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Our homes are made up of lots of working parts — bedrooms, redecorated kitchens, upgraded baths, ogle-worthy renos, ticks and tricks for cleaning and organizing, and real home tours all live here to represent the spaces of your Offbeat Home.

4 ways to start that home makeover you’ve been putting off

Tired of procrastinating your big home makeover? I know I was. For four years I’ve been meaning to restyle my boring old living room. Do you have the same problem? Then you should use these tips…

How we DIYed our IKEA kitchen remodel

While we hired contractors for the Serious Business projects like structural and electrical work, we decided to tackle updating the kitchen cabinets ourselves. We chose Ikea cabinets as they were generally agreed to be the best quality for the price and we wanted to keep this a budget kitchen wherever possible. Here’s how we pulled it all off…

Urban Homesteading: Planning and planting seedlings

So we got our seedlings planted, now it’s time to plan our garden! In my space, I have a 20’x6′ garden, which only gets sun from the West, with a medium-length growing season, and a fair bit of rain (go West coast!) and sun. Here’s my plan…

“Why do you smoke?”

I, like most people, know the risks and dangers associated with smoking. We should — we hear them often enough. So when a kid, who are often present at adult parties, asks me “Why do you smoke?” it becomes difficult to answer.

A slice of paradise: Our small lake-side cabin in Wisconsin

Our cabin is on a very quiet, small lake. We have nearly four acres. We’re big do-it-yourself-ers. We love the outdoors, so this cabin is our weekend getaway.

Our Lead Web Developer Kellbot’s colorful yuppie McMansion

When we were house hunting in 2011 I desperately wanted something with character. A 100+ year old building with cool architectural details, maybe some exposed brick or stone walls… I ended up with a new construction row home with wall to wall beige. We made it ours and we made it awesome.

Urban Homesteading: Starting a vegetable and herb garden

Planting a garden is super easy, and can be done even if you have no yard, and just a small space with some sun. I can’t even keep houseplants alive, and last year grew enough vegetables to keep me stocked for about four months straight in a single 12×5’ vegetable plot! If you’re thinking, “WHOA! This is way too hard for me, I don’t think I can manage this.” It’s okay, I’ll be gentle…

Built-in bunk beds with clever built-in storage

Longtime readers may know about my mom — we call her Lala. She’s kind of a genius when it comes to bunk bed plans…