On the show today, Stephanie and I vent about what it’s like to tackle projects in your home and balancing the mess & stress with your spouse. As DIYers, this is probably your creative outlet and a way to also bring value to your home, but sometimes your spouse/partner can get annoyed with the constant construction. It can be hard to find a balance, so we discuss how we navigate the difficulties. Stephanie is also well into her pregnancy and already has three little ones running around and we discuss how she’s able to find the time/strength to take on so many projects. A true inspiration, Stephanie is super relatable and is an amazing follow (@spetrichhome)!
On the show today, Stephanie and I vent about what it’s like to tackle projects in your home and balancing the mess & stress with your spouse. As DIYers, this is probably your creative outlet and a way to also bring value to your home, but sometimes your spouse/partner can get annoyed with the constant construction. It can be hard to find a balance, so we discuss how we navigate the difficulties. Stephanie is also well into her pregnancy and already has three little ones running around and we discuss how she’s able to find the time/strength to take on so many projects. A true inspiration, Stephanie is super relatable and is an amazing follow (@spetrichhome)!
Hey, what's up. What's up. I am your host, Alex Dalessio and welcome to the real life innovation part. If you're looking to get your hands dirty and do it yourself in your home, then this is the go-to DIY and home renovation community. Just for you. I invite you to join us each week. As I chat with some of your favorite DIY creators, discuss all that goes into their DIY journey and the renovation projects that they've accomplished and how you can achieve similar results in your home. So if you have zero experience like I did, when I started a year ago, then there's no better community for you to gain the next. Covenant and inspiration to release your anger. Bad-ass upon every corner of your home. So let's pick up their hammer, have some fun, a nail your home renovations together. welcome to the real life renovation podcast. I am your host, Alex Dalessio and this is episode. Today I'm with Stephanie Pentridge. Uh, you can find her at S Petra home on Instagram. She is a lovely follow. She's a beautiful home in Utah with an amazing mountain background in her backyard. It's ridiculous. Uh, she's been featured in apartment therapy and she is a mom of three with another on the way. Uh, so she has a really awesome follow. And as we always open it up, Stephanie, I imagine you're sitting down with HGTV producers to pitch them on a show on. Well, what'd you tell him, set you apart from other creators and what would the premise of the show be? I
Stephanie:think what sets me apart from other creators is, well, first of all, I have gained such a good relationship with so many people, so many creators on here, and I love how everybody is so different, but what I have always loved coming to Instagram and coming to social media is that I just love being. And I've had to make sure that I stay true to myself in that because a lot of times I see, you know, you, you consume on social media and you've seen, oh, well look, everybody's doing this. So I should be doing that. And I've had to like make a conscious effort to make sure I'm doing, to stay true to myself and to do what works best for me, even if other people aren't doing that. So I think what sets me apart. Just being real and relatable. And I love bringing like the behind the scenes and the background of my life into what I'm doing everyday on Instagram, because it really just, it all comes together for me. It's just, I can't, it's really hard to separate, you know, my like, and people love the reactions of my husband and all of that. And like my kids coming in and I think it's because people can relate to. That because it's hard to differentiate, like doing work, like work home always comes together. So I feel like that's probably what sets me. From other people. And so I don't know what the premise of the show would be, but it would probably be chaos because, cause I feel like that's how it is at my house all the time with so many
Alex:different Stephanie, Patrick. Yeah, exactly. No, I think you do an amazing job and like I don't have kids yet. They're on the way out in the next few years, like with me and Kylie, but just seeing how you handle. Well, like, it's honestly some of my favorite stories when you're trying to do something serious that your kids are like in the basement, like playing around and then you can just hear the chitter-chatter and it's just so real. Like I know how difficult it is for me to do projects just when I don't have the distractions and the fact that you're able to like crank out these amazing projects with, you know, all the. The stresses of, you know, a family life of three kids and one on the way, like, that's just insane to me. I think you do an amazing job with balancing
Stephanie:that. Yeah. And I love it and I, I, I think it's good for my kids to see that I'm pursuing something for myself. And, um, I don't know, just learning for me and learning how to do this stuff. It's just, it's, it's fun. I like.
