Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

Archives for April 2010

| By | | 105 Comments

Budget Blooms: April Greenery

As most of you know, every month we like to enjoy one inexpensive- and sometimes free- bouquet to keep things feeling fresh around here (the idea actually stemmed from a super sweet Christmas present from the hubs a while back). But this month I just had to deviate from the plan when I saw this adorable leafy little guy complete with his own shiny turquoise ceramic pot for- get this- $2.50 from Walmart. Ringing in just as cheap (if not cheaper) than most of our monthly grocery store bouquets, I love that this splash of foliage livens up my desk and even comes with its own vase of sorts (well, planter) that I can use

[ Read More ]

| By | | 122 Comments

Affordable Couches From Custom Sofa Design

We recently saw a write up about designer-lookalike sofas by Custom Sofa Design on Little Green Notebook and were pretty astonished by the offerings and the prices. We’re talking about sofas that are dead ringers for spendy Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn, Room & Board and Anthropologie versions with prices that start around $599 (with many many options under $799). They even offer up chic designer-based upholstered beds at a serious markdown from the original versions. Apparently if you read the comments over on that post, lots of people have had a great experience with the company and rave about Don, the owner. And we were further surprised to learn that everything is manufactured right

[ Read More ]

| By | | 211 Comments

How To Build DIY Floating Shelves With Ana White

We could not be more thrilled to introduce Ana from Ana-White.com who’s swinging by with an amazing build-it-yourself project for anyone who’s ever wanted to DIY floating shelves. For those who don’t already know about Knock-Off Wood, it’s a site full of amazing designer-lookalike furniture plans that will save you hundreds- even thousands- if you’re willing to break a sweat and put in a little elbow grease to whip things up on your own. And you know we love that Ana proves that woodworking isn’t only about guys in overalls. Ladies can totally make the sawdust fly just as well. So without further ado, let’s get down to business with the first project that Ana

[ Read More ]

| By | | 37 Comments

How To Stencil A Pillow Or Curtain Panel

When Dana sent us her super simple and wallet-friendly stencil project we just had to share it. Here’s her letter: I just wanted to pass along a quick and inexpensive project that you inspired! A while back you featured the knot stencil from Sunny’s Goodtime Paints in a mood board and I immediately fell in love with it. My lovely husband gave it to me for Christmas and I recently used it to stencil a pillow cover and laundry curtains (that hide my laundry room water valves and electrical cords) with fabric paint. It was really easy and I’m lovin’ the results. I’m thinking of using it on my foyer wall now that I’ve tackled these smaller stenciling

[ Read More ]

| By | | 150 Comments

How To Hang A Gallery Wall Of Art In The Nursery

Waaaaay back when we mentioned that we’d be converting our third bedroom into a nursery, we admitted that we loved the asymmetrical wall of frames too much to remove it. But we did plan pretty much from the start to switch out some of the randomly framed prints and pictures with more kid-friendly and cheerfully toned art that’s fitting of a little girl’s nursery. So here’s what it looked like before our big art-swap-fest: And here’s the same asymmetrical arrangement of frames after the big switch: Now we’ll zoom out so you can see it in context with the rest of the nursery. Don’t the blues and pinks and greens work nicely with everything from

[ Read More ]

| By | | 82 Comments

A Stunning City House Tour

We’re back with an amazingly gorgeous home to share, and this one is actually located in downtown DC. We had a blast meeting and greeting Adam and Amber, and of course when they showed us around their Capitol Hill rowhouse we couldn’t contain our excitement. Here’s the happy couple now… But back to the whole “couldn’t contain our excitement” thing. Do you see why? This is the view as you step inside. Their home is a modest 1000 square feet but they definitely squeezed all the beauty and function that they could out of it. Everything from the small scale sofa to the mini dining room that they created (the round table can actually accommodate

[ Read More ]

| By | | 101 Comments

How To Organizing Cords, Wires, & Cables

Q: Since I’m an avid reader/adorer of all things YHL, I’ve seen pretty much all the pictures of your home that you’ve managed to cram into the blog. And every time I see these pics, I swoon over how organized and neat your house is- so very unlike my own. One thing in particular annoys me: office clutter! Cords, cables & wires. Lettin’ it all hang out is NOT my idea of organization or attractiveness. How do you guys make your cords/wires/cables more organized and neat? Must I resort to actually having to tie each wire and cord individually? There must be another way! Right? Please? – Erin A: I’m crazy. I’ll just get that

[ Read More ]

| By | | 95 Comments

Painting And Reupholstering A Chair With Ikea Curtains

When Teresa sent us her before and after chair makeover pics, we couldn’t wait to share the goods. Here’s her letter: I just had to pass along the story of our $20 garage sale find. My husband hated the patterned Ikea curtains that I had hanging in our living room so I’m happy to share one of the panel’s reincarnation. My husband and I refinished the chair by sanding it and using Kilz oil-based primer and a can of regular old white high gloss spray paint from Lowe’s. We can’t take credit for the reupholstering though, as we had that professionally done. But here she is in all her glory. This is definitely my new

[ Read More ]

| By | | 118 Comments

Little Eggs Inside Of A Bird’s Nest On Our Porch

This is so eggciting. Yup, I just hit you with an egg pun. Watch out for those this time of year. Anyway, we really were excited (there, I resisted it that time) to discover an adorable and very Easter appropriate display of nature that’s actually been living in one of our former DIY projects. Can you tell what’s going on in this picture? Yes, that’s a nest with two adorable eggs in it. And guess where that nest is located? Why it’s in one of our homemade porch lanterns (learn how we turned cheap bulb covers from Home Depot into sweet candle-lit porch decor right here). Mr and Mrs Bird just built it right on

[ Read More ]