Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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Updating An Old Wooden Highchair

This is such a fun and simple project that is so smile-inducing it’s ridiculous. Remember this old highchair that I got from my mom almost a year ago, which she ate out of when she was a bambina? Well dude, I finally got on that. I had been waiting patiently to give it a little upgrade (it was covered in old paint splatters and smelled musty and smoky from a ton of years in storage) and now that Clara is big enough to sit in it without a lap belt, it was finally time to get ‘er done (after, you guessed it, sticking it in our playroom for at least eight months). I debated a ton

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Who’s The Joss?

Last October we had fun teaming up with Joss & Main to curate a sale event over on their site (which entailed picking favorites from hundreds of items in their database to make a “Young House Love collection”), so when they invited us back for a spring collection – and agreed to an extra special perk for you guys this time around (more on that in a sec) – we were psyched. Side note: I used to think that word was spelled “siked” until freshman year when my BFF laughed ’til she cried and finally clued me in. It’s really funny to hear the title of “curator” used to describe us (except maybe Curator Of

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How To Make A Fabric Covered Bulletin Board

It’s time for a board meeting guys. Nothing official, just an actual meeting of cork boards, like so: Let’s back up. I had this random idea that a hidden bulletin board in my closet would be a fun place to tack up a bunch of pages I’ve torn out of magazines. You know, cute outfits, haircuts, and other various tips/reminders that I rip out (like how to check my freckles for signs of skin cancer – yes I actually do that). That way, instead of shoving them somewhere like a drawer or letting them pile up on my desk, I can see them all at a glance… with the push of a few hangers. See

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The Best Gray Paint Color: Rockport Gray

Yup, our formerly beige-on-beige master bathroom is officially rocking Rockport Gray. And we love it as much as we did when we saw it in this kitchen. Here she blows without the shower curtain hung back up yet (we snapped some pics with it up as well, which we’ll get to in a second): But let’s back up. Before applying two coats of paint to our bathroom (we shared our little mood board for the room yesterday) first we had to remove that unused-shelf-and-towel-bar (read why we didn’t use them here)… …to make way for some art on the only wall that isn’t tiled nearly all the way to the ceiling. So we did (using

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Fab Freebie: French Swimming

***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries – see who won below!*** Well now that we’re more than ready to find a pool to dive into, random.org has picked a winner of this week’s giveaway. The lucky lady is… Cher (who swims about 20 laps each day in the summer). Congrats! One element in our new kitchen that always makes us smile is the etsy print that we purchased by Samantha French. Remember, the cheery orange and blue painting of the lady swimming (that Clara also sweetly though included some “fishies”)? Well now Samantha is giving you guys a chance to win your very own colorful work of art with a $200 gift certificate to

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Planning A Quick Bathroom Makeover

Well, I guess we did rehang the shower curtain at ceiling height right after we moved in – but other than that we haven’t really touched this room. In fact, pretty much all three of our bathrooms are uncharted territory for us when it comes to updates. But you’ve gotta start somewhere, so we decided to start in the one we use the most – and probably find the quirkiest. See, it doesn’t have a sink (that’s in our bedroom, actually) so it’s a really small room. We’re talking around 5′ x 6′ total (including a regular sized tub). So yes, the door practically hits the toilet (it just barely misses it). And John can

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Turning 30

A bunch of you have been asking how turning thirty was for me, so I’ll take a break from painting something (yes, there is paint going on a formerly untouched bathroom wall! wahoo!) to admit that Monday was a really nice day. So far thirty is all good. And I don’t feel a day over 29. Hah. My theory is that every birthday sort of feels like not much has changed since I wake up feeling the same way I did the morning before. By comparison, I always feel older when life events happen (graduating college, getting married, having a baby) but for some reason a birthday to me is just a fun day when

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A White Kitchen With Butcher Block And An Apron Sink

We figured during the week of our big kitchen reveal it was only fitting to share a reader’s kitchen makeover as well. And this kitchen redesign comes from a male blogger who goes by “Beard” (he has a female sidekick in the form of “Pigtails” – the daughter that he’s a single dad to). Beard’s blogging style is quite entertaining, and the kitchen makeover, well, it’s awesome. Here’s his letter: I recently gutted and rebooted the kitchen on my 1950’s brick ranch (using inexpensive materials like Ikea cabinetry and reclaimed wood for a bench and table setup). Goals for the reboot: Be smart with the available 100 square feet. Kill clutter and chop it down

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A Video Tour Of Our House

Yup, it really has been seven whole months since our last house tour video. Unacceptable. So here it is. Eight riveting minutes of me walking around the house and babbling about anything and everything with the Flip cam catching all the shaky Blair-Witch-esque action. We just figured it was a nice time to shoot this now that the kitchen is done and we’re gearing up to start some new stuff (some landscaping bidness, upgrading one of the three bathrooms that we haven’t touched, building a big arse deck, etc). So come on in and poke around: A few notes: Am I the only one who still has a scratchy voice two weeks after the flu?

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A Kitchen Makeover With Penny Tile And Open Shelves

Ok, we’re calling it. The kitchen is officially done! Of course that’s a lie and we still have a bunch of little things to complete, like: adding decorative molding to the back of the peninsula adding a message center/chalk board to the side of the pantry adding the last of the transitions/reducers to finish the floors (and that rectangle of fireplace tile) replacing the broken light in the fireplace area – most likely with a spotlight that washes down the fireplace wall adding some sort of window treatment (colorful roman shade?) over the sink And of course we dream of refinishing the surrounding oak floors to match the dark mocha cork in the kitchen so

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Our Benjamin Moore Collection Of Favorite Paint Colors

Aw yeah, you know we love a good Britney reference. And you know we love painting (walls, paneling, brick, large ceramic roosters…). A big part of that is picking a paint color. Paint chips are kind of like potato chips to us (we can’t pop just one), and Benjamin Moore has been our snack of choice for a while now. Their color catalog is massive so it’s no wonder we’ve used their tones in nearly every room (Sesame in the kitchen, Moonshine in the living room and dining room, Proposal in Clara’s room, and Dragonfly on the back of our dining room built-ins). Then we used their Advance paint when it came to painting our

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Buying A Bigger TV

I’m not sure any of you have noticed, but we have a tiny TV. Well, some of you have definitely noticed because you keep laughing at us and commenting about how overdue we are for a bigger one. And as the resident man of the house, I have to say I agree. Our little 26-incher made sense in the old house, where our den was so narrow that I could practically change the channel with my toe… But now that we have a bit more space in our current living room (we actually miss the cozy-ness of our first living room, but love having extra room for Clara to play/run around), the phrase “we really

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