Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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A Neutral Living Room With Citrus Accents

It feels like years since I made my last mood board (you can see over 125 of them here). What the heck is up with that? So I’m breaking the dry spell with this just-for-fun creation that I tossed together with some cheerful and sunny summer color. I wanted to pick some fun accessories that anyone with a neutral toned sofa and neutral colored walls could use as a springboard for pulling together a room with a warm, happy, and inviting vibe: 1. The color palette for the room is full of warm tones like sunny orange and yellow along with some rich dark wood tones, some basic neutrals like mocha and tan, and glossy

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Patio Updates And Backyard Landscaping

Don’t get too excited. It’s not so much aesthetic progress, as it is functional progress. We got our old spray painted metal and glass coffee table from our first house‘s living room… … back from John’s parents (they used it when their house was on the market and then it accidentally got hidden away in storage). Then it dawned on us that although we didn’t have a spot for it inside, a ton of outdoor furniture is spray painted metal and glass (like the round table that the old owners left on our upper patio). So out to the patio it went. Is it perfect for the space? Nope. Is it great for resting my

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How To Paint A Brick Fireplace

We’re back with the fireplace update that we mentioned in yesterday’s post about removing our old not-baby-safe wood stove. This next step is definitely just the beginning of our fireplace makeover (as in step two of probably fifteen). We figure we’ll tackle this baby in stages (just like we do pretty much everything else around here) so the first step was to spend as little as possible to get it looking better for the short-term (since it might be a while until Phase Two kicks in). So here’s what it looked like yesterday morning: And here’s what it looked like yesterday evening: I know, I know – the orange paneling makes it look craZy with

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How We Transplanted Our Red Maple Tree

We were sneaky. Before we put our first house on the market we dug up a Japanese maple that we had planted in the back. We planted it right around the time we got married and it was an offshoot plant from a gorgeous maple that grew in John’s parents’ house (the only house he lived in for his entire childhood which has since been sold). So it was kind of double-meaningful with the whole “wedding tree” and “John’s childhood house” connection. That’s why before we sold the house we figured we should dig it up and put it in a bucket and move that bucket right along with us. But since we moved in

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Removing An Old Woodstove Fireplace Insert

As of today we’ve lived in our house for six whole months. And in all that time we’ve never formally introduced you to Bart. How rude of us. Bart, aka Black Bart the woodstove insert, is hard to miss in our kitchen. We know the previous owners got a lot of use out of him (although they did warn us that he made the house pretty smoky and coated a lot of nearby surfaces with fine black dust). We’d always planned to replace him down the road when we hopefully convert our fireplace into a double fireplace (that can be enjoyed from the living room as well as the kitchen). But Clara spurred us into action

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Fab Freebie: Guiding Site

***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries – see who won below!*** Thanks to random.org, our winner is… Kari (who gets lost even with the help of GPS). Congrats Kari! It goes without saying that we’re big fans of decorating and design help through the magic of the internet. So of course we’re psyched that one of you is gonna score some customized assistance from My Design Guide. They tap into a network of real interior designers to help you out with everything from quick fix mini-consults (which come free just by completing their StyleFinder quiz) to full blown 3-D renderings with paint color picks, furniture selections, and a shopping list (see a sample here).

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A Beautiful House Tour In North Carolina

We’re back with another house crashing adventure from our recent road trip through Charlotte, North Carolina. You already caught a sneak peek of the amazing kitchen, so we’re back to fill in the blanks. And oh man, this family couldn’t have been sweeter if they were made of sugar. Seriously. And their completely transformed 60’s ranch couldn’t have been more charming. Even the outside had us at hello (you know we love a brick ranch). Since they tackled such an amazing makeover, we decided to toss in some before pictures to show you just how far Kristen, Stan, and their one year old son Davis have taken it (well, Davis was in the belly most

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A Little Saturday Night Update

In the breaking news department (that’s an overstatement if I’ve ever made one), although it’s the weekend I thought I’d stop in to share this super quick probably-interesting-to-no-one-but-me dining room update. Remember a few days back when I made our new curtains? And the table looked like this? Well, now it looks like this: Can you already tell the difference? Here, I’ll get a little closer. Yeah, the branches died. Probably because I didn’t even put water in the vase. Oops. How quickly the dream dies. Well, at least when the dream is lush leafy green branches that survive on love alone. And not water. So in mini keeping-it-real news, our table is substantially less

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Thrift Store Shopping

Ok, I keep mentioning that Katie B and I had some fun stared into each other’s eyes for 48 hours straight and she posted about the whole shebang right here (update: Katie’s blog is giving her issues, so maybe try clicking over later or tomorrow instead of right now). And by whole shebang I mean the part where Will went to the bathroom in the tub (numero dos) while bathing with Clara. And how Jeremy and John accidentally wore the same exact beverage themed shirt on Sunday… She also touched on our pedicure adventures… … and mountaintop enjoyment… It’s all here (update: just remember to click over later or tomorrow since her blog is giving

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How To Sew Curtain Panels

Our recent road trip to see Katie and her amazing house gave us that tickle to get down to business when we got back home. You know how your DIY momentum is up and you’re moving right along ticking things off your to-do list and then the dust clears and you’re just spent and need a little break? Like, mehaps, a road trip? That seems to be the way it goes with us. When it comes to house progress, we tend to work in fits and starts. But then something sparks that get-back-to-business excitement and suddenly we’re done with our four-ish day Hammer And Paint Brush Hiatus and are refreshed and ready to go. Yeah,

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A Chic House Tour In North Carolina

We do our best to crash a variety of homes, both old and new, big and small, traditional and modern, expensivo and super cheap, etc. This one falls into the glamorous high-end realm, but its cup runneth over with adaptable ideas – even if you’re on a tight budget. So we’re happy to bask in the inspirational eye candy (and pass it along to you guys of course). As we mentioned in yesterdays post, this gorgeous home is located in Charlotte, NC. So on with the tour. Here’s the charming exterior: And here are Jennifer and her sweet six week old daughter Eleanor to let us in: Here’s the gorgeous view that greets you when

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Buying Fabric At Mary Jo’s Near Charlotte

Earlier this morning we mentioned that we slipped through Mary Jo’s fabric store outside of Charlotte, NC again (read about our first trip here) where they have bolts of discount fabric stacked higher than my 5’2″ self. We thought it would be fun to share what caught our eye along with what we actually bought since some of you guys might be on a fabric pilgrimage of your own. And the good news is that a lot of this fabric should be sold by multiple places (although MJ’s prices are hard to beat) so if you see something you love, I’ve tried to include as many details as possible so you can sleuth it out

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