Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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Any Given Day

Can you believe it has already been almost five months since we shared a house tour with you guys? So I decided to walk around with the Flip cam and show you how each room can look on an average day (since we had lots of fun with a no-cleaning-first tour back in April). And yes, this is the real deal. I didn’t pick up a thing (as demonstrated by my embarrassing bra on the chair in our bedroom, so just pretend you didn’t see that, ok?). Oh and for those of you who are at work, you can watch it on mute and pretty much get the gist of the average everyday glory. Or just try to read my lips (just kidding, I’m not on camera).

Things to note:

  • I taped this before ORBing the daylights out of the hardware on the front door and the sliding doors, which is why it’s still brassy (it always takes me a few days to remember to upload videos)
  • I’m terrible at walking around, talking, and holding a camera (it’s too much multitasking, so pardon the Blair Witch Project-ness)
  • I’ve listened to this five times trying to hear Natalie Portman or Mila Kunis (since you guys say you hear it) and I can’t. I really tried though.
  • I have no idea why I take time to point out that we have a Ruby Tuesday’s coupon on our desk. It’s so weird what you think is noteworthy.
  • I should have paused to turn the ironing board so it points up during the video, thereby resnagging the win in Ironing Board Wars on camera (more on that here).
  • Burger is so cute. I love how he’s just chilling under the covers. Life’s good when you’re a nine pound chihuahua.
  • Sorry I’m almost completely inaudible for the second half of the video. Sleeping baby = paranoid whispering mom (which is ironic because we hammer while she naps – just not right outside her door).
  • You can see that I still have yet to rehang the ribbon chandelier from Clara’s closet that I took down to paint and stencil the closet (it’s in a pile in our disaster of a playroom).
  • Yes, it sounds like there’s a waterfall in Clara’s room. It’s her sound machine (mentioned here) which drowns out things like DIY projects and our barky dog.
  • I like how I completely forgot an entire room (the sunroom) and galloped back through the house to show you things like squished pillows and a blow-up whale pool.
  • The rocker in the sunroom really is trying to kill me (remember when I talked about it waaay back here in November – um yeah, not much progress)
  • My dramatic ending on Clara’s stuffed animal is beyond weird (yes, we named her Georgia because she’s from there). What is wrong with me?

What about you guys. What would people see if you randomly made a shaky nausea-inducing video of your house before picking up a single thing? Anything embarrassing out there like a Carebear night light in the bedroom or an NKOTB poster in the closet? John actually had a Britney Spears calendar when I met him in 2004. Not lying. And she was wearing things like red leather bodysuits and braided pigtails. What can I say, my man has good taste.

Speaking of which, I was just going through old folders on my laptop and I found a bunch of funny old pics that I thought I’d share in the spirit of “any given day.” Here’s me and Alicia Keys back in 2005. We’re old friends. Just kidding, but I did get to meet a bunch of celebs when I used to work in advertising back in NYC (and they were all super nice except for one “star” who is rumored to be not nice – and let me tell you the rumor is true).

Me Alicia

Here’s John’s passport pic from when he was 16 next to the one snapped when he was 24. Aw, Johnny’s all grown up.

John Passport

Here’s John as a life-sized doll back in 2005 when we worked together (we met at an ad agency named Lowe where I was a copywriter and John was an account guy – aka: a suck up). The entire office cracked up about this project (it was for a certain deodorant client of ours). I definitely prefer John The Doll to the smarmy Ken doll that I had growing up.

John Doll

Aw, here’s our engagement announcement photo (that we emailed to a bunch of friends and family, hence the photoshopped writing) from 2006. It was snapped about a minute after John got down on one knee at the top of a mountain (more on that here). Best day ever. Well, top five at least.

Engagementpic

So how’s that for Friday randomness? What odd old photos are sitting around on your computer? Would you ever have guessed where you’d be today five years ago? We had no idea we wouldn’t both still be working in advertising (we really liked it and miss it all the time!) and after six years of calling NYC home, I never thought I’d leave. So funny how things work out.

Psst- Check out our first ever messy house tour here (it’s fun to see how many rooms have changed since April when we filmed it).

Comments

    • Care says

      Hmmm….I think you may have mentioned the “Star” before right?? …emphasis on the Star? :)

      I love seeing your house is not always picture perfect. Even with my boys being a bit older and able to pick up after themselves it can still look like a tornado hit at times!

  3. Liz G. says

    I just have to comment because I have NEVER only seen 1 comment! (Of course by the time this posts I’ll probably be comment # 15 :P) I, too, got a kick out of Burger hiding under the bed. Too funny! I’m also waiting for more comments to show so I can find out who this not nice celeb is. Intrigue!

    Reply

  4. Shannah @ Just Us Four says

    The bench you guys are sitting on in the last picture (with TJ) is the same bench we used to meet at for “outings” when I was in college. Funny :)

    Great house tour! I am always terrified our 1 year old will wake up from his nap because the tv is too loud or his sister is singing loudly. But, I’ll grab a drill or hammer and start working away without even thinking about it.

