Today on The Mag we have Casey Finn. Casey is the woman behind the extremely popular blog DIY Playbook where she shares her amazing home renovation projects, styling and home decor tips and her life as a new parent to an adorable four month-old daughter. Learn more about DIY Playbook and how it started, how Casey manages her social media presence, a very special renovation project (hint: it’s her daughter’s nursery!) and much more.

Tell us your story! We’d love to hear a little bit about yourself, your family, and DIY Playbook.

My name is Casey Finn and I'm married to my high school sweetheart, Mike Finn (although everyone just calls him "Finn"...including me!). This past spring, we welcomed our daughter Rory into the world after battling infertility for three years. We live in a home in Chicago that we're improving and renovating on my blog, The DIY Playbook. I started The DIY Playbook back in 2013 as a creative outlet from my job as a television producer and reporter. The blog was just a fun hobby to show off some of the projects I was doing around the house. It has since evolved into a robust home improvement website with readers all over the world. I ended up leaving my career in television in 2018 to run the blog full-time and I now spend my days chronicling our home renovation journey!

What inspired you to start renovating and decorating your home?

My husband and I spent our first few years out of college moving around the midwest for my career as a television reporter. We didn't have a lot of money and I always wanted our apartments to look nice so I turned to thrifting and DIY'ing to get the look for less. I had so much fun creating beautiful homes for us without spending a lot of money and decided to share my projects online. I never intended to make this my career, but it has been the best job I've ever had!

We’d love to hear your perspective on managing your family and blog/social media presence. How do you do it all?!

Well, I'm new to the mom game (my daughter is only four months old), so I'm still trying to figure it out! The struggle is real! Because I run my own business, I'm pretty much working all the time and I've always loved spending all of my time growing The DIY Playbook. But now that Rory is here, it's tough to be as productive as I used to be. I now have my mom watch Rory three days per week so I can focus solely on work, and the other two days are my "mommy days." So far it's working out great (although I'm not getting in quite as many DIY projects as I used to!). I also do my best to take advantage of nap time. Plus, my husband is such a big help!

We love so many part of your home but the nursery is particularly special - can you tell us how you planned out the room? What’s your first step? Measuring or ideating?

The nursery is by far my favorite room in our house. After going through three miscarriages, I never thought we would be fortunate enough to welcome a child into this world. I dreamed of the day when I could design a nursery for our baby. We bought our home with hopes that that room would someday be a nursery and I found out I was pregnant the week we moved in! I didn't want it to be overly girly or baby, but instead, I wanted to design a room that would grow up with our little girl. I decided on the color scheme of sage and light blush and first found a vintage Turkish rug that really makes the space. From there, I designed the built-ins, DIY'ed the chair rail, wallpapered her closet, and brought the rest of the room together. It's now the coziest spot in our home and Rory loves it!

Can you share three of your favorite brands for DIY’ers?

We are big fans of Lowe's Home Improvement and buy all of our DIY supplies there! For tools, I love Dewalt and I'm constantly adding to our collection. For home decor, I love HomeGoods because you can always find unique pieces at a great price. It's my go-to place for accessories!

And finally, where can we find you?

o Website: thediyplaybook.com
o Instagram: @diyplaybook