My Favorite Houseplants & Their Care

I have had a few requests for this post over the last months, and I have hesitated to write it because I am so NOT a plant whisperer. But, I do love plants so much, and I have found a few that are pretty easy to keep alive and can really make a room happy and fresh.

At the bottom of this post, I am sharing some simple tips for keeping your plants happy. It's nothing super science-y or difficult, but it's little things I have picked up over the years that have helped me. 

These plants that I am sharing with you are the ones that I have found to be some of the easiest to keep alive & I love how they look. 

1. Pothos Ivy // Epipremnun Aureum

^^ This guy might just be the easiest plant to keep alive. It can grow in window-less rooms (I had one in my cubical back in the day). You can also propagate this plant simply by snipping a vine off and placing it in water. You can leave it in the water or plant it in dirt once the roots start growing. I water this plant when I notice the leaves getting a little droopy. I've had this Pothos for over 4 years and it has weathered 4 moves with us. He is a winner!

2. Burro's Tail // Sedum Morganianum

^^ Burro's Tail loves light and it does very well in this south facing window. This pot doesn't have good drainage, but I compensated for that by placing some small gravel in the bottom of the pot to catch the excess whenever I might overwater it. I let it dry out well in between waterings.

3. Swiss Cheese Vine // Monstera Obliqua

^^ I have only had this monstera for 2-3 months, but I wanted to share it because I love how cute it is! And it grows so quickly. It is currently sitting on our westerly facing front porch and it receives bright, indirect light. I need to repot it as the soil seems to dry out pretty quickly. I'll typically mist this guy when I'm out misting my hanging ferns.

4. Old Man Cactus // Cephalocereus Senilis

^^ If you follow me over on Instagram, you've probably seen this cactus before. I bought it about 7 months ago at Home Depot of all places, and it has grown so quickly. I've never had a cactus grow this quickly for me before. I moved it outside on our east-facing deck during the summer and it seems to like the amount of sun there. I will say that all of my cacti and succulents do much better in terra cotta pots. I tend to overwater, but the terra cotta is so porous that that isn't an issue.


5. Baby Rubber Plant // Peperomia Obtusifolia

^^ I've had this plant for about 7 months as well and it is very easy to care for. It likes high light and likes the soil to dry out in between waterings.

6. String of Hearts // Ceropegia Woodii

^^ Although the String of Hearts is a messy plant, I love how dainty it is. I'm a sucker for trailing vines. This guy also likes my south-facing window, but I don't have it in direct sunlight usually. I let the soil dry out in between waterings.

Some simple tips for happy plants:

// I keep a watering can nearby so that I can easily and quickly water my plants. If it's not convenient, I typically let my plants go too long without water and sometimes they don't recover! I also set a reminder on my phone once every week (Sundays) to water my plants. Some need more or less than that, but at least I don't go weeks without remembering! :)

// If I pot a plant into a container that doesn't have good drainage, I make sure to place an inch or so of gravel in the bottom of the pot to keep any excess water off of the roots. 

// Before you fill a pot with soil + your plant, place a coffee filter in the bottom of the pot so that the soil doesn't fall out of the hole. 

// More often than not, my sad-looking plants just need a bit of rearranging so that they they get more sunlight. Most light-loving plants need to "see" the sky from where they sit. 

// I will occasionally aerate my plant's soil to allow proper drainage and so the the roots can breathe.

Our 1920 Sears Kit House Tour: Kitchen & Dining Room // Part 3

This blog post is part 3 in a home tour series I am doing on our Sears kit house that was built in 1920. We bought this house last summer (end of July 2016) and we have spent the better part of the last twelve months renovating it. I've linked to the previous blog posts in the series at the bottom of this post. Be sure to check those out if you want to see the "before" pictures. 

Today I am tackling the kitchen and dining room and giving you lots of different angles of the space as well as sources and names of the products we used. I've been getting loads of questions about all of these things on Instagram especially, so I hope this is helpful for those of you who have been asking. 

