Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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Let’s Go Behind The Scenes (Waaay Behind)

Ahhh! Our book baby is officially out there in the world. Holy cow it’s crazy. We thought once the book was actually released this might feel real but it still feels like it’s a big game of make believe – despite all of these awesome photos that you guys keep tweeting and Facebooking to us (anything with a dog, a baby, or a funny face = awesomeville).

YHL Reader Grid2

And ever since those early days of cobbling this labor of love together, we’ve been itching to share some behind the scenes peeks, so it’s an understatement to say that the 27 photos in this post were burning a hole in our pockets for nearly a year. So without further ado… the long-awated we-can-finally-share-these-photos scoop. Below you’ll also find a ton of details from many pages of the book with the correlating back story (if you don’t have a book in front of you, it might not make as much sense as it could – but you can still check out all the behind the scenes pics and then flag this for later). #warningitslong

  • The inside flap picture – The photo on this page with me and John mugging for the camera was actually one option that they shot for the cover, but since we were trying to dodge having our big smiling faces on the cover we campaigned against it being “the one.” Thankfully they opted for a more text heavy cover (with our cheesing faces much smaller) and we dodged that bullet. But while we had that corner all styled (we did all of the photo styling for the book ourselves so it felt as much like us as possible), we shot this picture to remember the setup. We love that it’s a bunch of projects smashed together in a random-ish grouping.

BTS Non Cover Shot

  • Page 25 – We only papered the backs of the bookcase that were going to be seen in this shot, so if you zoomed out the back of the shelves above it were still blue – and the rest of the room was a disaster.

BTS Living Room Bookcase

  • Page 30 – This is the first of several furniture makeovers in the book, but to save time we executed them at the same time (it’s easier to prime everything while the primer is out, right?). We were pretty certain the neighbors thought we were crazy. We called it our “furniture graveyard.”

BTS Primed Furniture

BTS Furniture Painting

  • Page 32 – We snuck a family photo of one of our visits to see the Bowers in Georgia into this shot. And oh yeah, that paint color is still on that wall in our playroom to this very day. Someday we’ll repaint.
  • Page 35 – We only made one curtain panel for this project, which meant it wasn’t really functional as a curtain or usable to anyone else in a charity auction, which is why it later became our headboard. And the nail holes from those frames are still in our living room wall. We’ll caulk them someday…

BTS One Curtain

  • Page 37 – There are several illustrations throughout the book because we knew we couldn’t execute every idea that needed some sort of visual (and our publisher agreed that it’d be nice to break up the photos a bit). Our publisher asked us to send some samples of illustration styles we liked, so I plucked out some from a Real Simple article that we loved and hoped we could find someone similar. They did us one better and actually snagged that very same illustrator – Emma Kelly – and she was awesome.
  • Page 38 – This was the first shot we took for the book. We had to scramble because the first day was supposed to be all of our “before” photos of all of the various pieces of furniture that we were making over, but a miscommunication meant that the photographer didn’t have the right equipment with him for those. So we went straight to shooting a few already-done afters. The red berries were stolen from a bush out back because we hadn’t planned on needing flowers that day.
  • Page 39 – We originally shot this without Burger and then he jumped up there and we liked it better with him in it, so we snapped a few more shots and called it a wrap.
  • Page 46 – We borrowed this sofa for the day since we couldn’t shoot our giant sectional as cleanly/easily. We only had it a few hours with it, so we rushed to set everything up – including adding a rug and frames that later got cropped out of the final images. D’oh!

BTS Sofa

  • Page 47 – That’s Katie Bower‘s hallway. Since this isn’t your typical home book shot across multiple high-end residences (and it was all a grass roots book shot in our home) there were a few concepts that we wanted to touch on but couldn’t demonstrate in our own home – like a project with stairs since we live in a one story ranch – so a handful of room pictures in the book (like the stairs on page 49 and Layla’s kitchen on 85 and the front door on page 309) are photos that we got permission to use to help demonstrate some of the projects that we didn’t want to leave without a photo.
  • Page 55 – This is a project that almost got scrapped. My first attempt was to splatter paint the lantern and I think I went a little completely overboard. Luckily we had bought a back-up paper lantern so I could try the more subtle watercolor approach that ended up in the book…