Alex:Yeah. And I saw you and done a couple of things. I remember. I can't remember how long ago it was, but I remember you did like a Nerf board or like a, it was like a nurse, um, saying, am I wrong? No,
Stephanie:no, I didn't. I didn't know thin wall for my kids. I also built a castle for my daughter. And so I felt like I had to do that. If I do that for one kid, then I have to do something for an, you know what I mean? So.
Alex:How much do they help? Like, obviously they're not doing crazy things, but, you know, do you ever, well, one are, do they enjoy helping or is it kind of like a chore and two? Like what type of things have you had them help with in the past?
Stephanie:I mean, they do kind of help, but they just, they're still young, so they get distracted and they're like, oh, this is boring, but I mean, they'll help occasionally, you know, My son found a hammer one time and he just, he loves he's eight and he loves to go outside and just play around with things and use the hammer. And so it wasn't necessarily helping me, but he was like using the hammer and he like hit his thumb really hard. And I think after that, he was kinda like, I think I'll stay away from the hammer for a little bit
Alex:scared of it. Yeah, it was a good, it's a good little lesson without giving Sears, Andrew. How are they, when, uh, when you make those helping conditions, how are they when you make, take them to like, uh, trips like home Depot or Lowe's or things like that, I've seen you do it a couple times.
Stephanie:Yes, I, well, I find that I don't get very many trips to home Depot or Lowe's by myself. Usually there's at least one child with me, if not all, three of them, um, they. They at first, they thought it was really fun, but now they're like, we've just, we've come here. So many times, mom, like after bribe them, there's like a smoothie place by home Depot. And so I'll be like, I'll buy you a smoothie. We're going to go to home Depot or like, okay, bye. But then they ask for, you know, at home Depot, they always have at the checkout, they have all those suckers. They always like have the candy and stuff of the checkout. So they're always like bugging me like, oh, I'm going to have that. So I kind of have to be. Can you be my big helpers? Can you help me like put it on the car and help me make sure they like to swing like monkeys on the little lumber carts?
Alex:Well, I
Stephanie:don't know. It's, you know, it's, it's always like a balancing game with kids for anything that you do. So
Alex:yeah. I have the utmost respect for like watching your stores. It's insane. And then to add on top of it. Um, you're pretty far along in your pregnancy as well, and you've just been still steadily cranking out things. So I would love to hear just like your experience with that. Um, and how you think it's affected, if at all, just like your ability to do things around the house, um, with your projects.
Stephanie:Um, it was definitely something I was nervous about. We were on the fence about having another one, just because pregnancy is so hard on me. And also we're already drowning in parenthood. But we knew down, down the road, like in the future, we'd be grateful that we had as many kids as we do. So it was kind of like a necessary evil, um, a means to an end, I guess. Um, but yeah, it's been, I was, I would really was nervous because usually I get so sick when I'm pregnant and I have, I've been sick, but like, this is my mental outlet and it's like what I do for myself. And so I've kind of just pushed through the physical. Um, you know, struggles just so that I could do what I love so that mentally I could be happier. And if I'm happier, I'm a better mom and everything. So luckily my husband's super supportive. And so, you know, when I'm really sick, it's like, I can only do so much. Like I couldn't do all of it. So he would take a lot of the kid duty. We kind of just have to balance it together so that we can both support each other in whatever we're doing, you know, but it has been, it's been difficult. It's definitely been difficult. And I mean, people ask, are you, are you nervous to like get on ladders and stuff from like, I'm nervous about like walking out in the ice on to get to my car in the, you know, when I'm going to the grocery store. Anything can happen at any time. I try to be careful and it's been hard, but I, I have pushed through it just so that I could have this for me, you know,
Alex:a hundred percent. And so were you doing projects like before social media, or did you start your kind of your social media presence at the same time you started your DIY journey or kind of, how did your journey and both on social media and DIY.
Stephanie:Yeah. So, I mean, I've been pretty like active on social media, like on my own personal account. Um, I have, I mean, I would have friends and stuff say from my personal account, I'd be posting more, especially during the, um, the shutdown. And I think when you're a stay at home, mom, And you just like, need an outlet because you're just stuck at home with your kids all the time. So you like look for something. So I feel like a lot of stay-at-home moms, like they end up on social media just because it's there, you know? And so I'm, I'm, I'm posting on social media, mostly like funny stuff about like how hard life is with kids. And I, and I have like friends telling me like, oh, I love watching your stories. And you know, they're so relatable and, you know, I'm just, and I was just like, well, I'm just, this is normal life for me. This is just, I don't know. Yeah. I don't know. What's so funny. I mean, it's funny, but it's also just like, well, I'm just sharing my life. And then we moved to a new house and I had my third baby and I just started, um, like I wanted to do stuff to my house, but my husband, he's a techie guy. Like, he's so good at. That's just what he does. He's not a handy guy, which is fine. Not everybody, your hands, not everybody's handy, you know? Um, and so, or he didn't understand, I would say, oh, I want this done to the house. And he'd be like, but why it looks fine, how it is. Like it's functional.
