Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

Archives for June 2008

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Touring A Modern New Construction Home In Richmond VA

John’s sister Emily has been a busy girl since our last post about helping her move into her fabulous new home (that she and her husband Todd designed themselves). Yes, only a month later, she’s managed to furnish, fluff and feather nearly every room and has graciously allowed us to invade her space once more to bring you some fresh & fabulous after photos. Let the house crashing begin… Here’s a shot of the swanky modern exterior with Emily and Olivia hanging out on their front deck. The house’s theme was clean lines, modern touches and windows galore. When you buy a corner lot with nothing but green in three directions it’s easy to see

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Our Home In R. Home

Ok, so we’ve extended our 15 minutes of local fame a smidge thanks to the latest issue of R. Home magazine, the much loved home & garden offspring of our hometown’s über popular Richmond Magazine. We’ve been anxiously awaiting this July/August issue since way back in April when they first contacted us for an interview and a professional photoshoot (I know, we’re fancy), and it’s finally here. And I must say we’re thrilled (especially Sherry, who has worried for two months that her pose on the second page might make her appear one-legged). The article chronicles the short story of us and the birth of Young House Love, while sporting some swanky, professional pics of

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How To Use Paint Swatches To Make Art

When Meghan Carter came to interview us, we tried to pull out all the stops to make our house look its absolute best. We were sure to have a tasty assortment of apples in our clam-shell-turned-fruit-bowl in the kitchen and fresh towels in each of the bathrooms. Heck, we even Fabrezed a bit for good measure. But we opted against bringing in bushels of fresh flowers after deciding that lush leafy greenery looks just as fresh with our simple neutral palette (and conveniently grows in abundance just steps away in our backyard. So we were sure to snip some fresh ferns for a few bud vases in our bathrooms: And to bring in some heavier

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Some Fresh Greens For Our Floating Vases

Last week’s post about our floating CB2 vases elicited a reader request for some other vase options beyond the grasses that we had on display. So without further ado, we bring you a greener, more contemporary option: Some simple cuttings from a tree out back (definitely more believable than any faux greenery we’ve seen) added a fresh dose of green and some clean organic shapes. And even though backyard clippings may need to be replaced on a weekly basis, they’re as easy on the wallet as they are on the eyes (read: free). Still craving a few other floating vase ideas? A layer of sand with a tiny seashell or two on top would be

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Our 15 Minutes of Fame

You could have knocked us over with a feather back in December when we won the Remodel, Blog & Win contest. And not only did we score a few clams (5000 of them to be exact), we also won a coveted interview with none other than AskTheDecorator.com’s Meghan Carter. And since Meghan is such a jet setter, we weren’t at all surprised that her schedule was packed until this June (which happily meant that we had six months to whip our house into prime shape just in time for its close up). And then this past Saturday, the fateful interview day finally arrived. We realize now that we could have taken more exciting photos if

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Father Knows Best

My dad gave me a toolbox when I was in high school. I think it had four things in it: a hammer, a handsaw, a set of screwdrivers and a photo of his dad (to show me that being handy was in my blood). But not even my ancestry could interest me in tools as a teenager. Yet I dragged that toolbox along to college, then to New York City and even back here to Richmond. With each move my need for (and skill with) those tools grew. And I added plenty to my collection along the way – levels, drills, wrenches, etc – eventually outgrowing the toolbox itself. But to this day we still

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Our Glass Floating Wall Vases From CB2

After countless readers asked what was hanging to the left of our living room fireplace, we thought our cheap teardrop vases from CB2 warranted a post of their very own. With 15 framed works of art in the expansive living and dining room (yup, I counted) the last thing we wanted to bring in were a few more hard edged rectangles. So for less than $12 (actually they were a gift so they were F-R-E-E), we added instant interest. Some wild grass “borrowed” from a Target parking lot completed the look (and has surprisingly held up for the last 12+ months). Observe: These vases are versatile. If you have a wall at the end of

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Making DIY Vacation Jars For Your Travel Keepsakes

Inspiration can come from the strangest places, so I wasn’t even surprised when I saw some cool old canning jars in a recent Pottery Barn catalog and needed to take a closer look. Upon closer inspection I realized they were antique bell jars filled with shells, sand, and even just ocean water with fancy labels that said things like “Mikonos” and “Fiji”. Adorable. So I looked around and realized I had at least one or two keepsakes from each and every vacay that John and I have spent together. Why not put them on display instead of in a box in the closet? So after a trip to Michael’s to pick up 6 canning jars

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Painting The Front Door Fabulous Red

When two of our lovely readers sent us pics of their very own transformations that we inspired by our blog, we couldn’t have been more excited. So without further ado here’s Erin’s new CB2 pendant hanging proudly above her dining area. She went with the green version of the linen colored light fixture that we hung above our very own dining room table. Perfect, no? Elvira in DC also sent us a few pictures of her fantastic front door transformation. Here’s her entryway before a little color intervention: And her punchy new door thanks to a few glossy coats of Fabulous Red- the same Valspar hue that we used to makeover our brick rancher’s front

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