When we bought the house, the kitchen had to be completely gutted. Unfortunately, none of the cabinetry could be salvaged except for in the pantry (which is nearly impossible to take pictures of). But, we did have cabinets built that closely resemble what they used to look like - I'll share more about those details in a bit. 

Most of the floors in the kitchen are original. We decided to keep the damaged boards where the sink used to be and chalked it up to character. 

This is an angle that I don't think I've shared anywhere before. We took out that wall in between the kitchen and dining room to open things up. You can see through those two doorways on the left into the dining room and the informal living room (a full tour of that room coming atcha soon!) and the door way on the right goes into a back hallway where you can get to the pantry, a full bathroom, a coat closet, and the stairway to the side door and basement. 

The calendar is from calendars.com (I just have it hung from a vintage wooden hanger) and the "food" banner is from Matriarch Handmade.

In the island, I decided to go with all drawers and I am so glad I did! If I ever get to design custom cabinets again, I will go for drawers all day long.

Soap bottles are from either TJ Maxx or World Market. Dish brushes are all from Amazon. 

The sink is definitely one of my very favorite aspects of the kitchen. The northerly view out the two large, original windows is of our neighbor's massive crepe myrtle tree. The pink flowers are not a terrible thing to look at while doing dishes.

Beautiful hand towel from Jenkins and Co.

I absolutely love that the windows come down to meet the countertops. Speaking of countertops, I've linked the source for the quartz below, as well as the hardware and lighting, etc. We had quartz in our last kitchen that we remodeled and I loved it. I would choose it again for the next house too!

The cabinets were custom made by a local company called Woodstock Cabinet Co. They made designing a kitchen a breeze and I loved working with them. It seems that everyone who has completely remodeled a kitchen complains about how difficult it is. We remodeled this entire house (two full bathrooms included), and the kitchen was by far the easiest. 

Some of the details that I talked through with Woodstock when we were designing the space were that I wanted the kitchen to be simple and in keeping with the timeframe of when this house was built - 1920. I wanted to modernize the space in a manner of speaking (like modern conveniences), but I didn't want it to feel like a different house when you walked into the kitchen. That is one of my pet peeves with people who renovate or flip old homes. 

So, we went with a shaker style door and large drawer fronts and I stuck with plain faces for the smaller drawers. One small detail that packs a huge design punch is that the drawers and doors are flush inset. Each drawer and door fits beautifully into the frame. It takes extra precision and craftsmanship (and money) to do this, but I knew that was the little detail that would make all of the difference in the end. Although I am not an educated designer by any means, I have learned with time that it's the little details that take things to the next level. 

The pour over tea kettle is from World Market.

I ended up going with three different types of cabinet hardware. I chose pulls for the drawers, knobs for some of the doors, and latches for any single doors. Each type of hardware is an antiqued brass finish, but they are still slightly different. All of the hardware that I used is linked below.

The jute rug is from IKEA. 

As with any house project, there seems to always be those things that never quite get finished. You're probably wondering where the hood vent for the stove is...yeah that never quite happened. 

All of my wooden utensils, salt and pepper shakers, glass jars, and cutting boards have been thrifted over time. I am always on the hunt for beautiful, old but useful everyday items. 

White kitchens are not everyone's cup of tea, but I love them. One of the ways that I like to take the edge off of white is by infusing warmth into the space with those natural, warm elements like wood, leather, jute rugs, natural bristle dish brushes, and brass.