Alex:Why when the, when he came into the hallway, when you were, uh, when you were fixing up the hallway, I think it was a hallway and he was like, I kind of liked it. Like, this is nice. He was like, I think I kinda liked it the way it was before. I
Stephanie:know, but so yeah, he, he just, you know, we all have our own styles too, but it just doesn't, it's not the same thing for him, you know, it's not his thing. And so I kind of was like, well, I could pay somebody to do it, or I could figure out how to do it myself. And so I just tried to figure out how to do it myself. And it was like, it turned into this creative outlet for me. And I started sharing on social media and eventually made my own separate account from like my personal account and started posting on there. And I loved it because I got to know people and I watch other people and learn from them. And so it just kind of like
Alex:snowballed, oh, it's such an amazing community. Not only did I learn from other creators, but I learned from people probably mostly from people in my DMS. Like I'll have, you know, professionals and I would say on Instagram, like 98% of them are positive comments. Like constructive criticism. Some of them are, can be not so constructive. It's not so nice. But I learned from those two. The community, um, is just so strong and in the supporters of kind of almost being on your journey and the project with you, helping you make decisions, uh, stuff like that. Like for instance, something I never thought of is in my basement renovation, I was talking about flooring and what color I wanted to pick. And, um, I've never done flooring outside of tile before it, and a bunch of my followers, like just absolutely demolished my DMS and were like, don't go dark. If you're putting it in a basement. And you're not finishing the rest because all the dust from the unfinished part is going to come in there and it's going to show on the dark. Whereas if you go light, like you won't have to clean it as much. It won't be as noticeable. I was like, wow, I never would've thought of that. Like, thank you for saving me. And like, you know, I just feel such a strong community.
Stephanie:Yes. I like, it just blows my mind because honestly, I mean, there's still time, but I don't really get bad messages. Yeah, they're mostly like all positive, super supportive. And you would think unless you're on Tik TOK, different
Alex:story.
Stephanie:Well, it's like, we all know it, so we just laugh at it, but I, I just have loved, I loved getting to know people and learning from everybody. And I just love that it's such a, uh, inclusive community and everybody's just so supportive. Um, I don't know, it's just been different than I thought it would be, because I just was nervous that, you know, as you grew that you would get these mean people and it would be hard. And, and I have had a few, but like overall, it's been.
Alex:Yeah, the reels are where I get most of them. Cause that's where it's like, they're not following you and they just don't care. And they're just going to send whenever they want at that, in that moment at the time. But like DMS, I would say it's very rare that I get a negative one. I'm sure you've seen the
Stephanie:same thing. No, I and probably reels reels are similar to like tick tock where it's like, they just, they get shown to everyone. It's like one of those necessary. You got to do real so that more people can see your content, but then you get the crazy people.
Alex:So, yeah. And they, and they come quick too, but, uh, yeah. And touching on social media a couple months ago, I saw, uh, some of my favorite creators, including you, obviously you guys went to, um, I don't know, like a house or a weekend retreat. I don't know exactly. Um, but you go, I think it was in Utah. But I would love to hear about that. And what you learned, um, in, in the social media and DIY space, both like, you know, actually actual DIY stuff you might have learned and tips and tricks you may have picked up or social media tracks, you may have picked up or just the community that, that is this old community and what you learned in that moment and that weekend.