BTS Splattered Lantern

  • Page 56 – We temporarily hung wallpaper (with tape, not glue) just in one section of the entryway to get this shot and then removed it quickly to keep the wall freed up as a background for other shots.
  • Page 57 – Tulips became the unofficial flower of the book. Every time we needed some life we got pulled towards them at the grocery store, so by the end we didn’t even think twice. It was just “grab the tulips- whichever color looks the healthiest!”
  • Page 59 – We got this lot of old postcards on eBay. I was in love with them and didn’t want to take them down (but of course I had to or they’d sneak into photos or house tours before we were allowed to let these secret projects out of the bag).
  • Page 61 – We loved how this project turned out and actually left it for months, but it became so difficult to shoot around it that we finally painted the door white again. I’d totally paint it again though. And remember when our bed was right near the door back then? So funny to see now…

BTS Door Color

  • Page 62 – This is one of many colors that we painted various walls in the playroom for a varied background for projects and shots (didn’t want them all against our Moonshine dining room and living walls, our Plumage guest room, and our Sesame kitchen). And those reading glasses were the photo assistant’s – we scrambled to use anything we could to style things!
  • Page 66 – To pull this tip off we wallpapered a spare piece of foam core and taped it to the ceiling temporarily. Everything had to go up quickly and come down even quicker so it didn’t end up in another book shot or in a shot for the blog that could give something away.

BTS Ceiling Wallpaper

  • Page 75 – Shooting anything in our kitchen proved very challenging because of the lack of natural light. So we ended up shooting most of those shots after sundown since we’d need artificial lights anyway.

BTS Kitchen Lit Up

  • Page 78 – The wire basket is a thrift store find that Clara uses as her shopping bin for the wooden food in her play kitchen. Works for real food too!
  • Page 88 – We had to reshoot the macaroni set up after zooming in on our film and realizing there was some rice hiding at the bottom of the vase from that previous setup. Sneaky little buggers.
  • Page 89 – John got me these yellow flowers for Valentines Day and I loved them so much I made sure they snuck into the book at least twice (they’re also in the background on page 239).
  • Page 103 – We bought these glass votive holders at Target along with little candles to put into them and right before the shoot we realized the candles were a smidge too fat to slip into the votive holders – so we had to go back for slightly thinner ones. Who would’ve thought they weren’t standard sizes?! I also insisted that we burn the wick of every candle we shot, just since the waxy unburned ones look “dorky” to me (like sneakers that are too white, haha).
  • Page 105 – We had to photoshop some Garfield paraphernalia out of John’s childhood room photograph for “copyright reasons.”
  • Page 107 – My nails are always painted dark in the book because they were so dirty from constant projects (I had so much glue and paint under my nails that we had to paint them to hide the mess).

BTS Sherrys Hands

  • Page 108 – We brought our guest bed into the corner of the living room where the desk usually sits since there’s great light there – which is where it lived for a few days. Burger was a fan.

BTS Bed In Corner

BTS Burger In Bed

  • Page 115 – We tried to hide meaningful things in photos when we could, like the gold giraffe necklace that Clara loves and my favorite quatrefoil earrings.
  • Page 119 – This is another example of our guest room bed getting around. We stuck it up against the fireplace in the living room (where Clara’s desk usually lives) and shot it there for a different backdrop. Gotta spice things up, right? It actually blocked the walkway so while it lived there for a few days we’d just crawl over it to get through. Oh yeah, and that’s Clara favorite stuffed animal Gee making his book debut as a bed prop.

BTS Bed On Fireplace

  • Page 120 – The photographer Kip loved Burger, so shooting these Burger pics (there’s at least one in each chapter) was a fun break from all of the room pictures. We shot him on an all white background to make him easier to cut out later so he could “walk through” pages of the book. Lots of treats were involved.
  • Page 121 – This is another bright color that we painted a wall of the playroom just to add some more color in the background of certain projects – it was called Moroccan Spice and we loved it. We used an N as the letter on the shelf in honor of my mom (Clara calls her Nonna).

