Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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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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Collecting Ceramic Animals

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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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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How To Spray Paint A Brass Candlestick

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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Answering Your Questions 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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A Quick Fall 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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An Orange, Brown, and Tan Dining Room Mood Board

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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