you speak so cruelly in our home... We couldn't disagree more! With Memorial Day marking the tourist kick off, June 21 is the official seasonal start of summer with the Solstice. I thought the Solstice would be the perfect time to look back on the last month and a half of warmer weather here at Content. Because, let's be honest, this house was made for summer time! Memorial Day We kicked Memorial Day off renting the entire house to a group of awesome, Airbnb guests! The weather was iffy here at the Jersey Shore, but based on the wonderful review and feedback we received, we can tell they made the most of their visit. Happy MDW! 🇺🇸The house is all set for our @airbnb guests. We love that sharing these walls is the next, fun chapter in its 130 year old history. . Wanna come for a visit? Click our profile link to learn more! A post shared by john and cou...

Drum roll please....... And without further adieu, I present, The Annex Guest Camp Room! Now wait just a gosh darn minute. Did you really think I was going to make it that easy? Of course I'm going to drag you through a 6 Week recap of my blood, sweat and tears, before laying on all the beauty shots. Blood, sweat and tears is actually a gross exaggeration. In fact,  I really enjoyed designing this space!

Warning: Real life talk here... We've been working really hard these past 6 months. Like, REALLY hard. Ever since leaving our full-time jobs, John + I have been on a mission to make owning a business (several, in fact) work for us.  I fully realize we are not the first people to disconnect from corporate America, so we don't view ourselves as revolutionaries, but it IS all new to us. And with that newness, comes stress and discomfort. And with that stress and discomfort, comes illness. For me, in the form of shingles. Cool. If you were wondering where your 4th installment of the Calling It Home and House Beautiful One Room Challenge was last week, I'd say, hope of it's publication evaporated somewhere between the doctor's office and an oatmeal bath. But now, with health restored, we're back on track! And, lucky you... This week is a double whammy - Week 4 and 5 combo update.

All right folks, we're halfway through the Spring 2017 One Room Challenge hosted by Calling It Home and House Beautiful . And I know what you're thinking... "Um, Courtney, there's no furniture in your room?" Well, of course there's not, silly, because Week 3 is all about PAINT.

Here at Content, Week Two of the One Room Challenge is in full swing! If you're just getting acquainted with the #oneroomchallenge, it's a 6-week event hosted by Calling It Home and House Beautiful where bloggers are tasked with the design, redesign or renovation of, get this, one room! This is the 2nd installment of our Annex Guest Room Makeover update, and this week we're focused on PLANNING. If you need to back up, here's the post from Week 1.

We are thrilled and humbled to have our renovation journey of Content. featured on Design*Sponge . Also,  click here to read all about the lore of this historic house, and view before + after images of the work we have done, so far!

Twice a year, in October and April, Linda from Calling It Home  and House Beautiful hosts a One Room Challenge. Over the course of 6 weeks, 20 select designers and bloggers tackle renovating or redecorating a specific room, and share their  progress with weekly blog posts.  When the April 2017 list of selected designers was announces, I was so inspired by how many of the participants are blogs and designers I admire. I knew I wanted to participate too! The One Room Challenge encourages Guest Participants, so I'm joining the fun, sharing the magic of an Annex Guest Room makeover we have yet to tackle. What's even more exciting, is this is a linked event, which means that all the Guest Participants will share a common link and you'll be able to easily surf through a ton of room transformations. You'll find that link at the bottom of this post!

There's nothing better than finding a great light fixture at a flea market or antique shop. But chances are, the electrical components won't meet modern standards or code. Here's a round-up of some of our favorite sconces with the same old world charm, that won't risk you burning the house down... And even better, these are all under $50, so they won't break your renovation budget! 1. Urban Barn   2. Progress Lighting 3. Vintage Candle Wall Sconce   4. Westinghouse 5. Turner  6. Bowdoinham 7. Claxy  8. Kenroy Home Let us know what you think of these vintage inspired suggestions in the comment section below!

Get ready! I'm about to spill the beans... The #PreCivilWowHome that John + I have been renovating, is actually in my parent's house! As kids, my sisters and I did our fair share of ripping my parent's house apart. Sorry parents. Even though John and I did a lot of ripping and demo, the difference now is we put it back together a heck of a lot nicer.  Here's the background on this project.

I started reading Martha Stewart Living magazine, religiously, when I was a junior in high school. If there was someone I aspired to be, it was Martha. During this time, we had a family friend who worked with her directly. She told us classic, Devil Wears Prada-esque tales about what a difficult person Martha was to work for, and yet, ever the loyal, 15 year old Courtney was enamored.

We're a bit out of order here at Content. We recapped the reveal of Guest Room #2, before sharing Guest Room #1 with you. But, if you anything about John and I, its that we'd rather get it done (right) than follow formalities.  Anyway, here's the big reveal of Guest Room #1 BEFORE AFTER BEDSIDE TABLES: I bought these matching side tables at a barn sale. In all honesty, I was going to paint them, but since I was crunched for time, I dusted them off and that's about it. BEDSIDE LAMP: Amazon.com MANTEL DECOR: Per the usual, a mix of thrifted items. CURTAINS: Marshall's $19.99 for a set of 2. WALLS: Freshly painted Cloud White by Benjamin Moore OC-130 in a matte finish. CEILING: The ceiling in here has been previously drywalled between the beams. We used an Advanced White to freshen up the ceiling and left the exposed wood as it. TRIM: As with the rest of Content., we used Advanced White. So, wha...