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  • Hi, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

    I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle.

    You can find me writing for Home Living Handbook, HGTV.com, and a handful of other websites. Follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note if you'd like. I love notes.

    Thanks for visiting!

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5 Years at Home

September 18, 2018

A thousand words couldn’t properly articulate how much we love living here. We celebrated our 5th “homeiversary” in June, and just wrapped our 6th summer in this lovely place. This year, I attempted to replicate a few of my favorite photos from our first week including:

Backyard overgrown on the day we moved into our home; June 2013

Backyard after clearing brush and living here for 5 years; Pete, June 2018

And this, which shows how the fence used to be completely overgrown, making the back half of our property completely unusable:

Backyard, before the treehouse was built; June 2013.

Backyard after clearing brush and branches, and building the treehouse; Pete, June 2018

And even our “new” outdoor living room (a long post about its evolution is sitting as a rough draft):

Our screened in porch is the perfect summertime workspace.

We’ve had a busy few months (and if you follow me on IG, it’s 99% garden related). Shorter, colder days and a new back-to-school routine will hopefully give me more time to write again (I really miss it).

Though brainwaves related to these projects are still mostly unpublished, these are some of the things we did in our 5th year at home.

  1. We moved the fire pit.
  2. Changed the play-flow in our yard by opening up the rustic fence.
  3. Started a compost pile.
  4. Installed flagstone veneers to the covered porch (peek shown above).
  5. Removed the siding on our covered porch to expose the original cedar walls.
  6. Wouldn’t it be so great to have the back of our house fully landscaped? On the list. Lots of scheming has been done.
  7. Met with a kitchen designer; we could be gutting and remodeling as early as next Spring.
  8. Transplanted lots of pachysandra.
  9. Installed underground electrical fencing for Martha.
  10. Lost a white birch tree, a sassafras tree, a tiny pine, and a bazillion branches.

If you’re here for the first time, here are 10 projects we’ve done around this house in previous years that we still adore:

  1. Painted the barn
  2. Built a bigger garden
  3. Installed a big flagstone patio
  4. Created my own walk-in closet (I started with my closet, but we’ve done it to all bedroom closets at this point)
  5. Upgraded our fireplace to gas
  6. Installed a giant projection screen in our living room (movies and video games at max size)
  7. Created an art room in our basement
  8. Installed hardwood floors
  9. Painted our kitchen cabinets (a good makeover, and the paint has held up really well)
  10. Improved storage in our entryway
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Backyard  / Casual Celebrations

Emily
I'm a home improvement enthusiast living a very merry, DIY-filled lifestyle. As a freelance writer, you can find my work on many popular home and garden sites, including HGTV.com, Home Living Handbook, a Pursuit Channel for Men's Journal, and other outlets. Follow me on social, or drop me a note.

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Thi Hoang
June 20, 2020 at 8:43 pm
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Wow, what a lovely property. Your posts are so inspiring for those like me who are just starting to dabble in DIY stuff and gardening. I’m not good with ideas, so will check in now and again to borrow some from yours.



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  • HI, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

    I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle. Follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note if you'd like. I love notes.

    You can find me writing for Home Living Handbook, HGTV.com, and a handful of other websites.

    Thanks for visiting!

  • Instagram

    Merrypad // Emily Fazio

    merrypad

    I’ll always say yes to a maker space experience, I’ll always say yes to a maker space experience, and The Shed at @timberland’s HQ did not disappoint ✌️🥾 @homelivinghandbook 

Final footwear design not shown 🙂

PS tagging some cute shoes they gifted from the Fall 2024 collection!
    I made the call and snapped off the elephant garli I made the call and snapped off the elephant garlic scapes yesterday evening. Who’s going to help us harvest and eat the next 1,000? 🧄🧄🧄🧄
    Hi! Boy, do I have things to share. 🎉 🫶 Fr Hi! Boy, do I have things to share. 🎉 

🫶 Friendly reminder to focus on balance and wellness: Pete and I lived abroad with our family for the entire month of August 2023. If you ever have the opportunity to work remotely, I promise it to be a worthwhile adventure that’ll change your POV in so many ways. And, If you need an in with an incredible AirBnB in Denmark, DM me. From new playgrounds and museums to the culture and design, making this trip a reality continues to be something we celebrate every day, and I wish everyone can experience it on some level.

💻 Friendly reminder to say yes to new (overwhelming) opportunities: The professional celebration happened upon our return. Last fall, I was approached to launch @homelivinghandbook, a new Pursuit channel for @mensjournal that highlights home improvement and DIY! It has been really fun to see it come to light, and truly one of the most exciting partnerships I’ve ever had. Timing couldn’t have been better, and I’m really happy to see how it grows over time. Please follow along — the team published 150 articles in two months, covering all kinds topics for home enthusiasts! So much more to come. #linkinbio #homelivinghandbook

✌️ the end, many thanks for your support!
    How much garlic is too much garlic? Maybe we’ll How much garlic is too much garlic? Maybe we’ll find out in 2024. Finished planting 1,005 cloves (and 19 shallots) in three new beds at the farm, and crossed one huge chore off my list 📝 #gardennotes #garden2024
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    We grew these fools. We grew these fools.
    pumpkin patch is doing great✌️#year1 #squashbl pumpkin patch is doing great✌️#year1 #squashblossoms #pumpkinpatch
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