Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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How We Made Our House More Hurricane Safe

Hurricane Isaias was the first major hurricane to hit our area since we moved here 6.5 years ago. We followed our county’s mandatory evacuation orders and drove many hours away to an unaffected part of Florida (Ocala). As we hunkered down at an Airbnb with our friends, kids, and pets, we watched as the hurricane became a Category 3 and turned towards our area back home. Luckily, our house and most of our neighborhood sustained only minor damage, relatively speaking. A few trees down, a scratch in the painted top piece of our fence (can see the tree leaning on it below?), and a LOT of leaves and sticks to clean up.

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How To Choose A Baby Name

As a former professional product namer, I’ve named everything from cheeseburgers to cell phones. And you might think… she also probably wants to name my baby. Well, you’d be right. I LOVE brainstorming name ideas, researching meanings, and test-driving name pairings. I also get the sometimes daunting pressure of it all. It can be stressful, and there are tons of factors to consider, endless options to sift through, and somehow even more opinions. Hint: do not ask everyone you know for their opinions – it can make it so much harder.

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Well Look Who Has A Second Bathroom

For the last six years, having one bathroom worked surprisingly well for our family of four. But this year, as part of our recent renovation, we finally added another bathroom – and boy does it feel luxurious after so many years without it! Today we’ll share why, where, and how we finally added a second bathroom to our smaller home. We’ve also got not one, but TWO video tours below. There’s a quick walkthrough of the bathroom (plus a peek at the rest of the downstairs renovation). Plus a longer, no-detail-spared tour Sherry recorded for Instagram.

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100+ Celebrity Baby Names

It’s no secret that I want to name your baby (I’ve loved sharing name ideas – and John and I even pitched a pet naming book before starting this blog). And the topic of celebrity baby names has always fascinated me. From whatever “off the wall” name a famous person has chosen for their offspring (Surie! Apple! Blanket!) to the way that celebrity baby names have real impacts on naming trends (if a popular celeb names her son something, that name can soar to the top of the charts). It really is intriguing to me that beyond the gossip factor, celebrity baby names introduce new names to the lexicon, boost the popularity of others, and can even steer people away from choosing a name that’s in the headlines… which actually happened to us! But more on that in a minute.

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Our All-Time Favorite Podcasts

We’ve been enthusiastic podcast fans for over a decade now and have shared our latest listens in newsletters, social posts, and even on our own podcast (R.I.P.). Now we’re putting all of our best podcast recommendations in one blog post! So whether you need a bingeable true crime show for a road trip, a reliable news series for your daily commute, or a fascinating deep dive to distract you during chores – we’ve got you covered below!

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FAQs About Our New Floors

We’re working on a big post about our finished renovation (which we last talked about on the blog here). But I’m dropping in to answer questions about the new flooring that we chose for our entire first floor (except for the tiled bathrooms). They’ve been one of the most-asked-about details of our reno on Instagram, where Sherry shared this reno as it rolled along in our Stories. So today we’ll cover the what, why, and how of our new flooring. It’s our first time using this particular material, and we have some thoughts.

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Every 2027 Color Of The Year (So Far!)

Once again, the annual Color of the Year announcements have started rolling out VERY early. And once again, one has already come out before we could make our official guesses (it’s only August of 2026!). So we quickly made our picks this morning. You can see them below in this post, and just like we’ve done for 2024, 2025, and 2026 – we’ll update this post every time a new one is announced so you can see all the COTY selections in one convenient place.

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How We’re Organizing Our Digitized Photos

I’m honestly a little surprised by all the interest in my photo digitization project, but we continue to field questions about how I’ve organized our old family photos. So here are answers to the most often-asked burning questions about exactly how we sorted, organized, and backed up our photos throughout the digitizing process. I won’t claim to have ALL of the answers because there’s been some trial and error along the way for me. But below are the steps I wish I’d followed from the very beginning. There’s also a “rapid fire FAQ” at the end.

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How To Install a Drip Irrigation System

Our neighbor recently asked for help adding a drip irrigation system to their new garden. My last experience with a DIY irrigation installation was pretty intense, so I was wary. But installing drip irrigation was the total opposite. It was easy, affordable, and fast. Plus, it only cost around $75 and took just a few hours to install. It’s also a much more efficient way to water your plants than traditional sprinklers – so there’s a lot less water waste.

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How To Propagate A Pothos

Pothos plants aren’t just low-maintenance houseplants to own, they’re also some of the easiest to propagate! Propagation is a fun way to grow new pothos from your existing pothos plants, while also helping them stay healthy, full, and looking their best. And, since it requires no special tools or skills, it’s a virtually free way to grow your plant collection! We have, no joke, generated at least 12-15 free pothos plants using this method! You can even use them as gifts for friends and neighbors.

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100+ Gender Neutral Baby Names

In my lifelong quest to name everyone’s baby, I’ve posted a few lists of baby girl names and baby boy names, but what about names that defy easy categorization? Gender-neutral or unisex names are growing in popularity, and for lots of good reasons. Many see them as more inclusive, equitable, and adaptable. Some find them modern, cool, or even edgy. The rise in gender-neutral names also makes it easier for parents to use a family name or other sentimental or beloved name, regardless of their baby’s gender.

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Our 7 Favorite Things To Do In Pigeon Forge & Gatlinburg

This year, we took our kids to the land of Dolly Parton, aka the Tennessee Smokies, for our recent Spring Break. It was a jam-packed week of family fun, food, and there was even a dusting of snow! There’s SOOOO much to do in this area of Tennessee – you’ve got Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park all right there. So we thought we’d hit the highlights and share our 7 favorite things that we did there. Why 7? Well, it’s smack dab in the middle of the numbers 9 to 5… We traveled with another family, so we had 4 adults and 6 kids with us, ranging from ages 11 to

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