This week we share how a simple weekend escape to a small cottage turned into a reconnaissance trip for our own vacation rental plans. We also tackle a common lighting challenge: how to choose ceiling lights that coordinate without being overly matchy. After some trial and error, we discovered one easy rule that helps us balance cohesion and personality across light fixtures—no sacrificing interest for uniformity. We break that down below, along with a few decorating tips professionals say men should avoid in their homes. Plus, I’m excited about a new painting roller I’ve become obsessed with, and it turns out Sherry is hilariously bad at something most people do without thinking.

You can download the episode from iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, or TuneIn Radio, or listen with the embedded player below. Use this post to find any links, notes, or photos we referenced.

What’s New

• Highlights from our Charlottesville weekend trip:
  • Charming 700 sq ft Airbnb cottage that inspired ideas for our vacation rental project
  • Breakfast at Keevil & Keevil and Brazos Tacos
  • Dinner at Citizen Burger and Oakhart Social
  • A stroll through IX Art Park, which sits right next to Brazos
• We posted the photo above on Instagram, and here are a few more quick iPhone shots from the weekend (we left the good camera at home).

• And yes, we posed like classy tourists next to the tongue-in-cheek “Love Butt” sculpture at the art park.

Updates

• Podcast episode #31 and the accompanying blog post explain how we picked the “pinch” color for our beach house.
• Sherry keeps recommending a pair of jeans that she calls life-changing—she’s stockpiling them and won’t stop talking about how great they are.
• Episode #33 dives into float tanks and includes a mention of Questlove’s Instagram post about them.

That’s Embarrassing

• In episode #36 we shared the story about Sherry’s aversion to taking baths—yes, it’s an actual thing and yes, we’re still laughing about it.
• We finally ordered a better drain plug so both bathrooms now have one. Small victories count.

What’s Not

• We reacted to Elle Decor’s tongue-in-cheek list of 16 things a man should never have in his home and discussed the equivalent list for women in episode #37; both inspired plenty of eye-rolling and conversation.

Listener’s Call

Dining chandelier / kitchen pendant / end chair / blue dining chairs / stools / blinds

• Visit our Shop Our House page to see the lights we’ve used throughout our house and where to find them. Our recent house tour videos are also useful for seeing fixtures in context as you walk through the rooms.
• Earlier in our renovation we made the classic lighting mistake: we selected three fixtures that looked good on paper, installed them, and realized later that two oversized pendants were competing for attention in the kitchen. Learn from our pre-renovation misstep and visualize scale before you install.
• Sherry has been creating lighting mood boards for these show notes and got a little carried away. We’ll publish a full blog post soon with those boards—here’s a small preview featuring a glass globe sconce and how it plays with other fixtures.

We’re Digging

• The concave roller we tried is great for painting curved furniture legs because it hugs contours better than a standard foam roller. It also avoids the plastic end nub that can scrape on convex rollers when you press too hard.
• Our current favorite book is The Kind Worth Killing—if you enjoyed Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train, this renovation-tinged thriller is worth a read.

Looking for something we’ve featured in a past episode but can’t remember which show notes to open? We compiled a master list of everything we’ve been digging across past episodes to make it easy to find favorites.

To see the Smartstuff nursery makeover and learn more about their smart furniture features, visit the manufacturer’s site referenced in the episode notes.

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