I found that wooden fruit bowl at a garage sale as the owner was packing things away at the end of a long, hot day. He just gave it to me!

|| KITCHEN SOURCES || FARMHOUSE SINK | FAUCET | LIGHT PENDANT OVER SINK  | LIGHT PENDANTS OVER ISLAND (SIMILAR) | CABINET DOOR KNOBS | CABINET DOOR LATCHES (SIMILAR) | CABINET DRAWER PULLS | QUARTZ COUNTERTOPS: SANTA MARGARITA in VIRGINIA T-5P9 | BOOS BUTCHER BLOCK ISLAND TOP | LEATHER COUNTER STOOLS | WALL PAINT: SNOWBOUND by SHERWIN WILLIAMS | CABINET PAINT: WHITETAIL by SHERWIN WILLIAMS | FLORAL ARRANGEMENT

Nearly all of the trim work in the downstairs was unpainted when we bought it. The previous owners had painted the trim in the kitchen and downstairs bathroom and the entire upstairs at some point. So, with opening up the kitchen (painted trim) to the dining room (unpainted trim), that made the transition a little tricky. 

When we opened up these two spaces, we also decided to remove the two sets of windows in the back and replace them with these french doors leading out to the new deck. 

Pretty much everything in the dining room is thrifted, found on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. I'll put links below for the few things that I purchased new.

If house renovating or flipping is of interest to you, I have a newsletter that I send out with loads of information on how we have gone about flipping our houses while living in them and how we have paid off loads of debt all while raising our babies and working full time. I don't share that information anywhere else, so you have to be subscribed! 

|| DINING ROOM SOURCES || SHEEPSKIN THROW | LIGHT PENDANT | BRASS SHELF BRACKETS  |  

*All photography by Melissa Click Photography

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In case you missed it, below are the previous segments of the home tour:

Our 1920 Sears Kit House Before & After Tour // Part 1

Our 1920 Sears Kit House Tour: Exterior, Entry, & Formal Living // Part 2

Our 1920 Sears Kit House Tour: Exterior, Entry, & Formal Living // Part 2

This is part 2 of my home tour series. We just bought this Sears kit house last year and have completely renovated it. You can view part 1 here for more of the story and the complete "before" blog post here.

Today I am sharing the exterior, entryway, and the formal living room. I've tried to include all of the sources, but if you have any questions, drop me a comment below!

I love how the front porch turned out. It was quite a mess before! 

You can see here that my poor hanging ferns are on the verge of dying. I did a lot of research on keeping ferns alive in hot, dry climates, and I am ever-so-slowly reviving them. 

These rattan swivel chairs were $15 Craigslist finds. They are super comfy and I'm digging the 70's vibe.

This old church pew was given to us by a friend, and we always find a spot for it in each of our houses.

|| EXTERIOR SOURCES || EXTERIOR PAINT: CRACKED PEPPER by BEHR | TRIM PAINT: SNOWBOUND by SHERWIN WILLIAMS  | PORCH DECK STAIN: HOME DEPOT  | SHALLOW WHITE BOWL PLANTERS: SOUTHWOOD GARDEN CENTER | HOUSE NUMBERS: HOME DEPOT | ROUND FOOTSTOOLS: IKEA | MAILBOX: HOME  DEPOT | TERRA COTTA POTS: IKEA

The best thing that happened to this entryway and stairway was the removal of the awful yellow carpet. The original wood floors underneath was a beautiful thing to behold. They were stained the same color as the trim work, but had been quite worn out with time. 

Combined with all of the dark trim, the dark floors just made the space feel very heavy. We decided to have the floors sanded down and simply apply poly on top. I was quite nervous about how it would look with the dark trim, but I've come to really love how it looks together. 

|| ENTRYWAY SOURCES || FLOORS: ORIGINAL WOOD WITH JUST A TOP COAT OF MATTE POLY | WALL PAINT: SNOWBOUND by SHERWIN WILLIAMS  | RUG: VINTAGE, EBAY | LIGHT FIXTURE: HOME DEPOT (they don't carry it anymore from what I could see) | EVERYTHING ELSE: THRIFTED FINDS

The formal living room is directly to your right as you come in the front door. Until I found this sofa and chair set on Facebook marketplace (for $40 total!), I really struggled with how to bring this room together. 