    Reply

  5. Pip says

    Thankyou thankyou! I didn’t think it was possible but I might just even have a bigger blog-crush on you all than I did before. Thanks for being normal :) I can look around my cluttery home and know that loveliness is achieveable! Embarrassing item lurking: collaged binders from high school – Tom cruise & river phoenix & united colors of benetton. Yes I’m getting old :)

    Reply

  7. blake says

    Good to know you guys can also sometimes take a while to execute the to-do list. There is evidence of my good intentions all over my home, with projects started but not yet completed. Couple of questions:
    –Do you plan to ORB the door hardware for the whole house?
    –Have you thought about making the area between Karl and the window wall a play space/toy zone for Clara in place of the bistro table? I could see some baskets or a trunk, kid-size table with chairs, painting/drawing easel, soft rug for sitting, etc. And all kind of out of sight but still in the family room.

    Reply

  8. Tracey says

    Love the house tour! Makes me feel better about my own abode’s cluttery-ness. I have a glider project in the play room, a wall alphabet project on my kitchen counter, stacks of picture frames in my sunroom and heaven only know what else going on!

    oh yea! My baby Noelle (she’s about 3 months behind Clara) has a white noise machine, too. Great moms think alike! ;D

    Happy Happy Friday! Yippee!

    Reply

  11. Kristen @ Popcorn on the Stove says

    Can’t wait to watch the video when I get home! 5 years ago I had just met Joe and it technically wasn’t until October (when we really got together) that I knew we would be getting married one day. Otherwise, I didn’t know where I would be working or living or what else I would be doing post-grad!

    PS – I bet it was Star Jones!

    Reply

  12. Sugar Cookie says

    Our house tour would mostly showcase clothes on the floor and dishes in the sink. And probably a pile of mail on the kitchen counter or dining room table. Nothing too terrible, but not especially clean either!

    I used to work at a theatre in Malibu and met all kinds of celebrities out there too. Probably the most famous were Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner. They brought Violet to see a show and Jen was about eight months pregnant with Serphina! I’m happy to say that they were very nice. But not every celebrity I met out there was!!

    Reply

  13. Jenna says

    You bleeped out Burger”s “burger”. Are we not all adults here? I noticed it more since it was blurred out than I would have normally. Normally I would not have noticed it at all. Oh well…cute pics

    Reply

  16. Lauren says

    We recently moved and I am trying to move towards using all white frames…but still have a lot of black left over. T

    That being said, what are your thoughts on mixing black/white frames in the same room?

    And do you have any recs for maybe spray painting the frames? I tried once before even using special spray paint for plastic and the results were not great.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We’ve seen rooms with mixed and matched frames and even huge collages with different frame colors and they can look awesome! If you decided to spray the frames, I would recommend sanding them a little to rough them up, then using Kilz spray primer, and then using a high quality all-surface spray paint (like Rustoleum Universal). Good luck!

      xo,
      s

  17. alg says

    With our potty-training kiddo & passive-aggressive dog, I won’t be able to give you a realistic “any given day” video tour of our house until they invent Smellivision :-/
    That rocker… well, rocks, btw! I have one I need to make over too. Can’t wait to steal all your ideas ;->

    Reply

  20. katie v. says

    So, I watch your “not perfect” videos with hopes that it will make me feel better about my house… and it never does! Your house un-perfect is still more picked up than my house after a day of straightening up :)

    btw- we bought our house from a John and Sherry. I knew it was a good sign!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha, we have heard from so many John & Sherry couples. Our theory is that John is such a common name that lots of them must be married to Sherry’s. Haha.

      xo,
      s

  21. [email protected] says

    hahahaha! loved the flip house tour! too funny. Nice that it’s not all perfect. Love the old pics of you guys too. Sweet. I remember the day we got engaged. I was visiting Atlanta (still in NY at that point) and Erik proposed whilst we were jogging in the park. Except what I didn’t know was he had a friend secretly taking pics which he put into a slide show for the wedding day as a surprise. Cute!

    Reply

  23. Stephanie says

    I could totally hear Natalie Portman AFTER I saw it written up lol. From No Strings Attached, for sure.

    And Burger reminds me of my cat. He burrows too, and gives that “would you just LEAVE me alone? I’m trying to RELAX after my TOUGH day” look lol.

    Reply

  26. Coasting anon says

    Thank you. I don’t know WHY I need the validation, and you certainly aren’t required to show it, but it feels so validating to see that your perfect home is just as perfectly messy as mine on any given day.

    Reply

  27. G says

    It’s great to see that your house has half way done projects too. I try to keep my house mostly clean but half the time we also look like we run a nursery in the living room. I don’t even have any human kids, it’s all doggie toys! My dog hates it when I clean up his toys too, he takes them all out of the basked 5 minutes later.

