Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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Using Solid Stain In Our Outdoor Shower

In all of our years of DIYing, I don’t think we’ve ever used a solid stain before. But we recently had a project that was *perfectly* suited for it and, well, solid stain quickly won us over. It was recommended by a professional house painter to us, specifically because he thought it would be great for our outdoor shower. And we found it easy to apply, it gave us great coverage, and we got an even-better-than-we-expected result (which is always the best kind!). So here’s a post that covers all the pros & cons and hows & whys of solid stain. As you can see, the “canvas” for this staining project was our outdoor shower.

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ZZ Plant – Complete Care Guide

The ZZ plant is another one of our favorite low-maintenance houseplants. They’re easy to care for, hard to kill, and always look full & leafy. They’ve even earned the nickname “Eternity Plant” because they’re practically indestructible! That’s why they’re a top choice for commercial spaces, doctor’s offices, and busy homes like ours. Don’t you love a house plant you can forget about? ZZ plants are sold in a variety of sizes, meaning they’re great for shelves, tabletops, and small surfaces as well as larger statements on the floor. We have some that are over 3 feet tall with their pots! ZZ Plant Quick Facts Here’s what you need to know about your ZZ plant at

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A Beginner’s Guide To Pressure Washing

Many people think pressure washers are complicated to set up, expensive to buy, or hard to control. But good news! They are none of those things. Pressure washing is an easy, affordable, and TOTALLY AWESOME way to keep your outdoor spaces looking fresh. So here’s a comprehensive start-to-finish guide for anyone who’s ready to get their pressure washing feet wet (maybe even literally). We were a bit intimidated the first time we tried pressure washing nearly 10 years ago. The cumbersome gas-powered machine we rented for a day was so big it didn’t even fit in our car! So I TOTALLY understand anyone with PWH (pressure washing hesitation). Our Favorite Pressure Washer But that all

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Star Jasmine – Plant Growing & Care Guide

Star jasmine is a fast-growing and fragrant evergreen vine that offers great coverage & privacy as a climbing or creeping vine. Even better, it bursts into bloom with incredible-smelling white flowers in the spring! The plant is native to Asia, but is incredibly popular in the Southeastern United States and areas of California. In warm environments like these, star jasmine is also super easy to care for and grow. Just another reason we love it! Star jasmine can grow as dense ground cover or container plants, but our favorite use is as a climbing vine. This does require a trellis, pergola, stakes, or some other structure for it to grow up. Those are easy to

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The 9 Best Greige Paint Colors (According To Experts)

“Greige” is that sweet spot between gray & beige, and it’s a paint color that’s both trendy and timeless. In fact, we’ve been on the greige bandwagon for nearly 20 years – well before we’d even heard that term! But finding the perfect greige can be daunting. There are 100s of neutral paint colors that could be considered greige, so we’ve waded through dozens of expert round-ups to see what colors come up over and over again. (Yes, I made a spreadsheet. And yes, I liked it). We weren’t surprised to see our favorite greige paint show up on this Iist, but the color that ranked #1 was a bit of a shock to us!

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Golden Pothos – Plant Care Guide

Pothos are easily our #1 favorite houseplant and the golden pothos is by far the most popular variety. They’re loved by beginners and plant experts alike because they’re affordable, attractive, and easy to care for. They’re quick-growing plants with beautiful trailing vines that add loads of life and color to any space. We have pothos in nearly EVERY room of our house! There are over a dozen kinds of pothos (Epipremnum aureum), most of which share similar characteristics and care instructions as the golden pothos. You can read more about other varieties we love, like the marble queen pothos and neon pothos. Golden Pothos Quick Facts Here’s what you need to know about your golden

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Neon Pothos – Plant Care Guide

Our top recommendation for an easy, starter houseplant? Pothos, pothos, pothos! They’re low-stress, high-impact, and fast-growing vines that are great for both beginners and experts. The golden pothos may be the most common variety but don’t overlook its more vibrant cousin: the neon pothos. We’ve got several neon pothos in our home, and they’re beautiful and so easy! So here’s all you need to know before you get your own. There are over a dozen varieties of pothos, most of which share similar care instructions to the neon pothos. You can read more about other pothos we love, like the golden pothos and marble queen pothos. Neon Pothos Quick Facts Here’s what you need to

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Marble Queen Pothos – Plant Care Guide

Even though the marble queen isn’t the most popular pothos variety, it’s one of our personal favorites! Like all pothos plants, they’re a perfect starter houseplant because they’re resilient, low-maintenance, and fast-growing. Plus, we think it has some of prettiest leaves of all. There are over a dozen kinds of pothos, most of which share similar characteristics and care instructions as the marble queen. You can read more about other pothos we love, like the golden pothos and neon pothos. These beauties are so hard to kill, they’ve even earned the nickname “Devil’s Ivy! Marble Queen Quick Facts Here’s what you need to know about your marble queen pothos at a glance: What Is A

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Snake Plant – Care Guide

If you’re someone who thinks you can’t keep a plant alive – this plant will prove you wrong! In fact, you’ve probably seen one at a doctor’s office, home improvement store, or hotel lobby because they’re so low maintenance. Thanks to being so easy to care for and widely liked, they’re a great option for anyone who wants a low-effort plant. So today we’ll share why serial plant-killers and seasoned plant lovers all love this spear-shaped beauty. There are dozens of varieties of snake plants, but today we’ll mainly be talking about the most popular cultivar: Dracaena trifasciata ‘Laurentii.’ The Laurentii refers to the specific variant of this species seen in these photos. They’re identifiable

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DIY Built-In Bookshelves

This DIY tutorial for adding built-in bookshelves is a lot simpler than it looks. That means getting this classic look of floor-to-ceiling shelving around a doorway is something anyone can do. We planned these bookcases as part of our big kitchen remodel, and they may be my secret favorite part of the whole renovation. This wall did have a bookcase on it originally, as you can see in this before photo. But we demo’d and reframed it to be more open to the kitchen. In addition to the DIY building tutorial, we’ll also share all of the measurements so you can make sure to create the best shelf height and depth for books and decor.

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A Weekend In Palm Springs With Kids

Palm Springs, California may not scream “kid-friendly destination” but we recently had THE BEST vacation there with our family (our kids are 9 and 13). So here’s a quick rundown of our favorite must-see attractions in Palm Springs as well as info about where we stayed, what we ate, and what we’re excited to check out next time. Because we definitely will be back! Did I mention we also brought our nine-pound chihuahua with us? So most of our suggestions are dog-friendly too! Why Vacation With Kids In Palm Springs? We chose Palm Springs for a lot of reasons. First, our East Coast-born kids had never been to California! Of course, there are lots of

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How To Make A DIY Trellis

Behold: our DIY wire trellis! I’ve wanted to try this project for over a decade and I’m over the moon with how it’s turned out. All it took was some basic tools, wire & hooks, plus a climbing vine to bring it to life. Oh, and planning. It does a bit of planning. So let’s show you how to make your own! My urge to make a vine trellis intensified after we painted our house white last fall. The back of our garage practically screamed “ADD A DIAMOND TRELLIS ON ME!” It feels like such a chic garden accent, that our white house finally felt fancy enough for one. Wire Trellis Before & After Before

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