I have a very small pantry in my new home so it is essential that we use the space efficiently. Recently this little pantry was busting at it's seams so I decided to give it a mini makeover and post my tips for organizing your pantry here (well below). Special thanks to our Modern Handmade home series partner Kitchen Stuff Plus for all the organizational storage required to make this pantry makeover possible.

I'm not a fan of laundry. I don't know anyone who is (and if they say they are they're either lying or tipsy). Before I came up with this easy and simple laundry routine, you could show up at my house and see a fully clean basket of laundry either in my laundry room or in my bedroom desperate for a fold. I don't know what it is but this is the step that always detoured me away from the task. I blame the dryer, honestly, the dryer takes longer than the washer so I would often get distracted or on to something else while the clothes were drying. In any case, I've found a new laundry system that works for me and my family (and has eliminated those pesky baskets of laundry).

If you caught my post yesterday, one thing I forgot to mention is that it was my second look. The post below was my first Christmas mantel however my husband thought it looked a little too pink (he's very traditional), so I redecorated in more traditional tones per that last post. So without further aduie here are more Christmas mantel decor ideas for faux fireplaces with help from our friends at Kitchen Stuff Plus.

The living room in our new home is missing a fireplace. We have one in our rec room but it has a very large TV above it and doesn't have enough room for stockings or decor. I was pretty bummed about not being able to decorate a Christmas mantel this year so I picked up a mantel surround on Kijiji and decided to get creative. Luckily as part of the Modern Handmade Home series we partnered with Kitchen Stuff Plus to decorate our kitchens and fireplace mantels. Here are my Christmas Mantel Decor Ideas for Faux Fireplaces.

I love seeing outdoor Christmas decorations in unexpected places. There's nothing like catching that lonely barn adorned with lights while driving down a country road in the winter. In my parent's backyard there's a shed that my dad built that reminds me of one of those lonely barns, it's beautiful and weathered.  Since we can see the shed from their dining room table, I thought it would be lovely to decorate it for Christmas. I was so excited to partner with Home Hardware on this project. Their selection was the perfect inspiration for all my rustic outdoor Christmas decorating ideas. Plus! Right now they are having their "Come Home for Christmas" Sale running from November 21 to December 24. Be sure to drop by and check out the sales.

Be sure to check out the other bloggers in the #modernhandmadehome series to see their projects with Schaub & Company cabinet hardware: Lindi from Love, Create, Celebrate, Colleen from Lemon Thistle and Thalita from The Learner Observer.

This post is in partnership with Schaub and Company. All expressed opinions are my own. 

This post is in partnership with Mitzi Lighting. All expressed opinions are my own.

I've put together a fun video showcasing these items if you'd like to see them up close.

Also, be sure to check out the other bloggers in the Modern Handmade Home series to see what they got the father-figures in their lives; Thalita from The Learner Observer, Lindi from Love, Create, Celebrate and Colleen from Lemon Thistle.

This post is in partnership with Personalization Mall. All expressed opinions are my own.

When we started our renovation project we decided to try our best to salvage as much as possible which included the doors and door knobs. The original knobs were very old but we thought a coat of paint might bring them new life. Boy was I wrong. Not only were they difficult to paint, the paint didn't look good and after about a month the paint started to wear off. Which is why I'm thrilled the Modern Handmade Home series is partnering with Schlage Canada, leader in stylish, top-grade hardware, to replace the door knobs on a few of my interior doors. Honestly the toughest part of replacing my knobs was removing the old ones, the paint had glued them to the door and the original knobs had no visible screws. So today I'm sharing how to replace a door knob with no visible screws.


So here is a photo of the original knob with our horrible paint job (can you guess why this diy never made it to the blog lol). There were two knobs I decided to replace; one in my basement bathroom and one on the closet in my upstairs bathroom.


For the basement I selected the classic look of the Bowery Knob with Greyson trim in matte black with lock. I love the classic look of this knob and it has a great weight to it which speaks to the quality of the hardware. I started by taking off the original knob. If you've never done this before, be warned, you may spout out a few unsavoury words.  To save you the agony here's how to remove a know with no visible screws: Simply insert a flat head screw driver into the notch located somewhere around the neck of the knob, it should pull off from there. Once I got the original knob off installing the Schlage knob was fairly easy (the instructions provided were super helpful).  I inserted the new latch and screwed on the new latch plate. Then I took the exterior half of the knob (the one with the spindle), pushed it through the latch and adhered it to the back half of the knob with the mounting screws.

For the closet in my upstairs bathroom I wanted something really special because the closet is small and cute. I selected the Custom Alexandria Non-Turning Glass Knob with Rosewood Trim in matte black. This one was soo easy to replace. After I got the original knob off this one simply drilled right into place.


Adding new door hardware can change the whole look of a door, elevating it and updating it. Even though we didn't replace the doors, replacing the knobs has made them feel like a new door.

Be sure to check out the other bloggers in the Modern Handmade Home series, Colleen from Lemon Thistle shows you how to install a Schlage Smart Lock, Thalita from The Learner Observer updates her hallway doors and Lindi from Love Create Celebrate shares how to replaces door knobs and deadbolts. Plus we've each shared a video to the Modern Handmade Home YouTube playlist to help illustrate how easy it is to replace your door hardware.

This post is in partnership with Article. All expressed opinions are my own.