Our first dates were spent watching horror movies and listening to vintage Aerosmith on vinyl. (We still enjoy both to this day.)
Old home lovers, music enthusiasts and margarita-making connoisseurs, dedicating ourselves to the art of transforming vintage houses into homes filled with love. Off the clock, you’ll find us spontaneously dancing in the family room, riding our tandem bicycle, or daydreaming about our next big travel adventure.
We live, work and play with our sweet girl and rescue pup in Chicago, and we can’t imagine putting down our roots anywhere else in the world. We purchased our first Chicago home together in 2007, a cozy condo on the second floor of a yellow brick corner building – all 650 square feet of it!
In 2009, we got the DIY itch and began documenting our journey on a blog, which we affectionately named after the yellow brick home that started it all. In the summer of 2013 we said goodbye to our beloved second floor walk-up, and we purchased a fixer upper of a house – right down the street. It had been a dream of ours to nurse an old home back to life, and it turned out to be every bit as rewarding and exhausting and exhilarating as we imagined it to be.
This fueled our passion for revitalizing old homes, leading us to search outside the city — until we sealed the deal with a charming house in southwest Michigan in 2016. (We’re hooked on renovating, you see.) You’ll notice us refer to this home as our Tree House, a nickname lovingly dubbed due to the field of trees surrounding it. It’s our small retreat by the big lake where we’ve been creating family memories, simmering chili on rainy afternoons and ringing in the new year with paper party hats and kazoos. We share this home with you, too, and we invite you to book a stay .
In 2019, we went searching for a new challenge back home in Chicago. Enter: The Two Flat! Upon first meeting the Two Flat (a Chicago term for a building with two apartments), we squeezed each others’ hands. This is it, we whispered to each other. This is The One. We looked past the decades’ old carpet, drop ceilings and linoleum floors. Rather, we pointed out the 19th century baseboards, the dining room built-in, the arched doorways and the porcelain door knobs! We poured our hearts into the home and after a grueling year of setbacks, we celebrated the completed renovation and ultimately decided to rent the apartments. We celebrated with two new leases in the fall of 2020!
And because the universe has a way of playing tricks on us all, in 2023 we purchased the neighboring home to Tree House, a project that was unexpected, yet a wonderful surprise. We call her The Red House, a small mid century gem with great bones surrounded by 4 wooded acres. It’s been an absolute honor to show this home love, and we’ll continue to share this journey with you as the project unfolds!
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for being here, cheering us on.
Take a tour of each of the homes we’ve renovated over the last two decades. From an 1800s Worker’s Cottage to a Tree House in the woods, explore their stories and see the transformative before-and-afters.
Our goal is to inspire, create, and share with you! There are several ways we can work together. Whether you’re seeking a virtual home design consultation, interested in booking our Airbnb, or a brand looking to reach a dedicated home-loving community, we can’t wait to meet you.
Husband and wife teammates for life, accidental landlords, inspired by the city.
A Cincinnati born-and-raised boy meets a small town girl in search of a fast-paced life. They move to Chicago, get married, adopt 3 dogs and 4 cats (not all at once), have a baby girl and become addicted to home renovation. Along the way, they perfect their margarita recipe (her) and fine tune their record collection (him).
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