Q: I have an idea for a blog post. “Design mistakes we won’t make again.” As I look through pictures of all the beautiful work you’ve done, I’m thinking of choosing many similar styles & purchases. But then I wonder, over time – did you ever regret a design choice? – Shannon
A: That’s a good one. And now for 1,970 words on the subject. We’ll start by saying that we definitely don’t always know what we’re doing when we do something (us = so not experts) so we just try to take things one day at a time and learn as we go. We make tons of mistakes. You’ve just gotta feel your way around and course-correct along the way.
The reality is that doing something, even if it’s a bad something, is so much more of a learning experience than doing nothing and being frozen in indecision (which never really gets your house anywhere). So here are a few live-and-learn mistakes of ours that come to mind:
1. Buying an expensive-for-us Pottery Barn sofa. I don’t think we’ll ever be able to buy a sofa without seeing it in person (and sitting down on that baby). The reason we got a PB one for our first house’s den was because we ordered a cheaper sofa from target.com and then it arrived and it was terrible. The scale and proportion was all wrong and it was hard as a rock. Thankfully it was fully returnable, but we were left feeling like “maybe you have to spend a lot on something to get something good” so we saved up and ordered the PB Basic sofa after sitting on it in the store (to the tune of around $1300 with delivery at the time).
But in all of the 3+ years that we spent with it, we never really loved it. It’s totally just one of those personal preference things but it always felt kind of baggy and frumpy. Here’s a less glamorous glimpse of those top cushions from this old old old post from back in the day:
It just never felt/looked as nice as the living room sofa that we actually paid $400 less for from Rowe (read about that here). Even Karl the sectional (who is three times bigger) was less expensive! He’s also more comfy and looks more like “us” than our old PB sofa (which we craigslisted for $500 before the big move). So I guess the lesson that we learned was that just because something is more expensive, it’s not always better.
2. Black trim in the bathroom. Bad idea. But I’m glad we tried it. I had this cool graphic Domino vision and it was not just working. But it only took about two hours to paint it…
… and then unpaint it. And it didn’t hurt to eliminate a few other odd items like the blue plastic shower curtain, my blue pashmina window treatment (that was definitely a work with whatcha got oddity), and those funny old shutters on the windows (among other things).
So the black trim was definitely a mistake worth making, just to learn that it wasn’t the right move so we could get past it and find out what we really liked. Turned out white on white on white made for a nice spa like effect until we could reno the entire bathroom (up close the original tile was a disaster, so it sadly couldn’t be saved).
3. Not bringing enough furniture into a room. Like our stark and completely non-functional living room in the early days:
This mistake was pretty easy to remedy over time. We just saved our pennies and slowly added items to fill out the long skinny never-used-it-at-all room. Here’s here’s how it looked a few years into the whole evolution (adding a dining area off of the kitchen was a lot more functional, so we used the room a lot more).
4. Going too crazy with our whole house color scheme. At first we thought every room called for a different color of the rainbow- read more about that here).
The black trim bathroom debacle taught us to try something, even if it doesn’t always work out. And this is more of that lesson. Slowly over time we tried a bunch of colors, identified the ones we loved best, painted over the rest, and ended up with a sea-glass inspired palette for our first house that was really welcoming and serene.
For our current house we’re in the mood for something a bit more moody, risky, and sophisticated (who wants to clone the same house twice?). Could be awesome. Might suck. Only time will tell!
5. Dinky, not-big-enough items. Even if your space is small, we’ve learned that lots of small furniture or art & accessories can actually make it feel smaller (and more cluttered) – at least through our eyes. Yup, we’re definitely fans of a nicely sized sofa or a large scale art item to add a little something extra. Some might say we like things too big (that’s what she said), but the drama of a giant light fixture, like this one in our current bedroom…
… or an oversized vase, like this one in our hallway…
… seems to add interest and presence to spaces that might not feel as special without them. Whatever tickles your pickle I guess (one more time, that’s what she said). Of course when Clara gets a little bigger we might have to nix the giant glass objects, but we’ll cross that bridge hide that vase when we get there. Ha.
