Young House Love

DIY Home Decorating Projects, Tutorials, & Shenanigans

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A Little Wooden Playhouse In The Woods

Yup, we’re following the blogger trend that seems to be sweeping the internets: our kiddos officially have a playhouse. It was actually a gift from my mom for their joint birthdays back in the spring (yes, our 7-year-old and 3-year-old both agreed on precisely one thing, and it was that they wanted a little outdoor house to call their own). “No grown-ups allowed” was actually uttered during the request. So we looked around for one we thought they’d both like that wouldn’t break Nonna’s budget. We came across this cute playhouse that was made of solid cedar, was the right price, and even had little flower pot holders out front. So we sent my mom the link, enjoyed

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Our Patriotic Front Porch + Front Yard Planning

Just dropping in with a quick little patriotic update out front and some future yard plans. We’re no strangers to decorating in reds, whites, and blues outside, and the good news is that the back of our house isn’t having all the fun anymore. That’s right, the purchase of a $25 flag has me grinning every time we come home to it (and it only took us two tries to get it right – ha!). The funny thing is that when we moved into our house there was an old flag holder in a similar spot… but we were about to repaint everything from cream to white so we removed it. And then, well, the house

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Easy Makeover: A Hardworking Homework Room

Remember how I’m slowly slinking around my BFF’s house and eating all of the food in her fridge making over rooms for her? (You’ve seen her living room upgrade here). Well, I’m back with a sweet and simple homework room that we pulled together for her kids….juuuuust in time for school to be over for the year. #FlawlessTiming Thankfully they’ve already found that it’s pretty useful year round. Our goal was just to create a space that’s functional, not too spendy, and something that can grow with them (the kids are 2, 6, and 7). And since it’s right off the foyer, we wanted it to look nice since it’s one of the first things

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A Vintage Pink Stove For The Beach House

Oh snap, our “new” stove for the beach house is older than we are. In fact, it’s from 1959! And it’s pink! And I’m ridiculously excited about it. John’s current stove mood might best be described as “cautiously optimistic” – but we’ll get to that in a second. The cost? $195 at a secondhand shop. It’s a place called Class & Trash that’s around 30 mins from our house. When they posted the pink stove to their Facebook page (they share new items that come in each week) not only did some people tag me, but I noticed it in my own feed and my eyeballs did a happy dance. It was like the universe put blinking lights around this stove

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Two Easy Kids Birthday Parties: Into The Woods & Under The Sea

We’ve had so much fun putting together kids birthday parties with random themes like worms and dragons (complete with a fire-breathing kid photo session). Shortly after our last party post back in 2014 (remember the “Pink & Gold Everything Party“?), we took a step back from the blog for a full year, and in that time we were both curious: would our enthusiasm for going “all out” wane in the absence of an active blog? I mean, “all out” is probably a relative term. It wasn’t My Super Sweet Sixteen and there wasn’t a petting zoo, but we did our fair share of decorating and having fun with a theme and cupcake toppers and favors and all that

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Two Things I Bought (And A Whole Lotta Weekend Sales)

Happy Friday, guys! Just wanted to stop in with a public service sale announcement because as usual there are TONS of home items that are discounted for Memorial Day and since I’m now shopping for our house and the beach house (DANGER!) I’m on high alert for deals. I learned the hard way that it’s smart to hold out for this weekend when buying home stuff a few years ago (I ordered something like two days before all the sales hit without thinking: “duh, wait for Memorial Day and everything goes way on sale”). This year I actually had my act together not only to 1) remember that tip and buy two things I’ve been watching

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A Custom Kids Portrait That Gets Me All Choked Up

Ok, so this post is WELLLL overdue. Every time someone asks about the art in our foyer whenever they catch a glimpse of it on Facebook or Instagram (like in this pic or this pic) I say something like “A good friend of mine made that portrait of our kids! I’ve been meaning to write a post about that – soon I hope!” Whelp, that day has finally come. Hold on tight, it’s gonna be a wild ride. I actually got the painting over a year ago! It’s a pastel drawing done by our friend and neighbor Robin Olivier and she is SUCH A TALENT! It’s based on one of my favorite photos of the kids ever taken. Just a casual iPhone

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That Time We Thought The Bedroom Would Simmer For A While, And Then Bam.

We mentioned some recent master bedroom movin’ & shakin’ on this week’s podcast, so we thought a post full of photos was in order for anyone wondering how it’s looking these days. Pretty much everything in our bedroom was purchased while we were living in our second house, so after moving here in 2013 stuff just kinda landed where it landed and whoop, there it was. We painted. We hung frames. We made a few sporadic dresser swaps, and then we repainted. But the anchor pieces like the rug, the bed, the armchair, and most of the other furnishings pretty much remained the same. More recently we got a super on-sale chandelier and swapped beds with the guest room and it felt like

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Beach House Progress: The Outside Is (Almost) Done & The Inside’s Just Getting Good

Slowly but surely we’re making headway on the beach house. In fact, in the next few weeks we’re going to see BIG progress as the house gets all new electrical, plumbing, and a fully functioning HVAC system (just in time for those sweltering beach days). We’re so excited to be able to shout from the rooftops that there’s no more sketchy knob & tube wiring, the furnace will no longer be “accessorized” with cardboard and bedsheets (not sure what those were for), and there’s actually going to be running water in the house again, which hasn’t happened for who knows how long (the old sewer line got busted up by tree roots in the back, so we have to MAKE

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Stuff In Our House That’s On Sale Right Now

There were TONS of sales this weekend – in fact nearly everything in our house that’s still being sold was majorly marked down. And I thought “it’d be awesome if I could get my act together and alert anyone who’s been hankering for something in our house” – but we were getting back from spring break and Easter/family stuff was going on and I just couldn’t make it happen. But then, many of the sales mysteriously kept going (even though they all said they were ending on Sunday)… so here I am, writing this quickie post for all my sale loving compadres out there. Oh, and if you were wondering how something in our house has been

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An Easy & Sweet Easter Egg Tree

Easter isn’t typically one of those decorate-every-surface-of-the-house holidays for me. I own exactly one white ceramic bunny who stays outside year-round for “whimsy-factor” (read: I’m too lazy to move him). But last year I made my first Easter tree and I’ve been inordinately excited about breaking it out again ever since. I know what you’re thinking. But Easter is this weekend!!! I don’t have time. It’s too late. I might as well go eat 1,000 Peeps to drown my sorrows. Well, it’s not too late. You can whip this up in a few minutes, and it actually looks its best when it’s just enjoyed for a week or so anyway. So let’s get down to business. Here

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Easy Makeover: Taking A Neutral Living Room From Plain To Polished

I love a baller room makeover as much as the next person (Lisa Vanderpump’s closet? I could stare at it for HOURS), but scrapping all of your existing stuff and completely overhauling every nook and cranny of your room isn’t always realistic, especially if you don’t have a Housewives-sized budget. Sometimes using what you have and just getting a few new things to revive the entire room is the sweet spot (have I mentioned how much fun I had staging my friend’s house to sell a few weeks ago?!). So when my best friend asked for some help with her bare bones living room, I immediately started shouting out ideas and scribbling sketches like a lone weirdo playing solo

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