Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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Using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint And Soft Wax

Dudes and dudettes, I finally tried chalk paint. And yes, I just broke out dudettes. Gutsy move for 2013, eh? Anyway, many of you guys have asked if I’ve given Annie Sloane chalk paint a go, and now that I have, here are the details. First of all, here’s how we used it: John and I brainstormed a few possibilities for the table that we cut down and the two thrift store chairs that we found in West Virginia (they were $8 each) for a while. Here are a few alternatives that we tossed out there: red chairs with a white table red table with white chairs navy table with red chairs navy table with

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Window Shopping: Adler Adoration

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 pics of whatever inspires us for you guys. This post is actually a few months overdue (woops) but now that I’ve uploaded the pics and sat down to write this post I’m all school-girl-ish again. See, I actually stepped foot into my first Jonathan Adler store ever a few months back (while we were in DC for a signing up the street) and I was OBSESSED. Believe me, it’s not a good look. I get all squealy and grinny and

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Fab Freebie: What’s In A Name?

*** This giveaway is now closed – see who won below! *** After 10,000 interesting name origin stories, random.org has selected our winners as… Beth (who says “my dad picked it out and to this day I’m whole heartily a daddy’s girl.”) and Chelsea (who’s name story is: “My parents got my name from the 1981 movie, On Golden Pond. ‘Chelsea’ was played by Jane Fonda”) Congrats! I realize from the name Online Fabric Store, you might have trouble guessing what this online store sells, so allow me to solve that mystery for ya. Fabric! And seemingly every kind of fabric – like upholstery, decor, quilting, apparel and even garden fabric. Which means that this

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How To Make No Sew Ikat Curtains For A Kids Room

Some people who went for a pattern like this on the daybed might go for something neutral and simple for the windows (like breezy white curtains). Others might pluck one of the colors from the blanket and go for that (bold red cotton panels, taupey-gray velvet ones, etc). We might have been tempted to go with something more neutral and safe if the room wasn’t meant for our color loving kiddo (so the bedding could “be the star”) but since it’s Clara’s new space, and we love kid zones with a few layered patterns and colors, we decided to just go to our favorite local fabric outlet (U-Fab here in Richmond) and see what grabbed

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The Macklemore Thrift Shop Challenge

The day has finally come! It’s about to get thrifty up in hurrrr. Here’s the deal. This “Challenge” – which we issued last Friday – was basically an excuse to all (virtually) go thrift shopping together and share our spoils. Plus there was a scavenger-hunt-ish element tossed in there for kicks. And just like our little Pinterest Challenges, if you guys wanted to partake and blog about it, we have a little linky thing at the bottom of this post so everyone can share their favorite finds. There were just THREE things we asked folks to do in order to play along (well, four if you count blogging about it, although of course you can

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One Little Two Little Three Little Updates

Even though we blog about house stuff every day it’s surprisingly easy to forget to fill you guys in on the little changes that we make… until someone sees a picture and says “wait, you didn’t tell us you did _____!” And sometimes it’s the little things that make you smile when you walk into the same room you’ve been walking into every day for the last 700+ days anyway, if you know what I mean. So since this blog is as much about over-sharing the small stuff as the big stuff, here are three oops-we-forgot-to-show-you updates. You guys have asked where my little ceramic houses that John got me for Christmas landed, and I’m

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A Tuxedo Kitchen Makeover With Wood & White Cabinets

Jaw dropping is not a term I like to just throw around, but I think this makeover earned it. Emily’s got lots of info about her makeover, so I’ll just let her dive right in and show it off to you guys. Here’s her letter: We bought this house as a foreclosure a little over two years ago. We got such a great deal on the house that it hasn’t been as difficult to save our money for the updates it needs. The house was built in 1987 and the interior had not been touched since, except for adding a layer or two of wallpaper over the original wallpaper.  Floral explosion all up in the

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A Fun Pink Polka Dot Rug For The Playroom

You’ve heard of rolling out the red carpet, but what about the pink one? It’s Clara’s favorite color, and a nice warm tone (after filling most of the house with cool blues, greens, and grays, it’s nice to bring in some warm tones to balance things out). Plus the way the playful dots in the rug mix with the bold colors in Clara’s big girl bedding = almost more fun than my brain can handle. In person it’s even more happy! Seriously. Come over right now. As for the price? Pretty darn hard to beat. We’ve had our eyes peeled for a while for something that would work with the blanket and general color scheme

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Hanging A Pegboard In A Basement Workshop

So I finally finished decking out the other half of my Instagram-arted basement pegboard. Yup, I added a little makeshift shelf that I primed and painted, got a non-electrical music device (how’s that for mysterious?), and even hung something kitchen-related as art. Actually a lot of you guys have been asking what we did with the cutting board that we picked up a couple of months ago as part of The Shops At Target collection, so… I give you… America The Pegboard-iful. I just thought it made for some cool (and sawdust-proof) art, since I’m into maps and all. It worked out nicely that the blue-painted edge of it coincidentally goes with my navy pegboard.

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Fab Freebie: A Literal Fab Freebie

***This giveaway is now closed – see who won below!*** You guys hit the 10,000 entry cap to giveaway within 24 hours, so you must love some Fab as much as I do (or perhaps you just like $500). Either way, we’ve crowned a random winner and it is… Whitney (who says “Most of my apartment is muted gray, yellow, and blue, but my kitchen has bright red baking dishes on display.”) Congrats Whitney! I’m a recent addict to Fab (I own more t-shirts from there than I probably should admit). So imagine my reaction when I got an email from them offering to do a – wait for it – $500 Fab gift card

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A Big Girl Bedroom With A Daybed & A Secondhand Dresser

A dove and a moose walk into a bar. Just kidding, not a bar. That’s not kid-room appropriate. How about a dove and a moose walk onto a playground? Anyway, I’ll just cut to the chase. We finally found a dresser for Clara’s big girl room, complete with dovetailed joints! Hence the mention of a dove (ah, they don’t make ’em like they used to). We wanted one for the playroom/ big girl room for Clara once she moves in there (so that eventual-second-child can use Clara’s original dresser since it works so well as a changing table in the nursery). And that way we’re not undoing one room to redo another room, which always

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Our (Completely Unofficial) Macklemore Thrift Shop Challenge

Psst- We’re bouncing around the West Coast this weekend with a talk and signing in Portland on Saturday at Rejuvenation at noon (for more info call 503-238-1900). Then on Sunday we’ll be in Palo Alto at 11am at the West Elm on 180 University Avenue (RSVP here). Parking isn’t enforced on Sundays so you can park anywhere, or you can purchase a visitors pass at Palo Alto Civic Center and park in any of their lots all day. There are two irrefutable facts about me. 1) I tend to fall in love with rappers and 2) I’m a fool for a good thrift shop. So when those two passions collided in the form of this

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