BTS Morroccan Spice

  • Page 125 – Kate’s original after photo had a Buzz Lightyear and an R2D2 on the shelf but we had to ask her to reshoot it without them for “copyright reasons.” She was so sweet and sent another shot that very day.
  • Page 131 – This is our favorite Burger blurb in the book. It cracks us up every time we see him sitting in that basket. Dorks for life.
  • Page 130 – There was a chandelier over the tub in the original illustration but since that’s not to code in most places we had the illustrator remove it. #codenerds
  • Page 139 – None of our bathrooms were big enough to shoot in, so we actually shot this book photo in the playroom. We placed a toilet tank top on a makeshift shelf and just cropped enough to fake it. Looks like a real toilet in the book, right?

BTS Toilet Faked

  • Page 148 – As a subtle shout out to John’s parents (Tom and Kathy) we made these canvases in their initials and later gifted them to them as a thanks for watching Clara during so much of shooting.
  • Page 156 – Everything we wrote on the calendar had some significance (ex: the 4:30 meeting has our favorite number 43 in it and we also had Clara’s birthday and a vet apt written in, in honor of Burger). We also styled the heck out of the mail holder to the left of the calendar only to realize that once it was cropped and laid into the layout you didn’t even see them. Oops!
  • Page 158 – We didn’t know what to write on the label of the box so John suggested “secrets.” It makes us laugh every time we see it.
  • Page 159 – This is another subtle Bower shoutout (that’s a pic of Will and Clara in the bowl).
  • Page 174 – We loved the opportunity to get our niece Olivia (then 11) and nephew Jake (then 13) involved, so we were psyched that they were willing to do some original art for us. Here they are with their “practice” sheets and their final works that made the book.

BTS Jake Olivia

  • Page 180 – I originally painted this project red and John hated it! Said it looked like bloody crime scene. Then I couldn’t not see blood either so I waited for it to dry and repainted it green.

BTS Red Art

  • Page 182 – We used the fabric that we stretched around the canvas of this photo as a Clara fabric the next month (February). Also in styling news, if I could do it again I’d remove the lamp from the right and move the yellow art over a scotch to the right and turn it vertically to balance the lamp on the left. Two lamps on that small console just feel kinda cramped now that I stare at the pic. So there you go. #keepingitreal

Clara21Months Small

  • Page 186 – After hanging all the butterflies made from book pages we realized the one that the photographer was focusing on had a rather dirty word right in the middle of it… so we blushed profusely and cut a new one after reading the whole page to make sure it was more PG.
  • Page 190 – This tip was supposed to be “paint an old corbel or sconce” but then we found and fell in love with that chippy corbel so much that we couldn’t paint it and wound up leaving it as-is (so the tip changed to be more general for folks with beautiful chippy corbels that shouldn’t ever be painted!).
  • Page 196 – We had done this once about six years ago and the results were terrible so we were nervous about how these would come out. John says his original drawing of me looked like the Terminator since he gave me giant sunglasses and a super square jaw – so this time he went a lot more abstract. I loved his new sketch because I’m all about big colorful earrings. Perfect.
  • Page 214 – The black and white photo in this layout is a really old picture of my dad and his sister when they were kids. And all of the stamps for the stamp family tree were under $6 from a local stamp shop, even though two are from the 1920s! That was a gift that we sent to my stamp-loving dad after we shot it, and he loves it.
  • Page 218 – So many frames were missing from the frame wall during shooting since we’d use them as props, etc. So on the right in the background of this page’s photo there was one picture that was actually missing, so we added one into the hole thanks to Photoshop.

BTS Missing Frames

  • Page 231 – We didn’t think the notebook in the shot should be empty so I quickly wrote “just writing words so this notebook isn’t naked. Words, words, words. This is weird.”
  • Page 232 – This shot was looking kind of bland and “staged” until I ran around the house and collected as many colorful hardcover books that I could find and haphazardly stacked them with a glass of water on top. Suddenly it felt like a room someone actually lived in.
  • Page 243 – We were having a “cleavage issue” in these progress shots so I actually had to change into something with a higher neckline. Mortifying. And this was a fabric that had previously been one of Clara’s backgrounds. We used the backside of it because it was a bit more muted and subtle that way.
  • Page 248 – This gilded glass lamp was one project that I didn’t think was going to turn out well (the first coat was more than a little streaky) so a few more coats later I was beyond relieved that it turned out so well. The only bummer is that we somehow forgot to shoot an after shot of the lamp! Luckily we had included it in a photo for an alternate cover idea that required us shooting against a white backdrop. We’re bummed we didn’t get a “prettier” after, but I guess it’s better than no after at all!

