We’ve received a few of the same questions lately, and we thought now was as good a time as any to jump right in and discuss a few. Maybe these are something you’re curious about, too. If you’ve been looking, it’s probably here.
So without further ado, a few FAQ’s at The Handmade Home!
gawgeous family photos by the oh so talented Light by Iris
1. Do you do design for others?
We are a design firm in Tennessee, and currently work with design clients both locally {In the Franklin / Nashville area} and nationally. These include full on renovations, simple paint colors or new builds. Your pick, because we love a fun challenge. Be sure to check out our portfolio here with lots of fun before and afters… at least we like to think so.
Contact us about all that fun stuff, here.
Read more about us, here.
We love a good before and after!
2. Where can I see a current house tour of YOUR home?
We’re currently in the middle of building our primary addition, and there’s always something new going on around here. A nice view of our home with a history of it all laid out, can be found here. Yes, it is time for an updated tour. That will probably happen when this addition is finished.
The entire series {real-time drama-filled over-the-top documentation} can be found here. Wheeee! On the bright side, we know what it feels like to do live through a renovation, because we’ve done it time and time again.
We promise this one doesn’t disappoint.
3. Is that a garage or a basement?
When we first moved in, we took this house renovation on a level by level basis. So we lived upstairs while taking on the basement. It was originally a very long garage, so I guess option C, both: a garage and a basement. This question drives people crazy, for some reason. Maybe borderline stabby. So, the answer is both.
Don’t come for us.
Now, it’s just a basement. And we love it. We go into more detail about our process here.
People often like to know where we park. For some reason, they’re really concerned about the welfare of our cars. We actually park in our driveway, for now. We have more plans for that in the next year or so, depending on how crazy everything else is. As always, stay tuned.
4. What size is your great room area + what size is your island?
When we took down all our walls, we ended up with 28 feet x 28 feet.
We know a lot of people are curious about that, since our house is a traditional split level, and the layout is similar to many others.
And our island is 4.5 feet deep x 9.75 feet wide {another question we receive often.}
5. Did you plank your own ceilings? Where do I find that how to?
Which brings me to… You can also see where we removed our ceilings and put in an LVL beam to add height to the room.
You can see the entire process here + a round up of each level of our home and how it was treated, here.
6. What color is that on your ceilings?
It’s Sherwin Williams Tidewater. The perfect blue for ceilings. All the heart eyes.
7. What are your favorite paint colors for… fill in the blank? {cabinets, greys, kids’ rooms, etc.}
• You can check out some of our favorite hues here.
• Check out all the colors for our own home, here.
8. Are you finished with your house?
In a word, no. We’ve broken this house down into phases. See a history of our house here + where we are with it now.
That’s the grand plan, anyway.
It feels like a bit of a mix between “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” mixed with a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book. On steroids. {Crack?} Maybe throw the movie Halloween in the mix, because it feels thematically appropriate and sometimes we get stabby. There are a lot of options and things are a little complicated. We’ve decided to grow our business, and enjoy the process because it’s always a process.
9. How do you use your spaces?
We thought this was a great question, since we love the fact that we use it for both entertaining, and spreading out.
Check out how we break it down, here.
Check out how we break it down, here.
10. Where did you get those awesome barn doors?
Our favorite source for hardware + doors is Artisan Hardware!
They have gorgeous pieces and will work with you on any idea. We have multiple pieces of theirs throughout our home and absolutely love them. Be sure to check them out here.
11. Do you have plans for the hideaway?
Check out our ultimate treehouse guide, here, chock full of information and inspiration!
We have two versions.
Bonus: What are the over all dimensions?
10′ x 12′ x 18′ {again, find all the details in the link above!}
photo courtesy of Country Living Magazine via Brian Woodcock
12. What type of dogs do you have?
They’re what we affectionately refer to as our Pyreheelers. Two rescue dogs that are littermates/sisters – they’re red heeler and white pyrenees mixes. Their names are Rigby + Fitz. They’re balls of high anxiety, antics, and lots of fluff, but we adore them. We lost our first furbaby to cancer a few years ago, and they had big paws to fill. We love rescue pups.