6. Growing grass everywhere. A bag of grass seed is definitely cheaper than a bunch of bushes, and the easy-care regional grass that we use doesn’t need much water or weeding once it’s established (we don’t use fertilizer or sprinklers or anything). But it’s still a lot to mow. It used to take John at least an hour and a half to mow the front and back yards of our first house. And in the summer it would grow like crazy so it definitely ate into our “fun family time.”
Keeping a more naturalized landscape with a few areas of grass for the pup and the kiddo(s) is more of the plan when it comes to this house. So we’ll definitely add some grass in a few places for t-ball and picnics, but we hope to leave other areas au naturale (and add low maintenance wildflowers, grasses, ground cover, etc).
7. Not relying enough on craigslist and thrift stores for furnishings. Some of our favorite items, like our old living room coffee table (which is now being borrowed by John’s parents), the white slipcovered chair from the den (which now lives in the sunroom), the white pedestal table from our old sunroom (which now sits in the living room by the window) and Clara’s old dresser (which still resides in her room) are secondhand finds that cost less than $30 each. Yup, we paid under $120 for a giant 6-drawer dresser, a large white pedestal table, a crisp slipcovered armchair, and a two tiered glass and iron coffee table. Insanity.
We’re so glad we didn’t end up dropping $200+ for each thing from a big box store. And since moving into our new house we’ve added eight dining chairs from craigslist (scored for just $25 a pop) along with two $35 chairs from a secondhand shop, and all of the fun thrifted finds seen here. Secondhand treasures = yes please.
8. Not building things. It’s not that hard. Even though we’re the first to admit that it sounds intimidating (it took us three months to work up the nerve to tackle our latest build). But everything from our custom door-topped desk and our postcard shelves to the book ledges that John made in the nursery were so affordable and doable when we think back.
And now that John’s tackling our 140″ console table (he’s still hard at work – details soon). There’s something sweet and poetic about making furniture together at home (even if you’re just the cheerleader, and even better if you’re the one slinging the drill). Petersik-style romance is building something under your own roof (or outside in the yard). Sawdust + teamwork (even if it’s just me watching Clara and cheering John on while he works) = amore.
9. The whole matchy-matchy crime. In our first house we learned that we love a mixture of dark wood and white painted pieces along with brown faux leather upholstery mixed with white slipcovers and and even a few soft painted pieces (like a celery toned bookcase or bench). And in our current place we’re having fun switching things up by adding more boldness, different wood tones, and even things like gray beams or deep saturated walls. But one thing’s for sure. We’ll never have a room full of furnishings that are all the exact same wood tone or the same upholstery fabric. It’s just too much fun to switch it up with things like a green luggage-rack-turned-side-table (see how we DIYed that here)…
… or create a two-tone dresser like Clara’s (that we DIYed here).
10. Buying things that don’t work with anything else in our house. We thankfully never bought a giant piece of furniture that didn’t fit in with anything else that we own (other than the PB sofa we never really loved), but we’ve definitely picked up pillows and accessories that never felt quite right with other items in our house (and eventually they made it into the Goodwill/yard sale pile). Read more about trying to avoid grabbing tons of stuff that doesn’t work with the rest of the stuff that you already have here.
11. Refinishing the floors of our first house with traditional materials like oil-based stain and polyurethane. It stunk for months. We both got headaches for weeks and it felt really unhealthy, even though we ran fans and cracked windows (even in the dead of winter). Thank goodness it was two years before Clara was born (read more about that floor refinishing process here and here).
Moving forward we’d only use green products like just-as-amazing water based stain and eco sealants that aren’t full of nasty VOCs and odors that hang in the air for months on end (a local place called Eco Logic here in Richmond sells that stuff, which we plan to use when we redo our floors someday).
12. Buying a boob lights (yes, that’s a technical term). Or buying any interim item for that matter. For us it’s usually best just to wait and get something amazing that we love when we can afford it instead of rushing to buy something just to fill space until the real purchase is made later (read more on that here). We bought a boob light for something like $10 to get rid of the old never-used ceiling fan in our first house’s tiny guest bedroom.
The switch instantly made the small space feel ten times bigger, but we later switched El Boob out for a nicer long term fixture (learn how we made it here):
So if we really plan things out we’ve learned that we can save a step or two (and some money, even if it’s only $10) and not introduce boob lights to begin with. Or any other just-for-now-and-we’ll-upgrade-later item.
