Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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Art And A Bookcase For The Guest Room

Remember this “Things That Are Awesome” print that we got at a local craft fair last Christmas by an amazing artist named Rachel (here’s her shop) with the intent of hanging it in the guest room (you know, so everyone can study all the things that are awesome while they stay)? Well, we finally got it framed and hung. This is actually an angle of the guest room that we haven’t shown for a long loong time. As in, this post from two summers ago is the last time we shared it. And then a year later we grabbed that big mirror and hung it over the mantel in the kitchen and a while later

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House Crashing: Quaint & Vine Covered

Holy cow you guys, I’m crazypants excited to share Bonnie’s sweet vine covered barn in Santa Ynez, California. It’s a home with some much happiness and charm squeezed in, I think anyone who drops in would feel right at home. So let’s drop in, shall we? Here’s sweet Bonnie to welcome us. I wish we could have crashed her in person to meet her ourselves, but her photos were too good not to share, so this is one of our more rare “virtual” house crashings. Let’s step inside, shall we? Her office area is set up right near the entryway, and everything from the desk and chair (both from Ikea) to the cool ladder in

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Fab Freebie: April Tools

***This giveaway is now closed – see who won below!*** Well the lucky April fool, er, person who’s getting the $500 gift card to the home improvement store of their choosing  – all thanks to Hometalk! – is… Rebecca (who says she and her husband really need a router table to change out some non-functional kitchen cabinets). Congrats! Nope, this isn’t a joke. Someone somewhere in the world is gonna win $500 this week, and it’s all thanks to Hometalk. It’s a free community where DIYers and pros can exchange projects and advice, which makes it a great spot to discover new ideas (everything from major remodels to easy cleaning tips pop up). The photo-centric

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Our Chart Topping DIY Music Video

It’s pretty clear from all the embedded music videos and song-reference-titled posts that John and I are music lovers. John even mentioned that he sings a lot in this post and we all know that I was a wee bit enamored with a certain rapper in my youth (an obsession that drove me to say the word “phat” on national TV). So when a musician friend here in Richmond casually invited us into their studio to mess around… well something magical happened. One thing led to another, and we ended up pouring all of our DIY passion into a DIYed song for you guys. Full of life lessons, house trials and tribulations, design rules that

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Window Shopping At Pottery Barn Outlet

First things first, we did a little spring cleaning so we have a fresh little header and a lighter-and-brighter site background up in hurr. Hope you guys love it as much as we do. Update: if it looks wonky on your computer, try refreshing and then clearing your browser’s cache/cookies/data :) Speaking of apologies, it’s been way too long since our last window shopping adventure. As most of you know, these aren’t paid or perked or anything – we just walk through a store with a camera and take photos of whatever inspires us for you guys. This post is actually long overdue (woops) but now that I’ve uploaded the pics and sat down to

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Adding A Timer To Our Kids Play Kitchen

Here’s a little recap of a few small projects and updates that we tackled – all in less than ten minutes a pop. Let’s call it a “tapas” post since they’re all bite sized morsels. And happily, they all actually worked, which isn’t always how it goes (sometimes the occasional this-should-be-quick project morphs into how-on-earth-is-this-taking-so-long?!). First we have some wooden tattoos I made. Yup, I bought these two little temporary tattoos (they say “breathe” and “delight”) at the same holiday craft fair that we mentioned here (they’re from a local artist named Suzanne, who actually chatted with me about how you can put them on various things beyond skin). They had just been sitting on

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The Amazing Renovation Of A 1938 Cottage Near Lake Michigan

Before we dive into an incredible house transformation from Erin, Sherry just shared a little Easter-related DIY project that she whipped up for Clara over on Young House Life, so feel free to pop over there for the details (there’s a sneak peek below): But now back to Erin’s awesome makeover. Since both of our homes have had standard eight foot ceilings, Sherry and I have always fantasized about chopping off the roof and reattaching it just a couple of feet higher. So imagine how captivated we were by the story of a couple who pretty much lived out our dream – and crammed in some awesome room makeovers in the process. Here’s Erin’s letter:

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How To Make An Easter Egg Bowling Set

The other day I was chatting with Clara and I asked her a few questions just for fun (the girl has some serious opinions). Her response to: “what do you think the Easter Bunny’s favorite colors are?” was: “green and blue.” It was a completely matter-of-fact delivery. Not a doubt in her mind. Then, just to see what she thought, I asked what she thought the Easter Bunny did when it wasn’t Easter and he wasn’t busy delivering eggs. How did he pass the time? Her answer: he goes bowling. Awesome. And then that night when I was sitting on the couch after I tucked her in, it gave me an idea… what if I

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Our $200 Marble Fireplace Makeover

We can officially stick a fork in it, guys. Well, Sherry actually stuck an oversized fauz clam shell in it, but that’s doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as well. Either way, the fireplace makeover is complete. To back up a smidge, you saw us devise a plan for this little refacing makeover, add some marble subway tile and then build out around it. Reminder: fireplace code is different in every area (and requirements vary if it’s wood burning or if it has a gas insert, etc) so it’s a good idea to check that before going nuts on your fireplace. Our fireplace is non-working (we’d love to add a gas insert and even double-side

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Hanging A Round Mirror Over The Bed

It’s been a dang long time since we’ve done anything in the guest room, which we scrambled to get ready for my mom’s stay over two years ago. Can you believe that was two years ago? Crazy. Anyway, we’ve always thought that the grabbed-it-that-day-in-a-panic mirror over the bed from Target could stand to be a little bigger since it blends into those dark walls so much and the reflected circle that it sports seems a little tiny for that big bed under it (even if we beefed up the trim or added starburst-like details around it we worried the actual size of the mirror was still a little piddly). And you know we’re no strangers

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Fab Freebie: Something Fishy

***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries – see who won below!*** Our random winner of a full house window cleaning is… Christy U (who would also love to outsource getting her car detailed this spring cleaning season). Congrats! Spring means lots of things: sunshine, flowers, and – oh yeah – cleaning. I don’t mind some forms of cleaning, but I won’t pretend that I like washing windows. Luckily (well, lucky for one of you) the window-lovin’ people at Fish Window Cleaning are gonna help you ring in the season with a full house window cleaning! That means the inside and outside of all of your windows & windowsills (they’ll even remove and clean your

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How To Build A Fireplace Mantel

Ready for more progress on the fireplace? Good, ’cause there’s been lots. Last you saw, we had tiled the hearth and part of the surround with marble subway tile. That was the easy step. Well, at least the more straightforward step. Because our next assignment – building out the rest of the frame – involved the addition of a lot more materials. Let’s start with the MDF frame. We decided to work with MDF for the first time since it’s lighter, cheaper, and smoother than wood would be (plus it’s now sold without formaldehyde and it’s FSC certified). A 4ft x 8ft panel cost nearly $35, but the good news is that we only needed

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