12. I know Hobby Lobby doesn’t carry your art anymore… where can I find it?
You can find our art here. You support a small business {us!} any time you purchase our art. Check out our sale right now!
13. Where did you find that art?
Most of the art you see in our home, is done by yours truly. I love doing it when I have the time, and carry a lot of our prints, here.
And if you can’t find it there, be sure to check all our freebies, here.
But where did you get that singing in the rain art?
I had to google, because I didn’t remember… but I found it here. Happy shopping!
14. Did you paint your piano?
Yes! Here’s the full how to, here.
15. How do you pronounce Jamin’s name?
We get lots of variations, {Hameen, Jasmin {on a starbucks coffee cup}, and Jammin to name a few} but it’s pronounced Jay-men because we be southern. Fun fact: we named our third child Benjamin Malone after my maiden name and his great-grandfather… but Benjamin also literally means son of Jamin. Yes, we’re nerds like that. He was all, Lion King in the hospital and stuff since we kept him a surprise until the very end and really didn’t know what his or her name would be… Cool story.
16. Do you guys ever fight?
We have our banner days, and we have our if-you-chew-cereal-around-me-today-there-will-be-an-untimely-death-days… so MAWWAIGE, for sure. I think what you see is what you get with us. After almost 20 years of marriage, it can be challenging to work with your significant other. But also lots of fun, because we make a great team, and wouldn’t have it any other way. We’re total opposites at times, and it works for us. He’s an enneagram 7 w 8, I’m a 4 w 3. We both love self-depreciating humor, and learning more about everything. He loves football, and I love true crime. Just for fun, here are 22 things we’d tell ourselves, if you’re curious. And a little bit of our story here.
17. I’m thinking about going into business for myself. Got any advice?
We covered a little of that in stories, here. But feel free to ask any questions below, too!
18. Does your house always look like this?
Uh, no. My cleaning style can best be described as “there was an attempt. And then a horrible struggle”. We both work full time running a real live small business offline, and don’t keep normal hours. So the entire family tag teams the house on the weekends – yes, our kiddos definitely chip in. I can’t wait to show you the purging nonsense I took on last week. Because I totally have time for that but I also have spring fever so it was a whole thing.
We’re living an total chaos right now with our addition and I’m just happy when we make it a priority to sit down to a family dinner. It’s my greatest hope to remind you all that it doesn’t have to be perfect. Love your home where it is now, with laundry piles, paperwork and legos that you will inevitably step on… even the fluffs of impossible-to-clean dog hair. It’s what makes a house a real home… and all those sweet memories.
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We hope that you’ve enjoyed this little FAQ’s session today, and if you have anything else to ask please do so below!
We’d love to hear from you. Ask away, and we’ll see if we can help.
Have an inspired day!
Great info! Love seeing y’all in my inbox and what you have to offer each week!
I actually printed some of your freebies and gave them as Mother’s Day gifts this year. We spray painted some frames I wasn’t using in the attic to give them even more color… which I’m sure you approve!
😉
Awe I definitely approve! LOVE that you were able to use them like this! Thank you so much for letting us know. This makes it worth all the time to hear from sweet people like you.
I was wondering how you keep that beautiful yellow umbrella clean from dirt, mildew, and all the outside elements. Your pool area looks so great and I always love reading your posts.
HAHA That is a great question that I can not answer just yet, because we’re headed on our third year and it’s looking a little puny. Real life. I have been purging the entire house {to help with all of this chaos} and I am figuring that out today because I’m clearing out the cabana. Outdoor stuff just doesn’t always hold up, but I may be cleaning it to see what happens. Wish me luck! Thank you so much for your sweet comment- stopping by means so much!