Our story all started with $10,000 dollars nearly 18 years ago. Henry and I had gotten married and were expecting our first child. He had just gotten laid off from a position as a web designer and I was teaching at a local high school. We didn’t have a penny to our name and like most young people after college, we were in debt. Henry’s uncle loaned us $10,000 dollars for a down payment on our first home. This was a “fixer-upper”, but you would have thought we were buying a million-dollar home!
While Henry was searching for another job, he was able to work on the house and make several cosmetic changes. The home was in good shape structurally but needed some TLC. With some paint, new flooring, tile, and landscaping, this beauty became the best home on the street! Well, at least in our opinion. Henry had now found a job, we had our first child, Baylie, and I was still teaching.
I had lived around construction all of my life and Henry and I had always wanted to build a house. We knew that if we waited until we had enough money, that may never happen. We then decided to sell our starter home and purchase some land and build. Because the house needed lots of work, we had gotten it for a good deal. This allowed us to have a decent down payment for the upcoming build. At this time we took out a loan for the land and build it together.
Our First Build
This construction process was for sure a learning experience. We were young and eager, but it was one long year! Yes, it took us almost an entire year to build. With the help of my father, we served as our own contractor for the first time. He’s played such a big role in teaching us the ins and outs of building.
We also chose to do lots of the work ourselves, so the process was much longer. Both of us working full-time jobs during the day and long hours at the house at night. I remember lots of fast food and picnics on the cold OSB floor. Those were the days!
It Worked The First Time, Let’s Do It Again
Our first build was not our last. By this time, Henry had ventured out on his own to start his own company and I was now working for him. We were able to make our own hours and had a little more freedom.

Our second build was in a colonial-style development.
We ended up building another house and remodeling another home a few streets over. It seemed as if we had forgotten how crazy the process was and quickly got the itch to do it again after a few years of living there. We truly loved the process and the finished product. It was very rewarding and made us feel like we had accomplished something. All three homes were very successful in making a profit each time we sold. This enabled us to pay cash for our third build.
Our “Forever Home” or Was It?

Construction of our third build, fourth home
We had always dreamed of owning land and having a farmhouse. When we found this 5.9 acres, we knew it was the perfect spot and decided to build what would be our fourth home. We were so excited about this new build and continued joking that we were building our “forever home.” We had always said this about every house we had lived in.

Another construction shot of our fourth home.
While living there we continued to do lots of DIY projects and even completed a flip house during that time. These all were great ways to fulfill our love and passion for homes.
The Story Continues…
As I’m sure you would have guessed, we built yet another home. We are now living in our fifth home. We have currently lived in this home for four years and are already thinking about building again!
Along this journey of almost 22 years, we have heard so many say we should have our own television show. We actually have had several companies contact us about this, but we just never had a desire to pursue this route.
We do love the feeling we get when others appreciate our homes and the work we put into them. We continue to always have a project going on because we love seeing what we can do. All of this is why we decided to bring others along for the ride. Why not share our passions with others!
Sharing Our Love for Homes With Others
Towards the end of July back in 2016 my husband talked me into starting an IG account and a blog. We came up with the name Plank and Pillow. We wanted the name to be a mix of building and project-based along with decor. We love both and wanted the name to illustrate this. We had no clue where this journey would take us, but have loved every minute of it so far. It has allowed us to share our ideas, projects, and meet so many people along the way.
From Instagram Account to a Business
This blog and Instagram account started off as fun for the first year. During the second year, businesses started reaching out about advertising for products on our blog and Instagram account. This is where we starting making revenue, advertising products for other companies on our Instagram account. Our blog also started growing and we were able to make ad revenue.
Even though we were having great success with our Instagram account and blog, we wanted it to be more than that. We channeled our passion and was able to create a line of products that reflect our design style. We now offer a boutique collection of English Cottage house plans, a collection of art prints, as well as several printable DIY plans.
Our story is about our passion for homes and sharing that with others to help them create a place they can love to live. A home is never finished and will always be a work in progress, and the truth is, for us, there may never be a “forever home” until we reach heaven. We enjoy new adventures and making new memories with our family within these adventures.
To us, it’s life and what we do. It’s our story! Our desire is to share these projects, homes, or any knowledge we may have with you and hopefully give you some inspiration along the way.
4 Comments
I so needed to read this tonight, so thank you! My husband and I (and 2 young daughters) just moved to a new home this week, and it’s a major fixer upper. I’m missing our old home we just sold a lot, and broke down in tears tonight wondering if we made a bad decision, and frankly, just feeling miserable in this house (The house is seriously ugly, no exaggeration). But it’s in an absolutely BEAUTIFUL spot….on a river with the wonderful river sounds, in a small little community. We will be doing all our renovations in the spring, and have to live in the house the way it is for the next 5 months.
November 17, 2018 at 3:27 amAnyway, I just wanted to say thank you. I’m hoping to document our renovation on a blog I just started and on IG, but am feeling uninspired. I appreciate you sharing your journey of home renovations. Thanks for letting me see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Hello Janice! Even though I know the next few months will be hard, try and use it as a planning stage. Find lots of pictures of things you would like to do and maybe make some inspiration boards. Also, use this time to take lots of before pictures so you can remember these few months. These will also be great memories to look back on! I am so happy this article inspired you in some way! This really makes what we are doing worth it all! Hang in there and I can’t wait to see pictures. While you are in the planning and waiting stages, enjoy that outside and the gorgeous surroundings! Keep in mind that every great thing normally comes after a waiting period!
November 17, 2018 at 5:16 pmThank you Brooke!
November 17, 2018 at 11:33 pmI have a lot of photos of your home on my inspiration board already! Definitely want your front door and windows 🙂
I finally had a chance to read your story. It’s beautiful Brooke. You guys started so early with all the responsibilities that someone else would have later in life, and did so well. I can imagine how struggling it was but you both went through everything and today are here to say it’s possible when you dream and work for it. I love to see your passion for houses. You both form a great team and have a brilliant future ahead. Go for it. I will be here watching you grow and learn with you. Thanks for sharing ❤ P.S excuse if I interpreted/write anything the wrong way, I am still learning English.
November 19, 2018 at 7:49 pm