Welcome and start here
Hi, we’re Friday and Josh—just two people who’ve been making spaces livable (and occasionally lovely) for the past decade or so.
I (Friday) am the creative idea machine, the project starter, and the wordsmith behind this operation. Josh is the grounded one—our in-house handyman, project finisher, and gravity’s unofficial spokesperson.
Here’s our story:
Chapter One: DIY Dating
Josh and I met in elementary school but didn’t start dating until high school. Our dates were a mix of movie nights and my DIY decorating binges.
Picture it: my mom’s basement, popcorn ceilings, and a high schooler (me) with big dreams and questionable taste. Josh, my then-boyfriend, was so smitten he spent his weekends helping me scrape ceilings, sketch out my mural ideas, and rearrange my bed and dresser to a new wall every single weekend. True love, right?
Chapter Two: The newlywed nest: Tiny, Noisy and Dark
Our first apartment was... let's be kind and call it "character-building". Nine months of learning that sometimes, home is less about the space and more about who you share it with.
Chapter Three: The Basement
Our next stop was a 2 bedroom basement apartment—more space, fewer neighbors, and where we became parents. I had grand dreams of creating a magical nursery, complete with whimsical details and Pinterest-worthy charm. Instead, I slapped a few decorations on the walls and called it a day because there was zero time for decor between the sleepless nights, both of us working, and Josh finishing school.
Chapter Four: The Townhome
As soon as Josh graduated we moved to colorado and bought our first home—a fixer-upper townhome that we attacked with the ferocity of people who had no idea what they were doing.
I had left my job, so we threw ourselves into making the place livable. With the help of family, we painted, ripped down wallpaper, and got halfway through our projects when I got put on bedrest at 8 weeks pregnant which brought projects to a halt.
We loved being homeowners, but our newborn daughter didn’t sleep through noise like my son had and between screaming neighbors on one side and frat boys partying on the other, the stress of sleepless nights and a baby that cried for hours on end pushed us to move sooner than planned.
Chapter Five: Denver Split-Level "Forever" Home (Take 1)
Next, we moved into a split-level fixer-upper, stretching our budget to snag a spot in the neighborhood with the best elementary school in the area. The house sat on a corner lot, right across from a beautiful park. We stayed at my parents’ for a month while we got the upstairs livable, then moved in and started finishing the basement. We loved that house, and being across from a park felt like a jackpot—until it didn’t.
Turns out living by a park is idyllic until you’re knee-deep in teenager trash and their bass-heavy car concerts. And then there was the neighbor. She claimed her dog had superpowers, escaping through locked doors every night just to kick off its 1 a.m. barking symphony that woke all of us up.
By 2020, I was over it. I wanted space. I wanted quiet. I wanted out.
Chapter Six: Mesa Property "Forever" Home (Take 2)
The pandemic hit, Josh started working remotely, and I saw my golden opportunity to escape the city. I’d had my eye on a quiet little town on Colorado’s western slope, but Josh wasn’t exactly sold. So, one weekend my mom took the kids and I whisked him away to check it out. It was serene, lovely, and everything I’d hoped for. By the end of the weekend, we’d made an offer on a house.
We moved to a stunning 10-acre property just outside Paonia, Colorado. It was everything I’d ever dreamed of—gorgeous, peaceful, and with a layout that felt tailor-made for us. Even Josh, initially skeptical, fell hard for small-town life and the slower pace.
The house was another project house complete with pink walls, dated wallpaper, and a steep learning curve in irrigation water and property upkeep. We spent two years transforming it, and while the inside was finally coming together, Josh had turned his attention outside.
Josh discovered a passion for regenerative agriculture and dove headfirst into outdoor projects. The only problem? Our rocky mesa soil wasn’t exactly farmer-friendly. After one particularly grueling day of gardening—or "mining," as Josh called it—he decided our mesa just wasn’t going to cut it.
He needed richer soil, more land, and decided this was his chance to team up with his dad. Doing a project with his dad had always been his dream, and I wasn’t about to let a house, even my dream home stand in the way of that.
So, off we went, leaving behind our nearly finished juniper oasis for a “charming” farmhouse on a fertile farm.
Chapter Seven: Nightmare Property—The Rat House
Turns out the “farmhouse” was less rustic charm and more flea-and-rat-infested horror show. Our first night, we woke up surrounded by droppings, covered in elm seed bugs, scratching at flea bites, and seriously questioning every decision we’d ever made.
But the property itself? Absolutely stunning. It was the greenest place we’d ever seen in Colorado, lush with water and brimming with potential. It had three homes on it: the farmhouse, a main house, and a cottage. Unfortunately, all three were in worse shape than we’d anticipated.
The farmhouse was uninhabitable, so we moved into the main house—where we soon discovered the drinking water was making us sick and wasn't safe, meaning we had to haul our own for months. Josh’s parents couldn’t move into the cottage either because it was equally rundown. Suddenly, what had seemed like a dream property became a full-time battle against rats, fleas, and the sheer chaos of trying to make the place livable.
We spent all of our time fixing up the property, tearing down the farmhouse, cleaning up the property, and tackling repairs to get the water drinkable and the space functional. In the meantime, we were stuck in the oversized main house, sharing the space with family. It was cavernous, chaotic, and loud—a complete sensory nightmare.
Chapter Eight: Merlin—Our comically large RV
We hit burnout—well, Josh did. I was just depressed. And when I say burnout, I mean the full-stop, can’t-work, running-on-empty medical intervention kind. So, Josh quit his job, and I stepped into full-time work.
One weekend, we rented an RV and headed to the mountains. Josh felt better than he had in years, so naturally we decided to make it our entire personality. A few weeks later, we had an Airstream, and a few months after that, we were living full-time in a 45-foot fifth wheel. As Josh began to recover, we finally realized just how much we’d been overloading ourselves. RV life was the reset we desperately needed.
Life on the road was amazing… until one of our kids, our little social butterfly, started wilting from the isolation. Even though we saw friends and family every couple of weeks, it just wasn’t enough for him. We’d planned to RV for three years, but it became clear that our adventure needed to give way to something more grounded. It was time to put down roots again.
Chapter Nine: Polaris—Our for-reals-this-time Forever Home
Now we’re back in Colorado, settling into a 1-acre property we’ve named Polaris. It’s quiet, spacious, and finally feels like the perfect balance of convenience and space—a middle ground we’ve consistently overshot in the past.
We’ve only been here a month, but true to form, we’re already knee-deep in projects. That’s just how we operate. And let’s be honest—it’s also how we afford the homes we want: fixer-uppers with potential.
This time, we’re calling it: This is for sure our forever home. Probably.
What You’ll Get by Subscribing:
Stories and Insights: A behind-the-scenes look at the projects we’re working on, from DIY triumphs to the inevitable chaos.
Tips and Tricks: Practical advice on painting and decorating—designed for busy, overwhelmed moms like me who are short on time but big on creativity.
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Choose Your Adventure: Each email will include a few stories and insights—you can pick and choose what you want to dive into.
Life is messy, projects never go as planned, and we’re here to remind you that it’s all part of the process.