We Dabble

Produced By Victoria Van Vlear

Photography By Valerie Ramirez

This DIY-savvy couple has transformed their home, and shares about it with the online décor community.

Valerie and Mario are a husband-and-wife duo who love to DIY, thrift and upcycle to customize their New Jersey home. Valerie shares their construction and decorating successes with the online farmhouse décor community at We Dabble. Here’s a bit of their story.

American Farmhouse Style: How did you get started with the décor community online?

Valerie: My daughter Stephanie suggested I start sharing our home and projects on Instagram because she saw how her father and I worked on DIYs, and how I have a passion for decorating and vintage finds. So, I went for it. Once I started and found others who shared my same passions and how wonderful the community is, I was hooked!

AFS: You and your husband make a great team! Tell us about how you do home projects together.

Valerie: For the most part, I come up with a design or idea and talk to him about it. I like to sketch it out if it’s a big project. Once he’s on board, and if it’s a big project, we figure out a budget and start saving for it. We tend to just go for it when it’s a smaller project like creating bookshelves or adding paneling to a wall or sanding down a painted door.

AFS: What’s your favorite DIY to date?

Valerie: I think my favorite would be how we used $500 to give our very dated kitchen a makeover. I dream of someday redoing the entire space to make it my dream kitchen, but we were able to update it with some paint, DIYed shelves, a DIYed island from a console table, adjusting a few furniture pieces and adding a Dutch door I found on Craigslist. It makes me happy and so proud of us for what we have accomplished.

AFS: What’s your favorite room in your home, and why?

Valerie: Every space has a purpose and is special for different reasons. We truly enjoy making our house a home for us and the ones we love. The kitchen is great for gatherings, the family room is where we relax and watch movies or play games, the sitting room is where I like to sit and have coffee and our bedroom is where I like to relax after a long day.

What is Industrial Farmhouse Style?

AFS: Do you have any exciting projects coming up that you’d like to share with our readers?

Valerie: We’ve been saving to tackle the bathrooms upstairs, one being our master bathroom. It is the smallest of the two, but I’m super excited to be able to renovate it and start using it again.