Young House Love

DIY Home Decorating Projects, Tutorials, & Shenanigans

Archives for September 2010

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Blogiversary III: The Y-O-U In Y-H-L?

As much as blogiversary week is an exercise in narcissism for us, we still like to carve out some time to talk about you guys. More specifically to ask you guys to talk about yourselves. At the end of Year #1 we surveryed you and summarized the 199 responses. Last year we did it again, though the 1000+ comments proved too overwhelming to sort and calculate. So this year we’re breaking out the polling plug-in that we use on our Burning Questions to not only ask the questions, but also let you guys see some real time data as others weight in. Because surely I’m not the only numbers dork out there. Right? Anyone? We’re

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Blogiversary III: Our Days Are Numbered

For every blogiversary that rolls around we like to have some mathy fun with numbers to break down some funny (and admittedly horrifying) facts when it comes to all things YHL. 1527- Our number of published posts to date (crazy considering we only had 380 on our first blogiversary) 258,904- The number of comments we’ve amassed from you, our lovely readers 13,039- The number of comment questions that we’ve answered to date (we do our best to answer every single one) 4- Number of people who live in our house (counting Burger, who thinks he’s a person) 3- The number of days we were in the hospital after Clara was born 0- The number of

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Blogiversary III: On The Move

And now for some news that falls in the “big” category: we’re in the market for a new Casa Petersik. That’s right, after tons of thoughtful deliberation we’ve decided that it’s time to sell our current home after four and a half amazing years spent here. Why? Because we love a project and we’re can’t-sleep-excited about the prospect of taking on a new home makeover and sharing every moment with you guys. We know it’s a sickness, but we actually crave remodeling and painting projects, so instead of feeling overwhelmed at the idea of starting all over again we’re actually pretty psyched about it. Of course it’s bittersweet to leave the place that we love

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Blogiversary III: A Behind The Scenes Look At Running A Blog

Q: I know this might be a bit on the personal side, but I’ve always wondered what goes on behind the scenes when it comes to running a successful blog. I’m sure a lot of readers just think you write up posts and conquer home improvement projects but from owning my own small business I know all about the “maintenance” (like taxes, health insurance, business licenses, etc). I don’t know if it’s something you’re willing to talk about but I’m sure there are a lot of other aspiring small business owners and bloggers who would like to learn about everything that goes into keeping YHL going. Thanks so much for the daily inspiration and all

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Blogiversary III: It’s On

Woo to the hoo. We’re celebrating three amazing years of sharing our adventures (and misadventures) in home improvement with you guys in this virtual place that we call home. So you know what that means… some blogiversary madness is about to ensue. Year four is sure to be full of projects, both big and small. And we always like to use our blogiversary week to share some inside scoop and kick off the next 365 days right. This week we’re planning lots of fun stuff, from a video with some insanely ugly shots of our house before every single project that we chronicled on the blog (let’s just call the footage “vintage”) and some behind

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Something Crazy Happened…

I took home another ceramic animal. Is there a support group for this? (Hi my name is Sherry and I hoard porcelain mammals) I totally understand that they’re not everyone’s cup of tea – not even close – but for some reason they’re like catnip to me. I can’t stay away. And I’ve realized that I’m attracted to certain characteristics when it comes to these fake friends of mine. I don’t like them too cutesy and sweet. In fact I usually like them very hard and prickly looking. For example, my beloved rhino is ruff and tough and armed with horns. Kind of like my no-nonsense iron bull. And my muscular bite-your-face-off ceramic pooch. And

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Mood Board Making: French + Modern = Eclectic

This week’s kitchen mood board is a mix of charming french-inspired accents and clean modern touches for an easy collected over time feeling that’s anything but cookie cutter: 1. The color palette for this imaginary room is all about navy-ish charcoal tones, deep pistachio hues, soft blue grays, and antique whites. We’d love to see the walls get a coat or two of artichoke-chic paint (which you see represented by that large rectangle of green at the top of the board) – try Benjamin Moore’s Sesame 381. The cabinets in the kitch could remain wood or white (either would work with this scheme) but you could also paint them an antique white tone and even

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Save It: 14 Tips For Saving Money When You Have A Baby

Q: You guys are so good with money I wondered if you’d consider sharing some of the ways you kept from bleeding money once you had Clara. I’ve heard that having a baby and buying all the baby stuff can set you back a few years’ worth of savings and I’m scared! But I’m sure you have figured out a few ways to be frugal without skipping a beat when it comes to providing everything that Clara needs. As you love to say, do tell! – Megan A: The good news is that we actually expected that having a baby (and setting up the house for one) would be a lot pricier than it actually

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Upgrading An Old Brass Candlestick With Spray Paint

I’m back with an easy thrift store upgrade. John and I snagged this seen-better-days brass candlestick at Goodwill for $1.99 after I convinced him that a bright and modern color would complement the traditional shape for a clean and current result in about five minutes flat. So I spray painted that sucker with some glossy yellow paint (Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch Gloss spray paint in Sun Yellow)… … and ended up with a nice new (and super cheap) accessory in a fun and happy color. Here he is accompanied by his three candle friends. Anyone humming Beauty & The Beast yet? Totally reminds us of Lumiere. Simple? Check. Cheap? Check? Anyone can do it? Check. Plus

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Lots Of Questions & Answers About Getting A New Roof

Our quick we’re-getting-a-new-roof post on Thursday elicited so many questions that even we were surprised. So we’re back with the info for you along with the before, during, and after pics. Hold on to your hats. It’s about to get exciting. But first, here’s our roof before: You can see when you get up close that it’s one of those flat grid-like grungy twenty year roofs without any sort of dimension or crispness. And did we mention it was on its last legs (as in about to leak at any moment)? And here’s our brandspankingnew roof (pardon the lighting inconsistency, we wish we could control the sun): We were especially proud that we negotiated a

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Feeling Fallish: A Quick Seasonal Tablescape

I had a little fun tossing together a quick fall-esque table so I thought I’d share. Happily I used things that I already had around the house so it was a nice little free tabletop makeover. All it took was an old runner from Target, a white vase also picked up at Target a while back, a manzanita branch that we’ve had for years, a woven basket from Ikea with a plant in it, woven cups snagged at Sur La Table on clearance, an old Target bowl full of corks, and an old hurricane from Ikea filled with more corks (learn how we whipped that up here). We’re loving how the texture of the woven

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Hey Now

Look what’s going on at our house today: We’ve waited a looong time for this. Details and after pics to come next week. Until then picture us blogging to the bang, clang, staple sound over our heads. Is it weird that it’s like music to our ears? For other sounds we’re enjoying lately, check this out.

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Mood Board Making: An Orange, Brown, and Tan Dining Room

Fall is in the air, which is probably what inspired us to toss together this warm and texture-rich dining room mood board: 1. We love this warm, spicy color scheme full of rich chocolate browns, chic oranges, soft olives, and a range of tan and creams tones along with hits of hammered gold. If you’d like to add another hue to the mix, moss or even lime green (like the color of the numbers in the mood board) can also be peppered in with a few accessories. And speaking of green, we’d love to see the walls go a soft khaki olive color (Benjamin Moore’s Dune Grass) like the rectangle of hue behind the number

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