BTS Gold Lamp

  • Page 252 – To save time, we sometimes completed a project and then half completed another one so we’d be able to shoot an “in progress” and an “after” shot quickly without making the photographer wait for us to finish the project or reset his camera. In this case we actually drew on an entire pillow and just started a second one to use as the progress shot.

BTS Half Done PIllow

  • Page 263 – Of course Sue the Napkin had to make it into the book, so here she is. I also hid a stack of these napkins in the bar cart pic on page 30. And the B on the rock is a shout out to Burger.
  • Page 270 – This was shot on the weird little alley balcony that we later removed to build our deck.
  • Page 273 – The cupcakes on the cake plate in this shot are locally revered Ukrop’s cupcakes (the same cupcakes that we served at our wedding).
  • Page 281 – We painted the ceiling in our bathroom nook for this shot in the book and it took us over five months to finally paint it back to white (and we were constantly accidentally sharing it on the blog and then photoshopping it back to white, so it was a huge relief to finally repaint it).
  • Page 283 – We only stenciled about a 9′ x 6′ rectangle on one wall of the playroom (enough for this shot to look legitimate) and it’s still there right now. I always forget it’s there until I open the door and see a big ol’ stenciled rectangle, just floating in the middle of the wall.

BTS Stencil

  • Page 286 – This pattern was all John’s idea. He just cut painters tape into small strips and created this basketweave pattern and it came out awesome. It took longer than we probably should’ve spent on a project at the time, but it was worth it. Go hubby.

BTS Basketweave

  • Page 289 – For this project, I actually originally tried to use a seafan as a stencil and it bombed. It was too thin so the spray just left a big blob on the pillow cover. So I let it dry, flipped it over, and tried one more time with leaves on the back of the pillow cover. Thankfully that worked a lot better!
  • Page 291 – The chair and table in this shot are all up on quarts of paint that were later cropped out. Everything was looking oddly low and looked better closer to the windowsill. So from far away it looked like a crazy chair and table on paint-stilts, but in the book it looks pretty nice, right? #booktrickoutofthebag
  • Page 295 – We really wanted the images in this book not to just be regurgitated from our site  – especially on must-have projects that we’ve previously blogged about, but couldn’t fathom leaving out (like how to paint wood paneling or a brick fireplace). So we bit the bullet and repainted the corner of our grellow kitchen for this shot and then repainted it back less than 24 hours later since we were actively blogging about our kitchen remodel at the time. Oh and see the old floors before we laid the cork in the book shot? Forgot all about those!

BTS Painted Kitchen Corner

BTS Ram Down

  • Page 300 – After shooting the before picture for this layout, we marked the location of each item on the floor with painters tape so we knew where to place things again after painting the wall. Then we lined things back up with the tape, removed the tape, and shot the after pic so the only thing that changed was the wall color – which we actually painted (no photoshop here!).
  • Page 302 – We used the brick wall in the sunroom as a backdrop too, just to spice things up. The funny thing is that we never noticed how crooked the floor tiles were in there until we saw this shot! See how the four under the chair don’t line up at the corners?
  • Page 304 – We were so in love with this dresser when we saw it at the thrift shop that we bought it with our own money (instead of the small book budget that we had for projects) since we knew we wanted to keep it! Nearly every other item of furniture is being auctioned for charity, was gifted to a crew or family member, or returned to the donor, but this guy is staying! We’ll share where he ends up soon…
  • Page 311 – We were shooting the after photo of the mat on this page without our feet in it and it looked sort of plain, so we thought “let’s stick our feet in the shot!” – I threw on my leopard shoes and all was right with the world. It’s also the set-up that spawned the photo of us that they eventually used on the cover (I changed shoes and they Photoshopped a drill into John’s hand).