Stephanie:Yeah. So. I had a friend that I will, they all, all of them. I met through social media. I never knew any of them outside of social media. Um, and I got invited by a friend that, um, I've slowly got to know. I don't know if I don't know how long he followed me for it, but I went and helped her with, um, doing a mudroom. She just like, she just, she, um, reached out to me on Instagram to come help her with. And she lived in Utah too. And so I just went and helped her. And then we became friends and, you know, you get friends through going to certain things like there's like the Haven conference and stuff like that. And so she just invited a bunch of people to this, to this retreat. And I was lucky enough to be one of the people invited. And I was like, I'm with celebrities. This is so cool. But I, um, It was, I was so nervous going into it because I was like, I don't know these people, I don't know what it's going to be like, but they're just as real in real life as like you see online, like they're the same people and they're just as awesome as you think they would be. And that was like really eye-opening to me. And I, I loved getting to know them better and also. Like a lot of, a lot of the people in close to in my life. I don't like, they're not on social media. Like they're not doing the creative, they're not creating things on the internet. And like, they're not in the same space as me. And so it's hard to like find people to talk to that, get it,
Alex:you know?
Stephanie:And so going to that and being able to talk to people who knew exactly what it was like. And I feel like I do all day long and. You're like showing your face face on social media and like doing all of that, but you don't have anyone to talk to about it because you know what I mean? And so going to that was like, was really good for me to learn and to feel, I don't know, validated in some things and
Alex:yeah. And
Stephanie:understood. So I think that's the biggest thing that I got out of it and just, I feel like true friendship.
Alex:Yeah. And that was going to say it like that. I don't know. Are you going to Haven conference or have you been? I
Stephanie:haven't been, maybe. I don't know. I'm
Alex:not sure yet. I just booked my tickets. I've been talking to a couple friends I've bet on here that they're going. So I'm really excited. Uh, just to finally get some, you know, meet the people in person and hang out for, you know, a long weekend. Uh, cause I, I feel like the friendships and the community is so strong and it's so. Um, and it's pretty crazy to me, all these people and like-minded people that share a common interest, uh, and are just fun to follow and chat with in DMS and stuff. And actually I'm excited to meet them in person, uh, and just kind of extend that friendship and that comradery that is this entire community.
Stephanie:Yeah, totally. No, I think a lot of people that were at the. Um, retreat. I don't know you want to call it that we did get away. Um, a lot of them they met like at Haven and that kind of thing. So
Alex:that's really cool. And I, as for whatever reason, I don't know if maybe the algorithm just likes to show me influencers from Utah, but I feel like there's just so many DIY influencers from Utah. And I got to know, is there something in the water, like, do you, do you feel the same? Like. I just feel like not the majority, but I guess if I were to pick one state where I feel like most reside, at least don't want to, I follow, I don't know why, but I feel like they're all on YouTube. Like I always see these nice, gorgeous mountain backdrops in their backyard. And I like live in a city home in the east coast. I'm like, don't have any of that.
Stephanie:Yeah. Um, I don't know. I've heard of people having different theories. Um, I don't know that what's funny about it is at least. Not all, but there were only a few people at that getaway that I went on that were actually from Utah. Most of them were from like far away. And like the people that I started following on Instagram, um, in the DIY space were not from Utah, but it does seem like there are a lot from Utah and I, I mean, a stay-at-home moms, I don't know. Maybe that has to do with it. It's like going crazy. We need something to make us not crazy. I don't know.
Alex:Yeah. I was always like baffled. I was like, man, maybe that's the secret sauce.
Stephanie:I mean, I've heard people say like, maybe it's a religion thing or maybe it's an, I am like, I don't know. I don't know. I mean, I should not want to live in Utah. I've never been. I, well, I grew up all over. We moved around a lot, but I was born and raised in, um, thank you for Washington. Oh, wow. And I still have family there. And then we lived in Colorado for a while and my husband and I, we actually lived in Maryland for two years. That's where
Alex:I am. Yeah, I'm in Baltimore. I'm from Annapolis, but I live in,
Stephanie:I had my, um, oldest in Annapolis. Yeah. And then we moved when he was like a year old or something like that. So it's been awhile, but my husband worked for the government there. So we did, we love Baltimore, but we were like, we'll never be able to afford a house here.
Alex:Yeah, I will say, and it was significantly cheaper than DC, but just like for sure, like DC is just nuts. So I really enjoy here, but we're like probably two, three years away from like moving LA back to Annapolis, just suburb life. We're enjoying the city living while we can. Um, and then we're going to start a family. We were so ready to say, got to have a backyard and be able to do all that stuff. So,
Stephanie:yeah. So I've, I've lived all over and I always said, well, um, like I will never live in Utah. I don't know why I didn't want to live in Utah, but I never wanted to live in. Yeah. And then here we are, my husband needs to, um, let's see like seven year and I want to say, oh wow. I know. I think we'll be here for a while. Cause a lot of our families here now, so we like talk about moving elsewhere, but then it's like, well we all, we have family here. So we're kind of stuck.
