August 06, 2017

DIY Painting Your House Exterior

August 06, 2017/ Retro Den Vintage Home Store and Design

When my father-in-law said he'd help us paint our house, I figured that meant it wasn't a hard task. I mean, if we can do it ourselves, it must be super doable, right? Wrong.

We painted our house ourselves and it took a long time

Our little yellow house wasn't perfect when we bought her in 2009, and her paint job was well-worn by the time we decided we needed to paint. Both my husband and I own our own businesses, and we are in a saving money season verses a spending tons of money season, so when my sweet father-in-law offered to help us paint our house, we said yes! It took us a whole year to follow through because we needed clear, good-weathered weekends during a time of year it was comfortable to be outside. The year we became parents was not that year.

July 30, 2017

How to Grow Wildflowers in Your Backyard

July 30, 2017/ Ashley Daly

Having a cutting flower garden is what I consider the height of luxury. Just walk to your backyard and clip an instant gift for yourself and friends. Y'all? A FREE gift that people think is SO amazing? Yes, please.

April 23, 2017

Blush Walls And Should You Have Trends in Your Home?

April 23, 2017/ Ashley Daly

So, I like to traffic in decorating trends. It's true. I enjoy timelessness, but I also get sucked into the hype of the newest thing. Right now, my husband and I are all razzed about the color pink. I mean, so are a lot of people. We recently switched our once edgy chevron patterned wall to a sweet, coy blush tone. And here is why.

February 05, 2017

From Matching Lamps to Minimalism: Bedroom Decor in the Daly Abode

February 05, 2017/ Ashley Daly

My bedroom has seen a lot, folks. Take that how you like, but I am referring to decorating styles. It's first days featured a large brass bed handed down to us by my parents. It was exactly like the bed Bob Dylan sang of in his song Lay Lady Lay. And as much as I loved the joke of that song and my bed mingling in my mind, the compromise of two people sharing a home meant that I had to part with my brass bed. Maybe my husband Ryan didn't like sleeping in his in-law's bed? Maybe we are just thirty-year-old hipsters aching for the non-sense of a low-lying platform bed. We'll never know. Unless I ask him, I guess.

December 18, 2016

Three Ashleys, Two Kitchens: When to Hire an Interior Designer

December 18, 2016/ Ashley Daly

Daly Kitchen Renovation Part 1

A 1950's Bungalow Kitchen

Home updates. Sometimes you get stuck. There are a hundred reasons why, but my reason is that I've lived in my little bungalow for just over seven years. The very first thing my husband and I did when we moved in was take off the doors on our upper cabinets in the kitchen. Our intention was to replace the cabinets with several rows of open shelves. It remains as it did on day one, now on day 2,653.

This, my friends, is the first installment of the epic tale of my kitchen's coming of age.

Washer and Dryer in the Kitchen and Other Issues

Our kitchen is small; if you want to say it nicely, you'd call it sweet. I think the biggest mistake we made in home-buying was getting a house with the washer and dryer in the kitchen. Call me an American, but this feels innately incorrect. I am, however, happy it's not in the garage like so many of our neighbors' homes. I'd probably never do laundry then. That said, over the years, I keep telling myself people all over the world have washer/dryers in their kitchens. The kitchen, at heart, is a utilitarian room, and it could make sense to have clothes washing machines in there. The ones we have are just so big. Incredibly nice, but so so big.

Beyond the washer/dryer dilemma, there are other things we don't love that become increasingly bummery over the years. 1. We're not fans of the black and white tile. Hard to clean. Not quite our personal look. 2. The whole room feels cut off from the rest of the house. My husband is the cook, and it feels a bit like he is my servant locked away making my meals in a secluded room. I want him to feel really good about making my meals, so it'd be ideal for the kitchen to feel like a palace for him and his great skillz.

Our Kitchen Update Ideas

We keep discussing how to move the fridge here and tear down a wall there and get a washer/dryer combo machine to reduce its large footprint–maybe a smaller fridge? Maybe put the appliances on a different wall? What happens when we tear out this set of cabinets–we'll have to replace the entire floor, right? Yikes.

When we heard that Ashley Palmer was going to talk to Ashley Whiteside about a ground-up renovation of her kitchen, we got excited about the idea of someone else telling us what to do. We've had too many ideas over the course of too many years to make a decision. And furthermore, while I do interior styling for a living, I do not specialize in kitchen spaces where so much need for exactness and technical placement is required. So we gave friend and interior designer Ashley Whiteside all our thoughts and hopes and dreams and a link to our kitchen Pinterest board.

“We’ve had too many ideas over the course of too many years to make a decision. ”

I Hired an Interior Designer Because I Wanted Someone to do it for Me

Ashley Palmer and I have found that the people who approach us to do interior work in their homes are surprising people because they seem stylish and have their stuff together, but the truth is, we all need a hand sometimes. And if you need a hand, the owner of that hand should be named Ashley. Just kidding. But really, it's a great name. And us three Ashleys are great gals. Hope you're excited to follow along as we take our meal-prepping rooms to the next level.