Book Us In Door1

  • Page 312 – We carried this birdbath all over the yard to find the least brown background that we could (it was February, so nothing was looking as hot as it does in the spring).
  • Page 317 – Finding a wood planter in January is nearly impossible. We ended up having to get one shipped from a garden store on the west coast. Who knew it would end up being such a hunt?
  • Page 321 – Don’t worry, this isn’t our current house’s address… it’s actually our first house’s! We did it as a loving little homage. Of course it confused the heck out of our neighbors because it’s nothing like our current address, so we kept it covered with a piece of card stock on the door until we shot it and confirmed that the photo was securely backed up. Then we just peeled it off since it was a $6 decal.
  • Page 323-336 – In order to keep the book in the lowest possible price point, we needed it to be no longer than 336 pages, so there was a big scare when it ended up a being a good deal longer than that. But instead of caving to the price hike, our designer and publisher worked with us to get things down, so one way we condensed things was by making the source list at the end of the book a smaller typeface, like an index. Boom, it shaved off a ton of pages and we were right at 336 (after a few other design choices inside to condense things as well). Whew.

And since more than a few of you have asked what it was like to see the book for the first time, we actually video taped it. Don’t mind my terrible camera work (our camera makes this loud noise when we zoom so we need an external mic to fix that, hence all of my chatter about resisting the urge to zoom in).

I think we were both sort of in shock. Still are, actually. And as for that tidbit about photoshopping out Clara’s sleeve, the editor thought part of her sleeve on the arm behind her head looked weird right next to her face, so they photoshopped it out so her profile was more clear. It was something we never would have noticed, but they were totally right.

But enough jabber. Here’s where we beam at our computer screen and thank our lucky stars that we have you guys… our amazing, encouraging, and hilarious readers. There’s no way we’d ever be where we are today without you, and we don’t want to take a second of this who-woulda-thought journey for granted. We said it on the thank you page at the end of our book, and we’ll say it right here for ya too: you guys make our day every day. Thanks so much for taking this crazy DIY ride with us. We love you, for reals.

Comments

  2. julianne says

    The timing on this post was perfect as your book arrived in the mail today! Spent the past hour flipping through it and enjoying the behind the scene glimpses! I’ve already tagged some projects that I’m looking forward to incorporating into my house (dipping the bathroom bulb covers for my new bathroom that is being installed, painting the panels on my doors, creating state art and framing fabric). A million congratulations to you two for completing this lofty task of writing a beautiful and useful book. Thank you for being a constant design inspiration! Keep up the great work and I can’t wait to see what other amazing projects you two have in your future!

    Reply

  3. Sarah says

    I just got my book! It my first fancy coffee table book. It’s so sweet and so many good ideas. I’ve got to get some sticky notes for some major flagging.

    Reply

  5. Stacy says

    I pre-ordered my copy of your book and Amazon and it was on my doorstep when I got home today. Hooray! The book is beautiful & a great extension of this blog. You guys did not disappoint! Congrats on such an amazing accomplishment!

    Reply

  6. Kate says

    I loved the behind the scenes!
    Just got my book in the mail yesterday and I read this post with book in hand, following you through it. So much fun!
    I can’t wait to read through the whole thing and get started on the many fun projects.
    Your book is definitely going to be one I will be referring back to many, many times. =)

    Reply

  7. Karen says

    LOVE THIS! I had to wait until my train ride home to read this post so I could check out the corresponding pages at the same time. I may have been grinning like a dork on the train- i loved hearing the little secrets and the “whys.” When I sit down and read it cover to cover, I’m totally going to be analyzing every picture now to find your little “easter eggs.”

    Reply

  8. Tony says

    I love the chaos behind those “perfect” book shots! I feel like your “behind the scenes” photos are just like a backstage pass for your ‘privileged’ readers…haha.

    After flipping through your book a second time today, I’m truly amazed by your creativity.

    All of your hard work and fun ideas are so inspiring! And how you managed to pull it all off amid the regular stresses of daily life is commendable. Thanks for many more evenings of great reading, exploration and experimentation (and hopefully several finished products to enjoy in my own home).

    Cheers!

    Reply

  9. Chrissie says

    My copy is winging its way to me now, I am SO EXCITED! This post is not helping – I want it now! I’ve already seen a couple of ideas from this post that I want to implement, one that I was already thinking of and John’s amazing herringbone drawer project!

    Also, I really want your headboard fabric for curtains now. Do you happen to know the name of the fabric? I went through the headboard posts, but didn’t see it, although that could be due to pre-coffee morning brain (that’s totally a thing).