And so ends our little hope-we-don’t-make-these-mistakes-again-but-will-probably-make-others roundup. Of course all of these “errors” are subjective. You know what they say: “one man’s decorating ooops is another man’s decorating booyah.” Wait they don’t say that? Oh well. These are just a few of the things that came to mind when we looked back and tried to come up with “stuff we don’t wanna do again.” We’re sure there are probably fifty other decorating and renovating whoopsies looming in our future. But I guess I’ll be corny and say whisper “bring it on.” How else will we learn what we love (and don’t) if not by trial and error? Happy mistake making to one and all!
Update – Wanna know where we got something in our house or what paint colors we used? Just click on this button:
Ariel says
I love your blog, post, and sense of humor! But, I could definitely live without TWSS jokes. Not trying to be snarky, I just appreciate your other humorous statements much more!
YoungHouseLove says
No worries- for every Michael Scott lover (John and I are definitely guilty) there are non Michael Scott devotees. We don’t necessarily understand it, but we accept it. Haha.
xo,
s
karen says
thanks to you guys and a few other thrifty blogs..i just made my first craigslist purchase!! a solid wood office swivel chair for 20 buckers!!
YoungHouseLove says
Woot! Congrats.
xo,
s
Ted says
Speaking of “Woot!” if you haven’t seen this before, you should visit Woot shirts. Definitely the ultimate in dork/nerd/geek shirts. I love the tardis vs the lamborghini shirt! (especially check out the “Reckoning” where old shirts compete for top shirt status)
http://shirt.woot.com/
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, amazing.
xo,
s
Sally says
I completely agree about buying used furniture. When I moved into my first apartment I bought most of my stuff from ikea- and thought I was being frugal by shopping at a cheap store! Years later most of that furniture looks like crap, whereas all the stuff I bought used is still looking great. It’s too bad products aren’t made the way they used to be.
Selina@CreativeJuicesDecor says
I love reading posts like this. We’re getting ready to build our own home and THESE are the posts i want to read about! Thanks for your advise :-)
Kelly says
What a fun post!! We have boob lights:) I learned about that term on the nest, lol. This isn’t our forever home, so I am ok with them:)
Xo
Kelly
rachel @ perfectly imperfect says
i’m so glad someone else calls them boob lights- our house was COVERED in them & it felt like ceiling porn in rooms that had more than one! Yes, someone put 2 boob lights in our master bedroom. sickos. (i replaced one with a tole chandelier & the other with a can light.)
Melissa @ HOUSEography says
Totally agree about using CL and thrift stores more than new as much as possible, and only buying when you absolutely LOVE it and have to have it. Especially true for kids’ furniture. I know a couple who paid over $3000 for nursery furniture and always said they like our nursery better and it cost us ZERO because we reused what we had or used hand-me-downs.
Great work!
Erin@His & Hers says
ha! Boob lights! I never knew other people called them that until I discovered the blogosphere. My husband looked at me like I was insane when I first called them that…but really…it’s the first thing that comes to mind (unfortunately). :)
[email protected] says
I just love this post! The first time I saw the boob lights in my newly constructed home(thanks to my builder), my first thought is “boob lights”. Now, I know it’s the official term and I wasn’t thinking “dirty”…hahaha…
I am guilty of the “going crazy with the color scheme” mistake. We once painted yellow in our kitchen (a bright one)to match a window treatment and it was so blinding. We were too lazy to paint over them again so we lived with them until it’s time to move…and guess what? The realtor suggested we painted over the yellow kitchen ‘coz most clients she brought to see the house don’t like the color. We ended up paying someone to paint it over ‘coz we were too busy packing our stuffs for the big move and don’t have time for anything else. It totally sucks big time! I would say triple whammy! First, doing the painting ourselves. (all the hard work and effort we put in)Second, hating it every second! Third, paying someone to repaint it!
Once in a while, whenever I said,”let’s paint something bold this time” and it always come with(cue in husband) with his sarcastic remark, “remember the yellow walls in our previous kitchen episode”? I hate to admit it but he is right sometimes!