There are so many windows and doorways in these old kit houses that there is hardly wall space for art! I am completely alright with that though as I crave natural light and am very indecisive when it comes to hanging things on the plaster walls. 

With old houses, you'll be hard pressed to find a straight line anywhere. Hanging pictures and curtain rods bring on a whole new challenge. Throw in plaster walls and you have lots of fodder for marital growth. 

The curtain rods in most of the house were a DIY project when I was about 30 weeks pregnant. Making curtains rods for the entire house was not one of my brightest ideas, but it did save us hundreds of dollars. I found a tutorial on Pinterest that called for spray paint, electrical conduit, and wood finials. I found the brackets for cheap on Amazon.  Throw in a handy hubby and some choice words and you have inexpensive curtain rods!

|| FORMAL LIVING ROOM SOURCES || POTTERY VASE COLLECTION: THRIFTED, RETRO DEN | VINTAGE INDIGO MUD CLOTH LUMBAR PILLOWS: ELLE JAY HOME  | SOFA and CHAIRS: FACEBOOK MARKETPLACE | RUG: WEST ELM | FLOOR TASK LAMP: ARTICLE | LARGE BLACK PLANTER: NORDEN GOODS | SCONCES: TARGET (SIMILAR) | CURTAINS: IKEA | WALL PAINT: SNOWBOUND by SHERWIN WILLIAMS

*All photography by Melissa Click Photography

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In case you missed it, below is the previous segment of the home tour:

Our 1920 Sears Kit House Before & After Tour // Part 1

Our 1920 Sears Kit House Before & After Tour // Part 1

If you follow me over on the gram, then you know that our house was just featured on Domino Magazine. That was such a fun experience and a total dream to have something we have worked so hard on recognized on a larger platform.

We bought this sears kit house back last summer (July 2016) and spent the next 4-5 months deep in construction dust and developing cramps in our check-writing hand. Of course many smaller projects were completed in the following months. And in these old houses, the projects will never end.

I am just now getting around to blogging an "after" house tour mainly because I wanted to wait until the magazine feature dropped and also because getting the house ready for a photo shoot is a ton of work. I also had a baby somewhere in there too.

You can see the full "before" house tour HERE with a lot more of the raw and in-progress pictures.


This tour is going to be a bit of mini series. Melissa of Melissa Click Photography did an amazing job photographing the house, and she sent over SO many pictures. I want to share them all with you. So, I'm going to do an overview tour in this post to kind of give you a feel for the flow of the place. And then I'm going to share some of the rooms individually in future posts. That way I can give more details on paint colors, product sources, etc without it being a mile-long post.

For the magazine shoot, Ashley Snyder came over and helped me out tremendously with her styling skills.

|| SOURCES || OUTFIT: PEPPER PLACE DESIGN | RUG: HOUSE OF BELONGING | WREATH: THRIFTED

Exterior before. 

The picture above was from the MLS listing. I almost didn't look any further because...well, that awning nearly smacks ya in the face through the screen. It looked like a four-eyed cat with buck teeth. 

Exterior after.

We removed the awning and the screens and even just that made a huge difference in the curb appeal. I loved the idea of a screened in front porch, but it made the house look much too boxy and unwelcoming. 

Many repairs went into the exterior siding and roof. The original windows were restored and insulated, and the entire porch floor (including the joists underneath) was rebuilt. We poured a new sidewalk and driveway as well as did some masonry repairs to the sides of the house. 

We painted the exterior and did some landscaping. I'll share more details in my post specifically about the exterior. 

Entryway before.

Entryway after.

Just Thinking about the hours and hours we spent pulling up carpet and staples and painting and refinishing all of the woodwork (while in my late second and third trimesters) just makes my back ache a little.

Every night, we would put Theo to bed and change into our grungy painting clothes. And every night we would fall into bed so exhausted but knowing that we were making it happen and that it would be so worth it.