    Reply

  10. Lindsay says

    Literally just did a jaunty skip up my driveway when I saw the Amazon box sitting on the porch. IT’S FINALLY HERE!!! SO EXCITED!!! Perfect way to end election night :)

    Reply

  11. Stephanie N says

    This was a fun post! It took me almost an hour to go thru and look at all the things you pointed out. Love behind the scenes kind of stuff like this. I love knowing “secrets” and the secret box made me laugh..:)

    It is really amazing now thinking of how much you guys were juggling AND doing a kitchen redo at the same time. AND blogging every single day like normal. No wonder you had to go to Hawaii to recover!!! :)

    Tell John I love the desk and have a old metal one I hope to do that same treatment to.

    I pointed out when I got the book that I love the square shape and it also made me giggle when you mentioned that when you first saw it.

    Thank YOU for everything, you guys are great fun and great bloggers and now great authors.

    :)

    Reply

  12. @HilHouse says

    Ok….so I know we’ve spoke in passing on Twitter but yea…you just killed my weekend with this book. Home Depot and Lowes don’t know what’s about to hit them. I think I’ve purchased about 15 books since reading your WHOLE blogsite and I will go on record saying that, although very helpful, I literally checked daily on shipping updates even up until the final release of the book via Amazon. I wanted the other books but I yearned for your family’s creation. I felt almost like I was apart of it even though I lay in the shadows stalking your blog during still moments at work. I put my mom, girlfriend, sister and aunts onto your site and they thought I was nuts until I forced this book on them. They’re now waiting to see what comes out of my mini shop next.

    I go tomorrow to check out the home I (prayerfully) will buy before year’s end. I already made upgrades in my mind and just need the canvas to translate it. Thanks for rekindling my creative spirit and showing others the way. All the best!

    Hil

    Reply

  13. Tricia says

    The book is so awesome! I had to go grab it and go through it page by page so I could compare this post to the book sections you talked about. So neat!

    Reply

  14. Kellie says

    Love love love the book! Cannot wait for the signing in DC in December so I can get one signed for my sister! You guys are awesome!

    Reply

  18. Lindsay Hiller says

    I got an email on my phone today to let me know my copy of your book had been delivered … I wanted to leave work early just so I could get my hands on it! I’ve been looking through your book since I got home today and I love it! Your down to earth personalities shine through every page and that makes these projects much less intimidating. You should be very proud of this accomplishment, seriously … YOU.WROTE.A.BOOK! SQUEE!!

    Reply

  19. Jodi says

    John and Sherry…I LOVE your book! It was just delivered from Amazon today!! My daughter actually sent me a text me at work to let me know “your book came!” She knew I would be so excited! I loved all the behind the scenes notes in your post today…which I went through the book page by page as I read it. I love that you included “hidden” personal references (like John’s parents initials, and the N for Nonna) and all the blurbs from Burger!! I now need to read through the whole book word for word, and drool over all the pictures and projects. You guys did an incredible job…the book is definitely YOU. Thanks for including US throughout your journey!!! Now, I’m off to read some more…LOVE it!!

    Reply

  20. Kerrie says

    I went to the Barnes & Noble in Atlanta to pick up my copy today, so hopefully we will get that book signing!! :) Congratulations!!!

    Reply

  21. Ashley H says

    I’m going to go buy the book tomorrow….unfortunately I wont make it to Boston :( My close co-worker passed away Sunday and her wake is tomorrow evening. With rush hour traffic I wont make it to both as the wake is on Cape. I hope you guys have a good trip to Boston….I consulted the blog for my above the sink pendant light measuring tips last night even saying to my husband “Well John and Sher-dog say that we need to make it 31in in length show me what that looks like??” and I bought the white Nate Berkus turtle shell that will hopefully go up this week….you guys are an inspiration :) Thank you for everything you share with us….these are all the things that I would have told you guys tomorrow! I cant wait to finally see the book! Have Fun! :)

    Reply

  22. Alicia says

    I loved going through and seeing things that were familiar from the blog. I totally recognized the cupcakes from your wedding! I knew that the feet picture was y’all with the Bowers! I spotted Gee on the bed! I like how familiar but different everything is! The little personal touches made the book in my opinion! Job well done, Petersiks!

