About Us
Who
I Am
Hi, I’m Marlene, and I run Hope, Longing, Life and HLL Interiors. To me, a home doesn’t need to be expensive to feel right; it just needs a little intention.
What I’m really trying to do is help you make your home feel more comfortable and more yours, without spending a fortune or gutting the place to get there.
Hi, I’m Marlene, and I run Hope, Longing, Life and HLL Interiors. To me, a home doesn’t need to be expensive to feel right; it just needs a little intention.
What I’m really trying to do is help you make your home feel more comfortable and more yours, without spending a fortune or gutting the place to get there.
How This Started
This site started with Jenn, who began it as a simple place to document her own family’s home and slowly grew it into the design site you’re reading now. Somewhere along the way, one idea stuck: the best homes aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets, they’re the ones where someone actually thought things through. That belief is baked into everything published here.
This site started with Jenn, who began it as a simple place to document her own family’s home and slowly grew it into the design site you’re reading now. Somewhere along the way, one idea stuck: the best homes aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets, they’re the ones where someone actually thought things through. That belief is baked into everything published here.
We’re still building on that same foundation: practical, honest, a little scrappy when it needs to be, and carrying it forward through the rooms, projects, and lessons we’re working through right now.
What you’ll find here
Practical interior design and DIYs you can actually take on. Our posts fall into a few areas:
- Room Layouts & Arranging: how to set up a space so it actually flows, no matter the size or shape you’re working with.
- Styling & Finishing Touches: the small choices, like shelves, rugs, and bedding, that pull a room together.
- DIY Builds & Repairs: hands-on projects and fixes you can take on yourself, from furniture to small household repairs.
- Cabinets & Kitchens: cabinet styles, finishes, and updates that don’t require a full remodel.
- Budget-Friendly Design: getting a high-end look without the high-end price.
- Outdoor & Garden Spaces: planting, patios, and porch ideas built for real-life weather and upkeep.
Our Approach
We’re not here to talk you into anything. No design-speak, no convincing you to gut a room that’s actually fine, no pretending every project needs a bigger budget than it does. If something’s genuinely worth the money, we’ll tell you. If it’s not, we’ll say that too, even when it’s not what you wanted to hear.
Truth is, the fix that makes the biggest difference is usually the small, boring one. It’s rarely a full renovation. More often it’s that one corner you’ve been walking past for months, half-noticing, half-ignoring, telling yourself you’ll “get to it eventually.” We’d rather help you deal with that corner than sell you on something you don’t actually need.
We’re constantly trying new things in our own spaces, and whatever we learn along the way, good or bad, we’ll be sharing it here too.
AS SEEN ON
