Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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A Blue And White DIY Kitchen Renovation

It’s no surprise that we’re in the mood for a good kitchen makeover these days. Okay, who are we kidding, we’re always in the mood for one. But Erin & Zach’s do-it-yourself remodel of their 1950’s kitchen is especially familiar (and inspiring since we’re just at the beginning of our current kitchen’s transformation). Here’s their letter: We wanted to share the redo of our 1951 kitchen (take note of the sweet before lamp and the heavy-duty ceiling beam disappearing act). We were so lucky to peel up the old laminate floor and the plywood to find original (albeit quite damaged) wood floors that extended into the middle of the kitchen. We found matching red oak

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Four No-Cut Pumpkin Decorating Ideas For Kids

Since one-year-olds aren’t really “of age” when it comes to pumpkin carving, we’ve been trying to figure out a way to involve Clara in pumpkin decorating this year. And she deserved a promotion from last year’s job as hand model: So a few days ago we finally figured out a way for Clara’s hand to come in, um, handy again. But first – let’s introduce our subjects. We’ll call them Big Brother, Middle Child, and Little Piggy. On Monday night I broke out my favorite all-purpose medium (aka painter’s tape) and marked out a traditional jack-o-lantern stencil on Middle Child. Then with an exacto knife I cut out the pattern carefully (okay, not that carefully

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Rehanging Cabinets And Removing Granite Counters

When our saga last left off, our heroes were being shuffled around the kitchen. That is, if a refrigerator and a pantry are your kind of hero. But before our new appliances arrived last week, we had to put the moves on a few more things. First in line? The cabinet that held the wall oven. You probably recall that we were ditching the wall oven because it was burnt on the front, bisque colored, and cooked things unevenly. We opted not to replace it with another wall oven because (1) wall ovens are expensive – usually 1K more than ranges, (2) our cabinet is unconventionally narrow – most modern wall ovens wouldn’t even fit,

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Why We Chose Penny Tile For Our Kitchen Backsplash

We did it. Since this morning’s post we made one more trip out to the tile store and finally made a tile decision (we ordered over 50 square feet of it to do the entire wall above the stove where we’ll add open shelves and a vent hood as mentioned here). Our process was visiting a bunch of small local shops and big box stores just to see what was out there. And we had the most luck finding stuff that we loved at a local tile store (The Tile Shop). The only problem was that many of their gorgeous offerings were nearly $20 a square foot, which can work if you’re doing a standard

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Planning A Kitchen Wall Full Of Tile And Open Shelves

We’ve mentioned having a backsplash + open shelving + range hood idea a few times without much elaboration, so here’s the full monty explanation: we basically want to create a counter to ceiling accent wall of backsplash tile with open shelves and a range hood going on. This Sarah Richardson kitchen is especially appealing to us when it comes to the tile choice (we love white subway tile, but we’re thinking we might do something a little less white since our cabinets will be going white and we don’t want to completely whitewash the whole room). Now I will read your mind in a move I like to call “David Blaine-ing” you. You are thinking

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Fab Freebie: Oooh, Shiny

***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries – see who won below!*** Random.org had a tough job of sifting through nearly 7,000 jewelry hungry ladies (and gentlemen!) but has selected two random winners as… Lisa S. (who, like many, always wears her wedding ring but never gets sick of it because her husband did a great job) and SJ (who also wears her wedding and engagement rings out everyday). Congrats! Sherry here. I don’t usually write the giveaway posts, but we’re making an exception since I was the one who twisted John’s arm into this week’s giveaway. Instead of our usual DIY & decor-related prizes, this week we’re giving away some body decor that was

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Painting The Wall Under Our Chair Rail Gray Horse By Benjamin Moore

We finally got around to painting the area under the chair rail in the office a shade darker than the stenciled wall above it so it feels more balanced (as mentioned here). It was a little top heavy with the stencil going on above the chair rail and nada happening underneath, so I slid one square down on the Benjamin Moore paint swatch with the wall color on it (which is Moonshine by the way) and landed on Gray Horse (which we also had color matched to Olympic No-VOC paint in satin). Total spent: $10 for the quart of paint. Das it. Doesn’t it look more grounded now? Hence the title. You might notice that

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A Porch Update: Adding Mums With Our Yellow Door

We’ve done it again! For the second year in a row, we managed to accidentally allow the bushes in our big wooden porch planters to die. Oh the shame. Chalk it up to a miscommunication. Sherry thought I was watering them. I thought she was. Clara didn’t have a clue who was watering what (or what watering even is) and all the while Burger was “watering” plants in the back. By the time we realized our folly it was too late (although Sherry desperately dumped five cups of water a day on them for the last few weeks to no avail). So I’d say we’re equally to blame for our plants getting a bit on

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Reupholstering A Loveseat With Striped Fabric

Having wrestled for an unnaturally long time with our own chair upholstery project (well, I was more a bystander while my wife played the role of the wrestler), we’re that much more impressed with Erin’s redo of her great aunt’s loveseat. Here’s her letter: A few months ago I set out to reupholster my great aunt’s old loveseat. I actually planned on hiring someone to reupholster it, as I have never done anything like this before (not even close!). But then I got to thinking “Why not try my hand at it first?” So Project Loveseat was born! It was definitely a challenge. And one that I just sort of winged. I couldn’t even write

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DIY Halloween Decor With Spiders And Snakes

Clara likes little creatures (seriously, the girl thinks snakes and spiders are cute), and is currently in the midst of an apple/pumpkin obsession (which is very fall-appropriate). So we decided this year’s loose Halloween theme could be “nature” (said a la Will Ferrell as Robert Goulet on SNL). That way it encompasses things like pumpkins, gourds, and apples along with creepy things like spiders and black crows and snakes. But let’s go back to the beginning. I had some fun with Halloween stuff. First, I grabbed some $1.99 spiders and $2-3 snakes at Michael’s (the snakes were in the wood toy aisle and definitely not meant for Halloween but you know I’m weird…). When it

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Shifting Cabinets And Appliances For A New Kitchen Layout

In Monday’s appliance post we mentioned a couple switches (like wall oven out, stove in) but that was just the beginning. And then yesterday we shared that we were contemplating a new spot for the fridge. Well, it has all been settled. And we’re excited about it. But before I lay out the new layout for you, let’s talk demo again. This past weekend we found ourselves poised to purchase a slightly smaller yet not counter-depth fridge at the Sears Outlet (aka Scratch & Dent) – which was basically short and narrow enough to fit into the existing fridge spot but a bit deeper (so it actually would have stuck out into the room more

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A Beautiful Outdoor Makeover

Remember when we house crashed Jaime’s colorful and cozy home last June (more on that here)? Well, she redid her back deck and sweetly sent the eye candy our way. And we were instantly in love. It’s so welcoming and full of awesome DIY inspiration. What do I mean by DIY inspiration? Let’s look a little closer at the daybed under that sweet breezy canopy (that Jaime made here). When you get even closer you’ll notice that the daybed… … is actually made from pallets! Check out a full tutorial on how Jaime built it (all by herself) here. And just look at this cozy eating area. I love the mix of smooth and natural

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