Hey Friends! Can you believe June is already over? Why is it that the summer months always fly by so quickly? Please slooooow down, or before we know it Bridget will be back at school working away!

We had another big room reveal this month…the NURSERY! Didn’t it turn out adorable? We are obsessed, and even more importantly the mom-to-be is happy with the space. Happy new mom = happy rookies.

On The DIY Playbook

• Proof that gift cards can be personalized presents too
• A way to put all of those pretty Instagram pictures to good use
• Have you sealed your granite countertops?
• Bridget showed off the nursery’s gallery wall, revealed the space, and even created an easy way for you to shop the room!
• Are you making this rookie design mistake? Eek…we certainly have done this before!
• Casey’s love for champagne continues…
• What’s your design style? We are still trying to nail down ours!
• An HONEST review on the paint colors we both chose for our homes
• B decided to change things up in her bathroom. Bye, bye builder-grade..hello, round & pretty!
• Did you like these fun hyperlapse craft videos we created? We sure had a good time creating them.
• The gameplan & reveal of Casey’s new board & batten in her hallway!
• Quite possibly the most satisfying DIY task
• Never forget the paint colors in your home again with these simple tricks
• It’s official…Casey is finally getting a dining room table! And there’s a strange requirement by Mr. Finn for this one…
• It’s safe to say Bridget had a once in a lifetime trip to Alaska! Did you see all of these gorgeous pictures from her recap? This “what to pack” post was a fun read too!
• If you’re hanging tempaper anytime soon, you’ll definitely want to read this post

Around the Blogosphere

• 28 home items that don’t break the bank
• Emily Henderson’s Top 3 Design Tips
• Do you follow us on snapchat (“diyplaybook”)?? If so, then you saw some of the behind-the-scenes from an event we recently attended with Whirlpool & Maytag. We had so much fun learning about their new products and we even got to go up inside the Whirlpool Clock Tower in Chicago! I mean, check out this —>
• Did you see this kitchen makeover? Holy smokes. We can barely believe it only took 6 days! Those gray cabinets #swoon
• This neutral Chicago Home Tour = MAJOR heart eyes.
• YHL has a podcast now!! Have you listened?! What do you think?! Looks like podcasts are really gaining some popularity lately. Do you guys think it’s the wave of the future?

  

  

• We also had the chance to have a little Q2 get together, just the 4 of us. We took a dinner cruise on Lake Michigan and toasted to a  great start of 2016. We always like to take some time to schedule some fun things to do, instead of just always chugging along on the business side of the blog. We had a great time together and had the most perfect night out on the water.

Personal Updates

Casey

We returned from our amazing trip to Austin at the beginning of the month, and have spent the past few weeks home in Chicago. Now that the weather is finally warm, Finn & I are enjoying our weekends exploring our neighborhood. We’ve gone to lots of street festivals, hit up a White Sox game, and have tried out some new restaurants in our area. I love summer days where we can be outside dining al fresco.

We also had the honor to both stand up in Finn’s sister’s wedding! It was an ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS wedding held on the campus of the University of Chicago.

We had an amazing time dancing the night away, while celebrating the love of 2 of our favorite people. And how gorgeous is her dress?! I mean pink ombre…can you even?!  It was also fun because the bride used many of the same vendors we used for our wedding, so we were able to  catch up with some of the people we worked so closely with 1.5 years ago. Crazy how time flies!

Bridget

I still can’t believe it’s summer vacation!!! As you know, Matt and I spent the first week in June road tripping around Alaska & I still feel so grateful for the chance to check that amazing vacation off of our bucket list. And although the trip was PERFECT, I was equally exciting to come home (especially coming home to a summer off!). <— there’s no place like home, right?!

I’ve gotten a lot of “little” stuff done around the house since then… ya know, those hidden spaces that seem to get neglected during the year (closets, drawers, freezer, garage, etc.). I actually ENJOY organizing so it feels amazing to get these hidden spots back in order. I’ve also been in the planning process for a few “small-ish” projects around our house (shiplap in the bathroom, some MUCH needed attention to our guest room, treasure hunting for that bedroom bench) & of course I’ll be sharing once I make any real progress. <– which is hopefully soon to all of the above!

BABY UPDATES: No news… yet. Katie is due Saturday (as in 2 days from now!!) so hopefully, I’ll have some news any day minute now. My family got together to celebrate father’s day and realized that was probably the last time ALL of us would be together before baby. We celebrated by having a progressive dinner in a suburb nearby. We walked from restaurant to restaurant enjoying a little something different at each stop — drinks, appetizers, dinner and eventually dessert (it was a total blast!!). We then came back to our patio to give my amazing dad his father’s day gifts AND of course…. take a selfie documenting the last time we’re a party of 7 … soon to be 8 –>

Can you tell we’re excited?! Stay tuned…

Bridget&Casey