Alex:I know. That's how I saw it. We were like, we didn't really want to go somewhere warmer. Like not that man. Cold by any stress compared to like the Midwest and north and stuff. But we were like, oh, we really would love to like move somewhere warmer. And they were like, all our family and friends are here. It's makes it so much harder to like, oh, that
Stephanie:trigger family just like makes you stay places. I
Alex:know. We were like, if like a job offers on the kind of pulled you into that direction, and then you had to make a choice, it'd be one thing. But for us to just be like, nah, Move out of here starting to do life somewhere else. Yeah. That's the only struggle. So how long have you guys been married?
Stephanie:Um, hold on. Well, 12 or 13 years, I think it's, I think we'll be 13 years this
Alex:summer. Nice king rat. And so, so remind me your husband's name. One more time pants. I remember seeing it. I remember you, that's a story. I don't know if you've done them all the time. Now that you said that I totally remember the story you did on
Stephanie:that. No, it's a family name and it's Danish and everyone always says it wrong. So he just, he just, you know, people call the haunts to just respond. Yeah.
Alex:A little bit. So, so hands, I guess, talk a little bit about, um, how he kind of re not react, but how he's kind of maybe involved in the design process or just kind of having. I always love seeing his reactions because it reminds me so much of Kylie's to mine, where I always say she's like my biggest supporter, but my biggest hater slash critic, but in a good way, cause she'll tell it to me like this and she won't sugarcoat it. And it kind of helps me at least in my design process and process in general. So I'd love to see, hear your thoughts on it,
Stephanie:but this has always been a super honest. And like, I'll ask them how they look in an outfit and he'll like be honest about it, which I totally appreciate. Um, he, he ha he has a love, well, a love, hate relationship with my projects. The love part is because he knows that I love it. Um, it just, he likes things the way that they are. He doesn't like change as much. And if something's working fine, then why fix it? You know? Yeah. But he's still like, he still thinks it's awesome. And so he'll see my project who will be like, whoa, like you were serious about doing that and you actually did it. That's amazing. Yeah, but he's very honest in his reactions about it and he'll, he'll always go and like check to make sure everything works right. Or like, he'll look at pills, he'll pick out the little things and be like, well, what about this thing? And what about that? He, like, he notices it all and that's just because he's such a, such an honest person about everything. And like, he'll say it like it is, which I appreciate
Alex:that's exactly how Kylie is. Sometimes I'm like, I gotta remind myself, like mentally. It's just meant to be constructive criticism that Louis laugh about it always. Um, so when she does go like, wow, this is so I'm doing the basement renovation. I had just finished the drywall wedding and I put my first coat of primer on. She walks downstairs. She was like, damn Alex, like your drywall mudding skills. Like this looks like our drywall upstairs. Like someone actually did the drywall. Damn cause she w she was my biggest critic when I did her bathroom. And you can still see some of the like, and levelness of the drywall mud. She's like, you're going to fix that. Yeah. It's really hard. She was like, are you going to fix that? And I was like, I'm going to give you like the DIY or answer. And like, I'm going to get back to it eventually,
Stephanie:but not 5%.
Alex:Exactly. You talk about it all the time. It's so hard. Cause like you, once you, it functions and it's basically basically finished your brain just is like, Right. And you don't get back to like making a caulking or putting trim up, like on the floor. And you're just like, I just want to move on. But, uh, does, does Hans ever get frustrated with the messiness of projects?
Stephanie:Oh my gosh. That's probably like the biggest pet peeve. He wants to come home from work to like everything. Nice and put together like, well, he doesn't, he doesn't slip to come home to dinner because that hasn't happened in forever. But, or like, but if he comes home and like, his stuff is not where it's usually is, he's like, I can't handle this. This is too much. I'm talking about like redoing our bathroom and he's like, but then I won't be able to use my shower for however long. And it's like, well, forget it. I don't want to do it then I'm like, but it'll be worth it. It's totally worth it. Yeah. Yeah. That's probably the biggest headache from that and the cost, the cost of everything. And then the displacing of his like things he gets to normally, or like just having the medicine. Sometimes they have a mess and the kids get into it and they get into the tools and it's just, it's stressful for him.
