Young House Love

DIY Home Decorating Projects, Tutorials, & Shenanigans

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The Affordable, Compact Pressure Washer That Revived Our Outdoor Furniture

Despite having a blast with the pressure washer we rented a few years ago, we’d always been hesitant to bite the bullet and purchase one. Part of us didn’t want to store another bulky tool, especially since it didn’t seem like something we’d be using all that often. But recently the universe sent us several signs that we were missing out. My neighbor kept waxing poetic about his. They were popping up in our blog feeds everywhere. Oh, and the pollen. The universe sent us lots and lots of pollen this year. Exhibit A: Those are pillows from the open sunroom on the back of our house, shown below shortly after we finished it back in

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A Vintage Pink Stove For The Beach House

Oh snap, our “new” stove for the beach house is older than we are. In fact, it’s from 1959! And it’s pink! And I’m ridiculously excited about it. John’s current stove mood might best be described as “cautiously optimistic” – but we’ll get to that in a second. The cost? $195 at a secondhand shop. It’s a place called Class & Trash that’s around 30 mins from our house. When they posted the pink stove to their Facebook page (they share new items that come in each week) not only did some people tag me, but I noticed it in my own feed and my eyeballs did a happy dance. It was like the universe put blinking lights around this stove

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Two Easy Kids Birthday Parties: Into The Woods & Under The Sea

We’ve had so much fun putting together kids birthday parties with random themes like worms and dragons (complete with a fire-breathing kid photo session). Shortly after our last party post back in 2014 (remember the “Pink & Gold Everything Party“?), we took a step back from the blog for a full year, and in that time we were both curious: would our enthusiasm for going “all out” wane in the absence of an active blog? I mean, “all out” is probably a relative term. It wasn’t My Super Sweet Sixteen and there wasn’t a petting zoo, but we did our fair share of decorating and having fun with a theme and cupcake toppers and favors and all that

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Two Things I Bought (And A Whole Lotta Weekend Sales)

Happy Friday, guys! Just wanted to stop in with a public service sale announcement because as usual there are TONS of home items that are discounted for Memorial Day and since I’m now shopping for our house and the beach house (DANGER!) I’m on high alert for deals. I learned the hard way that it’s smart to hold out for this weekend when buying home stuff a few years ago (I ordered something like two days before all the sales hit without thinking: “duh, wait for Memorial Day and everything goes way on sale”). This year I actually had my act together not only to 1) remember that tip and buy two things I’ve been watching

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Installing A Subway Tile Backsplash For $200

One regret Sherry and I have about our first house is not doing a tiled backsplash as part of our kitchen makeover. Best I can remember, we wanted an easily changeable “pop of color” in the form of good ol’ fashioned paint instead (and we spent a lot on that makeover, so it was a cost saving measure as well). If only we had known how cheap and easy a backsplash could be if you install it yourself! Now having several tiling projects under our belts – including the backsplashes in our current kitchen and our last kitchen – it feels like a no-brainer. We even added a backsplash to our laundry room (here’s how, and here’s the full room

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A Custom Kids Portrait That Gets Me All Choked Up

Ok, so this post is WELLLL overdue. Every time someone asks about the art in our foyer whenever they catch a glimpse of it on Facebook or Instagram (like in this pic or this pic) I say something like “A good friend of mine made that portrait of our kids! I’ve been meaning to write a post about that – soon I hope!” Whelp, that day has finally come. Hold on tight, it’s gonna be a wild ride. I actually got the painting over a year ago! It’s a pastel drawing done by our friend and neighbor Robin Olivier and she is SUCH A TALENT! It’s based on one of my favorite photos of the kids ever taken. Just a casual iPhone

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That Time We Thought The Bedroom Would Simmer For A While, And Then Bam.

We mentioned some recent master bedroom movin’ & shakin’ on this week’s podcast, so we thought a post full of photos was in order for anyone wondering how it’s looking these days. Pretty much everything in our bedroom was purchased while we were living in our second house, so after moving here in 2013 stuff just kinda landed where it landed and whoop, there it was. We painted. We hung frames. We made a few sporadic dresser swaps, and then we repainted. But the anchor pieces like the rug, the bed, the armchair, and most of the other furnishings pretty much remained the same. More recently we got a super on-sale chandelier and swapped beds with the guest room and it felt like

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Cutting The Cable: How We’re Saving Hundreds On TV, Internet, & Phone

Here it is, the post we promised all about cutting the cable cord (and how much we’re saving as a result). As self-proclaimed TV enthusiasts, we’ve been known to collapse on the couch after some good painting/organizing/spackling and kick back with some tube. So in all of the hubbub about cutting the cable cord in recent years, we never really considered ourselves strong candidates – especially because so many of the channels Sherry likes (Bravo, Bravo, and also Bravo) weren’t always easy to get outside of a traditional cable package. But after some recent frustrations with our cable provider, and an ever-growing bill (which went from $99 to $169 the last 4 years!) we became even more

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Beach House Progress: The Outside Is (Almost) Done & The Inside’s Just Getting Good

Slowly but surely we’re making headway on the beach house. In fact, in the next few weeks we’re going to see BIG progress as the house gets all new electrical, plumbing, and a fully functioning HVAC system (just in time for those sweltering beach days). We’re so excited to be able to shout from the rooftops that there’s no more sketchy knob & tube wiring, the furnace will no longer be “accessorized” with cardboard and bedsheets (not sure what those were for), and there’s actually going to be running water in the house again, which hasn’t happened for who knows how long (the old sewer line got busted up by tree roots in the back, so we have to MAKE

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Stuff In Our House That’s On Sale Right Now

There were TONS of sales this weekend – in fact nearly everything in our house that’s still being sold was majorly marked down. And I thought “it’d be awesome if I could get my act together and alert anyone who’s been hankering for something in our house” – but we were getting back from spring break and Easter/family stuff was going on and I just couldn’t make it happen. But then, many of the sales mysteriously kept going (even though they all said they were ending on Sunday)… so here I am, writing this quickie post for all my sale loving compadres out there. Oh, and if you were wondering how something in our house has been

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An Easy & Sweet Easter Egg Tree

Easter isn’t typically one of those decorate-every-surface-of-the-house holidays for me. I own exactly one white ceramic bunny who stays outside year-round for “whimsy-factor” (read: I’m too lazy to move him). But last year I made my first Easter tree and I’ve been inordinately excited about breaking it out again ever since. I know what you’re thinking. But Easter is this weekend!!! I don’t have time. It’s too late. I might as well go eat 1,000 Peeps to drown my sorrows. Well, it’s not too late. You can whip this up in a few minutes, and it actually looks its best when it’s just enjoyed for a week or so anyway. So let’s get down to business. Here

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That Time Our Beach House Photobombed HGTV

Despite not even being close to finished, our beach house made its television debut on HGTV this past Sunday night! See it there on the right side of the screen? Our rotten siding basically worked its way into a solid 5% of the episode. We had no idea it was going to be on, hence Sherry cranking her excitement level up to 11 on Insta-stories that night for those of you who got to witness that (here it is below, in case you missed it): It was part of an HGTV show called Beachfront Bargain Hunt because the house RIGHT NEXT DOOR was one of the three homes the featured couple was considering (the show follows a

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