SOURCES || FLOORS: ORIGINAL WOOD WITH JUST A TOP COAT OF MATTE POLY | WALL PAINT: SNOWBOUND by SHERWIN WILLIAMS  | RUG: VINTAGE, EBAY | LIGHT FIXTURE: HOME DEPOT (they don't carry it anymore from what I could see) | EVERYTHING ELSE: THRIFTED FINDS

Formal living room before. 

Formal living room after.

This room mostly just needed some plaster patching, the trim refinished, walls painted, and the floors done. 

SOURCES || SOFA and CHAIRS: FACEBOOK MARKETPLACE | WALL PAINT: SNOWBOUND by SHERWIN WILLIAMS | RUG: WEST ELM | FLOOR TASK LAMP: ARTICLE | 

Informal living room before (sort of...we had already taken up the yellow carpet). This view is looking into what we would make the dining room. Notice the curved ceilings in here! 

As a side note, all of the electrical in the house had to be completely updated. 

Informal living room after.

This space has gone through a couple of tranformations over the last few months as I figured out what I wanted to do with the space. Our television is on the other side of the room and the kitchen is adjacent, so this is one of the spaces where we spend the most time. 

SOURCES || SOFA: ARTICLE | COFFEE TABLE: TULSA FLEA MARKET | VINTAGE RUG: FACEBOOK MARKETPLACE | CHANDELIER: WEST ELM | FLOOR LAMP: TARGET | INDIGO PILLOWS: JENKINS & CO | MIRROR: THRIFTED | CURTAIN RODS: DIY | CURTAINS: IKEA

Here is another before picture taken while standing in the dining room, looking back through the informal living room into the formal living.  Originally, the informal living room was the dining room and the room we made into the dining room was actually designed to be a maid's quarters back in 1920. After looking at the blueprints for the Arlington kit houses, the odd layout made a whole lot more sense. I don't know what the previous owners used that room for, but the main level flowed much better when we opened up the room into the kitchen and made it into the dining room.

This is the view looking into the dining room.

Dining room after.We removed the two windows and replaced them with a set of french doors. We did the same in the kitchen. Both sets of french doors open up onto the large deck that we had built.|| SOURCES || LIGHT: IKEA | EVERYTHING ELSE: THRIFTED |

Kitchen before. 

The washing machine was hooked up just on the other side of the stove and the dryer was out on the closed in porch along with the fridge. 

We removed that wall with the door and window in it, and opened up the porch to increase the size of the kitchen. The back door was removed and those windows replaced with those second set of french doors. The sink location was changed to right in front of the large windows to the right and the wall where the sink was, was removed to open up to the dining room. 

We completely gutted the kitchen down to the studs as all of the plumbing had to be replaced in the entire house as well. 

The wood floors in here were in pretty rough shape, but we managed to salvage most of it and patch the rest.

Kitchen after. 

I will talk more about our kitchen renovation later, but oh my gosh! This was my baby, and I absolutely love how it turned out. 

Alright, let go upstairs!

This is our master bedroom before.

And after. 

The window seat in the master before.

And after. 

Our room and the kitchen are my two favorite places. All of my plants have been thriving in this corner and it makes me very happy. 

And here is the upstairs bathroom before. 

After we closed on this house, we literally ran up here first thing and tore out that plaster around the tub to find out if it was an original claw foot tub. And it was!!

We completely rearranged this room, and cut into the space a little to make room for a laundry room next door. I have absolutely loved having an upstairs laundry room. Since all of the bedrooms are upstairs, it just makes sense!

And here is the after.

Don't worry. I have lots more images of this whole space to share with you in another post.

For some reason, I don't have very many "before" pictures of the boys' room, but here is one.

I just can't get over all of the beautiful little details like the glass knobs and window seats.

And here is the after.

And there you have it! The guest bedroom, laundry room, downstairs bathroom, and basement weren't included in this post, but they have undergone some serious work too.


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See part 2 of the series by clicking on the link below:
Our 1920 Sears Kit House Tour: Exterior, Entry, & Formal Living // Part 2