Alex:So, yeah. See like me. Totally be okay with it. Cause I know it's for a greater good, but like Kylie is like, you need to get this drywall out of our dining room. Right. And I'm like, just give me a couple of days.
Stephanie:I get, I get it. But it's like, there's no way around it, you know?
Alex:Yeah. And she actually, I always tell people she's way more naturally handy than I am. I'm like her dad growing up, taught her a bunch of. Um, just kind of things around the house, whereas my parents not definitely not at all. Um, but so she picks up things way faster when she does decide to help me. Uh, but she, like, she just can't stand the stress that a DIY project takes because you're going to mess up. There's going to be things that you could've done better and you're gonna have to problem solve and the way she reacts to stress. I couldn't be more different than how I react to it. Like me, I'm the psych. I won't be able to sleep until I solve it. So I'll just keep working on it. Whereas she's like, I'm gonna wipe my hands clean and walk away and I don't want to touch this. Like let's tire somebody.
Stephanie:Yeah, no. Yep. That sounds that's hilarious. Familiar. Yeah.
Alex:So that's been a struggle because she used to, before I started posting on social media, we did a couple projects and she would help me, but. This was before I quit my job and did this full time. She, so we would come home from work and I'd be like, Hey, can like our laundry rooms a mess. Like I want to get it done so we can do laundry again. That'd be nice. Uh, that spend three hours out of our night doing that. And she could do it for a couple of days. And then she would just be like, no, like, I just want to watch bachelors in paradise, or I just want to watch real life, real Housewives of Atlanta or salt lake city. And. Uh, whereas for me, like, I'd be sitting at work, like can't wait to, to like work on this project. And it was like, it was a creative outlet to me.
Stephanie:Yeah. I know. It really is it like, I, I try to explain to my husband, it's a, it's like, I'm an artist, you know, in a different way. Because really, that's what you're doing. You're creating and you're building something and you're making something new. You, you have this vision in your head and you're trying to execute it. And that's why it's such a, a creative outlet for me, at least.
Alex:Better feeling than when you finish a project, especially when you struggled through it. Like there was a lot of new things you had to learn and then you just stare at it and you just get to say that you did it. It's the best feeling. Like when I did I mess a bath, like every time I go to the use the bathroom or take a shower or whatever, I just like sit there and I'm like, wow, like this is the first room. I remember all the stress that came with it. And when, when we ripped it down to the bones and now we have this.
Stephanie:I don't feel like that was pot. Like you look at it in the beginning and you don't feel like it's possible. It's hard to see the end when you start, when you entered the beginning of it, but then you get there and you're like, wow, I really can do this. It's very empowering, very empowering. A
Alex:hundred percent. And for me, I feel like a lot of people don't start DIY because they're afraid of what they don't know. And I try to be very real about. Um, you're probably going to suck at the first things you do. You're going to suck it in the second and the third, maybe depending on what it is like. Uh, when I put in a new bathroom vanity on our half bathroom, I had no idea how to do plumbing. Uh, it leaks three times before, like it wasn't badly, but like I would test it and it would leak and I couldn't figure it out. And then when it came to do our shower and the vanity and our mess bath, It was like done deal. Did it first time? No leaks. And now I feel confident that I can do that every time. Right. Because you got to start somewhere. Exactly. And so, so many people will message me, like where do I start? I'm like, just find the easiest project you can think of. That'll make a big difference in your house. Whether it's painting an accent, it doesn't even have to be like with MDF or would like put some paint tape up there and paint and mega cool design and worst case you just paint. No one will look, if, if it sucks right now and you'll get addicted to be like, wow, that completely transformed my space. And all I did was paint an arch or paint, a couple of stripes on the wall,
Stephanie:you know, I agree. I get to, I get tons of people. Where do you start? How, like, how do I start? Like learning? And I just, you just start wherever you want to start. Like, you want to do something, you just, you just go and do it. And like YouTube, there's tons of. Avenues to like, learn how to do things, you know? And I agree, like I look back at some of my projects and I'm like, I probably should redo that or fix
Alex:that.
Stephanie:But like, I'm still so proud of myself for doing it and for what I've accomplished, even if it's not perfect. That got me to where I am now.