    Reply

  23. Liane says

    This was such a super fun (and time-consuming) post!!! :) I say time-consuming only because I had to go through each and every point and look it up in the book, while being occasionally interrupted by my 18 month old daughter. But it was totally worth it, it was so cool to hear all of these behind the scenes tidbits! I loved this, and I love love LOVE my YHL book. :) Can’t wait to meet you guys in Toronto next week!

    Reply

  24. Laura Mangiaracina says

    I literally just sat here and went through the book while reading the blog to see all the cool behind the scenes stuff. Thank you for sharing all those awesome secrets! And again, congratulations. The book is AMAZING!!! xoxo

    Reply

  25. Whitney says

    I definitely did a happy squeal when my book came in the mail today – soo excited!! I can’t wait to read it in more detail. Skimming through the pages it looks so awesome!

    Reply

  26. Rashmi says

    I just ordered mine today from flipkart in India . It’s gonna be here on the 16th . It’s perfect time as we just purchased a new home and plan to move in in jan. with budgets being tight i am really looking forward to fully using the book to upcycle and beautify my new home.

    Reply

  27. Brittany says

    Can’t wait to grab a copy. Seriously, y’all have the best blog. :)

    Small world in the world of fabric. My friend and I just picked her up a swatch of the curtains/headboard fabric. She doesn’t quite have enough. Do you by any chance remember where you got it, or if it has a name? Or you know if you have any left over.. haha just kidding. But for real, if you remember it, I would love to find out how to get more! Thanks a bunch!

    Reply

  28. Bethany says

    I’m. Dying. Dying! I pre-ordered the book in August (as a bday present to myself, haha!) and my account says that it is supposed to ship on November 5, but it still says “status not shipped”. After this post, I don’t think I have enough self control to not buy another tomorrow. Maybe one for the garage and one for the house??
    Also, I know you can’t go everywhere, but can you pretty please come a little closer to Nashville? It’s like rubbing salt in the wound because I’m from WA and we just moved from MN – two states where I could have come to see you easily. Please? Clara would fit right in with her new boots from Halloween!

    Reply

  29. Kimberly says

    This blog post was so fun to go through with book in hand! Love all the personal touches and stories behind what you put in. Thanks for sharing behind the scenes info!

    Reply

  30. Kelly W says

    I think I’ve stuck post-its on every page that I’ve read so far! Where did you get the stencil for page 283? In fact, where do you look for your stencils in general? They are AMAZING! I may stencil my whole house…

    Reply

  31. Anna, Sydney says

    Arrgh! I’m in Australia and Amazon told me just before Christmas! Oh well, he who waits, right?

    I also got 16 cents refunded from Amazon due to a price drop between the pre-order and release, which was so cute. So suited for your book because it’s something you guys would totally do, refund 16 cents if someone overpaid. Now what to do with these unexpected winnings?

    Anywho. Lai di dai (twiddling thumbs, waiting for my copy).

    Reply

  32. MrsBintheRIC says

    I am absolutely loving your blog and book. I discovered you earlier this week and at a wonderful time in our life as we just bought our first house. I started my own house blog to document our home for our family far away, and you have inspired me to take one project at a time, to accept that all things might not go as planned, and I love that you work on a budget. From a fellow Richmonder I appreciate and thank you guys for sharing your adventure with the world!

    Reply

  33. Erin says

    Haha, that look John gave you in the video is exactly the look my husband gives me! Classic!!

    Got my mits on the book today..finally!! Its amazing! I’ve already found several projects I want to do and I’m only on the first chapter!!

    Thank you for helping me to figure out how to love my home!

    Reply

  34. Tara says

    Had a lovely time at your book signing in Wilton! Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to people! And thanks for including the picture of my BFF and I on your blog! Woohoo!

    Reply

  35. Robin says

    Ok, so I just completely nerded out…..I saw this post at work, and closed the window right away….I didn’t want to spoil anything!

    I came home to find your book on my porch. I just spent an hour, not reading….but going through your post and cross checking each page that you mentioned on the blog to the page in the book. All to get the behind the scenes info…..

    I am a total YHL nerd….it’s official!

    Congrats you two….I got some goosebumps for you. This books is a big deal! Enjoy it.