Jessie
http://www.mixandchic.com
Lindsay says
As one half of a couple who just put in an offer on our first house: THANK YOU. I’ve been a reader for years, but haven’t been able to do much of anything to a rental. We’re so excited to “dig in” to our new house, so thank you for giving us some “don’ts”. We needed them.
nikki says
THE BOOB LIGHT~ I can’t say that I’m a fan, but we are about to install 2 of them. We just moved into a new rental and are making upgrades on the homeowner’s dime. They are going to be better than the ugly ceiling fan and hole in the ceiling that we are currently sporting. I have had a hard time finding anything cheaper. I may (after we get some other projects done) add a drum shade like you did, but for now we will be boob light proud.
Alison says
This is a bit off topic but are you still loving the jute rug you got at pottery barn for your master bedroom? They have it at my local PB, on sale and I am thinking of grabbing one for my living room. I love jute and the subtle diamond pattern is lovely! Thanks!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Yup, so far we’re still smitten!
xo,
s
Jen says
I actually like boob lights.
Julie says
I have boob lights in every bedroom in my house. I HATE them. (The boob lights, not boobs. Which is not to say that I love boobs. But boobs are good. Oh geez. You know what I mean.)
Anyway, the guy who did a brilliant job renovating our house before we got it did a not so brilliant job with the bedroom lighting.
The weirdest thing is when my mister and I each have our bedside lamps on. Then the shadows from the boob light look like TWO boobs. Must get new lighting. Just so I stop thinking about boobs every time we read in bed at night.
Cindy says
Why is “El Boob” making me laugh so much? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I think I am a 12 year old boy.
Fun post. xo
Michele says
I love what you said about building things together. That is totally how my husband and I get our “alone time” together. Home renovation, painting, and building things, for us, is the way we spend out date nights. It has definitely brought us closer in our 1 1/2 years of marriage, and I can’t wait to bring our future children up in that kind of an environment.
Very well said, and very much agreed!
Val says
Oh, the dreaded interim light fixture! We have one in our master bedroom that I’m sorry to say we spent too much on. To be fair, though, the light fixture that was there was completely shattered and not-safe looking (wires hanging out…awesome). But now that interim fixture is the bane of my master bedroom existence. I hate it immensely.
Thanks for the heads-up about the PB sofa. Buying a sofa is the most ridiculously intimidating experience.
On the whole thrifting/Craigslist thing: does anybody else feel like it’s so much harder to find that kind of stuff than it used to be? A lot of my favorite furniture is second-hand, but most of it was bought years ago. I don’t know if more people are on the thrifting-bandwagon now with the down economy or what, but I haven’t made a good score in a long time. And when I do find something great, the seller wants an new-furniture prices for it and isn’t flexible. Very frustrating.
middleschoolteacher says
Very helpful post! A lesson I learned was too wait before you paint and decorate a home. We purchased our first home last summer and were sooo excited..so we decided to paint and add tile floors throughout the whole house before we moved in. The tile floors are beautiful but the color is light so dirt shows easily :( We made the same mistake with paint with selecting too many colors and this summer we are going to repaint the living room a more neutral color.
Living in a home for awhile is more helpful and then you can figure out what you like and what you need. Also after you live in a place awhile you figure out your style and what colors work for you. We all learn through trial and error. It’s important not to get discouraged or frustrated if it doesn’t turn out well just try something else and have fun!
katie o. says
Oh I so know the feeling. The husband and I decided to remove the popcorn from our first floor ceiling in our last place. While it was cost effective, it may have killed our vacuum cleaner and did a litle damage to the a/c. But, it was trial and error and you always learn something.
That’s really what DIY stuff is all about. And that’s why we love you guys!
Melissa says
OMG boobie lights! Made my day that other people call them that. They were already in the house we purchased not quite a year ago in our living room and sunroom…..IN PAIRS! No lie. How could you not call them that? The sunroom is an enclosed patio that still has the original lighting by the doors so we eventually want to replace the boobies with fans (just fans no lights, and use the original lights for light). We’re actually at a loss for what to do in the living room because at the very center of the ceiling is a vent. With a boobie light on either side. lol. We’re open to suggestions
Melissa
Jessica @ Decor Adventures says
This post has inspired me to get to work on my lighting {and to write about it today too}. We also have a boob light and a terrible light in my office and the one in the closet needs help, the list goes on.