Alex:Exactly. It only gets better. So like with that, what would you say was your most difficult project? And then what would you say was your favorite project? It could be the same one.
Stephanie:Well, my first project, I, I did a desk, a built-in desk and my main living area. And I felt like that was pretty hard. I had a lot of help from like my mom and my dad. My mom is the handy one in my parents' relationship. So I've learned a lot from the family. Yeah. Um, so she helped me a lot with that and I feel like that was pretty difficult, but I had help with that. Um, and then, I don't know, I feel like a lot of the projects are difficult, but I like it when they're difficult. Like I built a beam for our, um, it was scary in our. Um, main bedroom. They have a
Alex:little fan. It's a sh it's a tall ceiling. Was it, is that called voltage? Yeah, it's
Stephanie:faulted. Um, and so it had like the little brace thing or the fan was on and I didn't know what was in there. I didn't know if there was like electrical, like I was so nervous to like, I needed to take it down to get the beam up there, but I, I didn't know what I was going to find. Like we tried going up in the attic to see. What was up there and we could not figure it out. And I was like, I'm just going to go for it. And I just took the whole thing down and it was fine. There was like nothing there. Um, and then I put the beam up and it was just the ceiling work ceiling work is so hard, especially on the vaulted ceiling. It was so high. It got super hot up there. My shoulders were screaming at me. And so I I'm so glad that I did. My husband's like, it's a ceiling who cares about a ceiling. I'm like, it makes a
Alex:difference. Yeah, no, it really does anyone listening to this. If you haven't checked out Stephanie's Instagram, go check it out because the green accent one in your bedroom to like accompany it, it's just like such a vibe. And it's impressive. Cause I know how difficult normal accent willows can be on a standard wall. But then when you add in the diagonals of, you know, vaulted ceiling and the height, it's just not easy. Yeah,
Stephanie:it was an, all the ship off on that ceiling. And it's just, it was very difficult, but it was totally worth it. And I loved, I love the finished product. And so many people comment on that wall. Like the whole, the full bedroom, I just was to the point where I feel like the main, your bedroom always comes last out of all the DIY projects. And I was like, at this time, it's not going to be last. I'm going to get it done. I don't want it to be last because this is the room that I go and hang out in. Yeah.
Alex:Yeah, and got to relax and, and whatnot. So it should, it should be, that's probably our next project is to do our master bedroom because we did the bathroom and then we were like, I'm so tired of having like coming to bed with stuff. Like, I just want to have, be able to go to like our bedroom and just be relaxed instead of, you know, cement buckets and all my tools laying around. Um, and we were just like, you know what, we're just going to move somewhere else and
Stephanie:we'll come back. Yeah. Same thing with our closet. Our, our master closet is right there and, you know, we had to have all of our clothes just hanging up in our bedroom and it was,
Alex:but you
Stephanie:know, it's good in the end. It was totally worth it. It's just the mess in between that is difficult.
Alex:Yeah, that's what I always tell Kylie. And she's always had the same answer every time when we finish, I'll give like a day or two and be like, knowing how much it sucks to deal with that stuff. Would you do it again, knowing this was the finished product or project and she, every time it's been, yes, that's the thing is like you, can't when the finish line is far, uh, and you're in the thick of it. You just want to, you know, throw your tools and just walk over. And you're like, this is not worth the stress and the messy house and all that, but then, then you get to use the bathroom or use the bedroom or whatever, and you use it every day, the kitchen, whatever it is. And you're like that month, those couple of weeks, couple months, whatever it is, it's so worth
Stephanie:it. Yeah, totally. Totally.
Alex:Yeah. So that's all my questions, but I did want to go into the quickfire, um, cover just a couple of questions. Very easy. The first one. Being a Lowe's or home Depot. I asked this to everybody.
Stephanie:Uh Lowe's because it's closer to my house.
Alex:Yeah. That's a good answer because mine are like the same distance. I don't know why I feel like, yeah. I feel like Elisa around my area, wherever there's a Lowe's there's a home Depot close by. It's kind of like if you go to McDonald's, there's a Wendy's nearby at some point or there's another fast food. They just like, like to be next to each other. I'm like this isn't helpful. You guys should just spread
Stephanie:out and they're good for different reasons.