    Reply

  37. Emily R. says

    I CANNOT WAIT! I am happy Amazon moved up the delivery date but it cannot some soon enough. I am so excited. How were you two not bouncing off the walls? You seem so calm.

    Reply

  38. Allison Jabaay says

    I actually run the etsy shop that you bought the vinyl address numbers from. I may or may not have let out a shriek when I saw John’s name on the order. (I have read your blog for a loooong time.) I knew they wouldn’t show up on the blog if they were your actual house numbers, so I was holding out for the book. I was super excited when it came on Saturday and I saw them featured in one of your projects! Thank you so much! I love reading your posts every day, and I may have to come to the Chicago book signing and have you sign my copy!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Yay! They rocked Allison so we’re so happy they made the book. It’s a project we’re actually dying to do, but it’s so annoying to have to photoshop our house numbers out of every front door photo we just have been holding off. Hopefully lots of other people without the same issue will come knocking on the door of your Etsy shop soon. Hopefully see you on Saturday!

      -John

  39. Kim says

    Thank you so much for this post! I LURVE a good backstory :) I just spent TWO HOURS reading it and all the pages that went with the posts while I watched the election results roll in and the speeches and my puppy curled up next to me. PERFECT EVENING. Every single time I open your book another AMAZING idea leaps out at me! I want to do it all!! Thank you thank you thank you!

    Reply

  40. Kristin says

    Congrats!
    I didn’t really read the post because I am in germany and will have to wait another 5-8 weeks to get my copy, although I pre-ordered it in september… sigh.

    I discovered that your signed-book-giveaway was not international… I am a long-time reader (didn’t miss a single post since at least 2009 and you guys really inspired me a lot) and, although I fully understand that US citizens are your target customers, I was a bit sad. I mean, it’s clear that I would not have any use for a Home Depot coupon, and some companies do not want to give their stuff to outside the US… but I thought with the books it would be different.
    Wouldn’t it be possible to give away another signed book (maybe only yours) to international readers *only*? We also have no chance to come to any of your book-signings… Sorry, I just had to write this.

    However, no hard feelings! Keep up the great work – and I will be sure to read this post again when I finally get your book! Can’t wait!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh yes, we never forget about you international guys and would live to do a book giveaway that’s open to you guys (in this instance we just had so many publishers participating that we couldn’t get them all to commit to shipping internationally). Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

  42. Melissa says

    My copy is currently somewhere between you and Australia, getting this sneaky peek has made me very impatient!!

    Only one month and 10 days until EDD…!!

    Reply

  43. Jess and Rachael Vincent says

    We preordered ours from amazon.co.uk (all the way overe here on the other side of the pond) and got an email today saying that due to problems wth the suppliers we won’t get the book until around the 14th of December! Boo! Can’t wait though!

    Reply

  44. Syl says

    Great behind the scene peek, thank you!

    Can’t wait to get my copy! Must be selling like hotcakes because I’ve just been advised my Amazon pre-order will not arrive until mid-DECEMBER!!!!

    Must . be . patient . o.0

    ARRGGHHH!!!

    Reply

  45. Em says

    Congratulations !
    Just received an email from Amazon UK telling me that I will not get my book until 14th December as they haven’t received the books from their supplier. A very good sign of your success in the US! But, personally, i’m absolutely gutted, as we say in England! I was so looking forward to reading it!

    Reply

  46. Cassie says

    My copy came in the mail 2 days ago and I was giddy when I saw what the mailman was about to put in the mailbox! I started reading it immediately, but what was very cool was my husband flipped through and found a good number of projects that were on his “to-do” list! I cannot wait to read the entire book several times! Congratulations on a job amazingly done!

    Reply

  47. Liz says

    I SPY Burger 21 times! I think it’s funny that in the description on the back cover of the book you use his full name. #LoveForBurger

    Reply

  48. Sarah says

    Books in the UK from Amazon aren’t available yet, just got my email this morning saying it won’t be here until the 18th. Gutted!! Still read your post of course, “spoilers” not withstanding! Can’t wait to see the whole thing. :) xx

    Reply

  49. rachael says

    This is so unfair!! I haven’t gotten my book yet! I looked at my tracking info and it said its out for delivery so I. JUST. CAN’T. WAIT!!!!!!!

    Reply

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