    I think Lindsay from Glee Project sort of looks like you…don’t know if you’ve gotten that one before.

    Happy Friday!!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      That’s so weird because no one has said that to me but the other night I said to John “the same reason I can’t have bangs is why Lindsay shouldn’t have them- her features are too big like mine so they need room to breathe.” Haha. Such a weird conversation. John was like “why are we talking about this?” Haha

      xo,
      s

  28. Julia @ Chris loves Julia says

    I love the old pictures! My husband and I are still in our 20s and we have a little 18 month old girl and when we look at pictures of ourselves from our engaged days or even newlyweds (only 3 years ago!)….we always look so fresh-faced without a worry in the world. Le sigh.

    Reply

  29. Johanna says

    Great tour! Love seeing Clara’s toys. And seeing your home on a random day makes me feel like I can achieve your home’s style status – and I heart your home even more knowing that it isn’t always “magazine ready” and real people live there.

    Reply

  32. Barb says

    Hi Sherry:

    So nice to see that you and John are Mr. and Mrs. Normal and that you really do live in this house. Thanks for the tour and for being real, as you say. Nice to see you enjoying the space.

    One thing I noted….You took the chandelier down to iron it, I bet. Ha-ha-ha. Just kidding you.

    About your sunroom. How often do you use it? We have one that is similar on the back of our house and in the summer I live out there. I swore I would never AC it out there…but have even done that too so I can still enjoy it on a hot day. It just looks to me like it isn’t used much. Please advise.

    Have a great weekend…loved your posts this week.
    B.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Yup, we don’t use it much since for this stage with Clara it’s kind of a death trap (the tile floor is much harder and there’s a step down to enter it that trips Clara up). Hopefully when she’s a little bigger and we make it more functional we’ll use it all the time! We loved our last house’s sunroom so we just have to get it “there.”

      xo,
      s

  37. MrsB says

    I am so glad to see you all are NORMAL….I am in the midst of kitchen demo and remodel and my kitchen stuff is everywhere and it is driving me nuts. Your clutter is miniscule….
    Love your blog – it is a daily read for me.

    Reply

  38. Amanda- Hip House Girl says

    Ok, I really do feel better now. The old cabinet by the front door especially boosts the ol’ self-esteem- you mean I’m really not the only one who gets so used to stuff like that that it becomes like an intentional piece of furniture?? Glory be! I enjoyed the old pictures, too. Cute cute. PS- A copywriter and an account man? Peggy and Pete!! (Although I must say your relationship is far more functional than theirs…)

    Reply

  39. Jess says

    I love the old pictures. My husband proposed to me on top of a mountain too! That picture brought back happy memories of our engagement…quite possibly the best day of my life…besides our wedding day!

    Reply

  40. Holly@Loveoflifeblog says

    and P.S. I definitley had some “unmentionables” in PLAIN view (like, hanging on our bedroom door handle) when our guests were knocking at our door the other night. Oh, the panic that I had, afriad I missed something else!

    Reply

  44. julie s says

    If the clue regarding the identity of the not so nice celebrity is in quotes, my guess is that it’s a former “lawyer” turned “daytime tv host” turned “bridezilla” turned “reality tv contestant” turned “???” — what does she do now?

    Reply

  45. Katie Carroll says

    Ok…I have to comment on the last pic. You’re in Colonial Williamsburg on Duke of Gloucester Street! I live about 15 minutes from there and we locals love hanging out there. So excited to think that our paths could’ve crossed!

    Reply

  46. Dana says

    In all your pictures there is always a sheepskin rug in the room. I always imagine your running around the house, removing it from one room and adding it to another when your taking pictures. But I guess not….so how many sheepskin rugs do you all have??

    Reply

  48. Roberta says

    Too cute the vidoe…I also need to walk around here and pick up the clutter that also tends to multiple onto all surfaces during the week. fridays are my pick-up days so that I can feel free to relax over the weekends. Looking into you closet made me want to suggest hanging hooks on the back wall to “catch” all those articles of clothing that lay around the bedroom ;) Here at the Love Shack I have one on the back of the bedroom door and DH has one on the back of the bathroom door. I’m also a magazine hoarder and tear sheet/coupon kinda gal (and yes I also have pinterhurst…but they both have their benefits ;) How about a decorative tiered tray placed on the back of the couch, placed top of the sofa table, to place your clippings? I have one next to my chair and I pile the stuff in until it’s too full…then I sort it out. Here’s a post on how I organize my clip art…hope this helps.
    Fondly, Roberta
    http://con-tain-it.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/10/wednesdays-workbook-inspiration-storage.html

    Reply

  50. Allison says

    Love the old photos and guess what? I get motion-sick really easily (usually feel a little dizzy after the Sherry-cam) but I don’t feel dizzy AT ALL this time. I tell you that to say you must be developing a steady John-like hand! Congrats! Haha.

    Reply

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