Alex:All right, exactly. A favorite paint brand,
Stephanie:uh, showing Williams. That's what my parents used for the painting business since the lashes, but I instantly, I forgot to have
Alex:that. Yeah. I've seen that a couple of times. That's a, does that help at all? Because you do get discounts.
Stephanie:I get a discount through their business, so super nice. So that's who I go to. Yeah,
Alex:I love it. Okay. Uh, this might be your bedroom one, but favorite type of accent. Well,
Stephanie:I do like the grid wall, my master bedroom.
Alex:That's what we're thinking of doing too. And I literally showed Kylie yours is we don't have the vaulted boat. That was like, I, I think it's, it's not boredom, but it is.
Stephanie:I just, it.
Alex:The one with the squares. Yeah. Okay. Um, what would you call your style? DIY style, but
Stephanie:like traditional, modern.
Alex:Yeah. I'd agree with that. Um, okay. Biggest DIY failure of yours.
Stephanie:Okay. Lessons,
Alex:failure lessons.
Stephanie:I don't know. I've had, I've had lots of little failures here and there. But like, there's always a failure in every project,
Alex:but you, you haven't had the like, oh my gosh, like I screwed through a water pipe. Shouldn't like something crazy that I, luckily haven't done anything crazy like that yet, but I've seen plenty of people that have, I forget who I was just watching
Stephanie:Tiffany was that? Yeah. She said like so meticulous about everything. I'm like, why would that happen to you?
Alex:I know it scares me now. Cause she was like, when you stud finder thinks this like a water pipe, this is a stat. And I was like, now I'm just always going to be conscious of that and see, okay. Is this backed up to a laundry room? Like this could be a copper pipe in the wall. Like, I don't know.
Stephanie:No. Yeah, no. I feel like every, every project I've done there's always been something. And you know, you have to like backtrack and. Like rework your
Alex:plan a hundred percent. That's a big part of it, in my opinion. And then my last question to you is your next big project.
Stephanie:Um, our master bathroom
Alex:are named after. Have you convinced handset, so you have convinced them, just
Stephanie:some things have been convinced, other things I'm still working on.
Alex:So the scope is going to happen. But the scope of the project,
Stephanie:I want a standing tub. Cause we have like a Roman inset tub. That's all built in, but I think I might lose that Bibles. We'll see, like, why take, take out a partially good bathtub, drew a place. It was something else.
Alex:Oh man. I just love when he comes, like with the new stories when he comes like with just like logic where I would think the same thing, but then he'll come with like some of this logic and you like, think back, like, I guess that does kind of make sense, but this is still what I
Stephanie:want. I know. Yeah. It's like, yeah, you're right. But I'm still going to do it. That's where we are at about with our bathroom. I really, really don't want you to do that. I'm like, okay. But like, it's still gonna happen. Like we could wait two months and then do it then, or we could do it now or like it's still gonna happen. I'm just going to let it sink in for a little bit. Just to sit with it, sit with it for a little while. Just
Alex:imagine, imagine all the space around. Yep. I love it. Well, that was all I had for you. Uh, before we jump off, did you have anything you wanted to bring. On your own?
Stephanie:Nope, I don't think so. This
Alex:is great. Yeah. This was a ton of fun. I really appreciate you taking the time. I think, um, everyone's really like go check out. Stephanie's Instagram. It's at S Patridge at home as at S Patrick home on Instagram and I'll link it in the show notes and stuff, so you can check it out. Uh, she's a great. Keeps it real, especially if you have little ones running around, there's no one to aspire, beat and Stephanie, so definitely go check it out. Um, and yeah, again, I really appreciate you taking the time. Thanks for having me. Of course. I love the head. Stephanie experienced a lot of the same things with her husband as I do with my wife, Kylie. I just think as a DIA acquire your significant. It's probably going to have plenty of moments where they're annoyed at you piss or you, whatever the case may be, but hopefully they're still supportive just in general. It's super important just to have someone on your side and the fact that she's able to do all of this posted on social media while I have three kids with one on the way is just amazing to me. I don't know how she does it, but. If you don't follow her, go check her out, really her whole style and keeping it real about family life. Real life. DIY is really impressive and just overall a great follow. So with that said, if you're able to give this podcast a rating, I would love that. Assuming it's a positive rating. If it's negative, I would not like that as much, but yeah. Seriously. Thank you for being here. This will be the conclusion of episode eight, but episode nine will be coming. And again, I really appreciate you and hoping having a great day