So tonight I will be grabbing some fabric and a trifted shade and climbing up the ladder to make some {free} changes! Well I won’t actually make the shade on the ladder, you know :-)
I included your idea in my post here http://www.decoradventures.com/2011/04/bright-idea.html
I’ll let you know how it turns out!
YoungHouseLove says
Good luck!
xo,
s
Alisa D says
It sounds like your issue with your PB couch was an aesthetic issue and not a quality issue… Is that correct? Obviously Karl is very different stylistically than the PB one you had.
Thanks for the great thoughts and ideas as usual! Glad to see we are not the only ones that learn by making mistakes along the way! :)
YoungHouseLove says
I think it was actually both. The covers were baggy and loose looking, much less so than other more fitted slipcovers that we’ve seen from Rowe and Ikea (both of which are also slipcovered furnishings that felt like they kept their shape more and looked more crisp). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Corinne says
I remember reading a previous post of yours about the every-color-of-the-rainbow paint colors in your old house. It made me stop what I was doing with a million and one paint samples and really focus on how the colors would all flow together, that way I could truly narrow down my choices and work everything out. I think I’ll have to give that floor planner thingy a try to really visualize it all! This is a great post.
I do have an easy question too! What color would you (or anyone reading this comment) paint a long, skinny, windowless bathroom? My upstairs rooms will be blues and greens with some gray undertones (and one two-tone gray room), but my bathroom is an extremely vibrant turquoise color called Mint Majesty from Behr. I’m used to it, but all of my visitors have said that it hurts their eyes!
YoungHouseLove says
Maybe a soft celery green or light blue-gray? Both would feel airy and work in your color scheme!
xo,
s
Elisa says
If you like the style you can also look into beadboard wainscoting – http://www.beadboard.com/ – which can help tone it down! And since it comes in panels at HD, Lowes, etc, it seems pretty easy to install.
megan e says
Since it’s small and there are no windows, I’d recommend anything light to help brighten up the room and bounce the light around. Dark colors make the room appear to be smaller and suck up a great deal of light given off from your fixtures. Look at the paint swatches for the colors of the other rooms and stay in the same family, but pick the lightest (whitest) tone on the swatches.
Cat says
Still loving those curtains!!! If people couldn’t see RIGHT into our home here in Bklyn, I would LOVE to have some sheerer panels like those.
Gaidig says
Could you give a little more info on the floor sealants you’re planning to use next time? We’re planning to do our floors this summer.
YoungHouseLove says
We’re not certain on actual products yet but someone has recommended a water-based poly they used that they loved (we just plan to go to EcoLogic and ask what they recommend- so local vendors can be really helpful).
xo,
s
Kim says
Great post! Thanks
Jocelyn Stott says
As always, great advice.
claire says
So funny.
We had an IKEA sofa in a furnished flat that we rented and could never get comfy. Now we have a PB Buchanan (it cost right around $1,000) and we love it!
Kelly says
Wow, what a great idea for a post! I too reget buying my pricey Crate & Barrel living room furnture. Sure, it’s fine, but I feel like I took the safe route and could have done a lot more for the money. Oh well, live and learn!
Anna says
As I learned this weekend, using non-paintable caulk to seal the floor moulding to the wall. Wah! Fortunately, oil-based primer (Kilz makes a great odorless one) will apparently cover anything. Otherwise, you’re left with either beaded up paint or scuffed, crumbly caulk from trying to remove it! I won’t be making that mistake again!
Sandra says
Great post! Thanks
Carolyn says
This is one of your best posts ever! I am a lover of color, however you all are making me rethink my easter egg palette! Right now my family room walls are a true apple green…thinking of repainting with your Dune Grass! But wondering how the black, white and apple green theme will looking with the more neutral walls? Any thoughts?
YoungHouseLove says
I think it sounds awesome. Just do things one step at a time (paint one thing before moving on to the next one) and see how it all looks as you go. Good luck!
xo,
s
Jen @ The Decor Scene says
I have definitely made the mistake of things I shouldn’t have bought. Thank god they have been little things for the most part. Lamps, pillows, throws, but one mistake that we will probably pay for down the road is the couch we bought at Ashley Furniture. Now don’t get me wrong we love it, but we didn’t think to turn the couch over in the store to check out how the bottom was made. Well we should have because when it was delivered we saw the bottom when they were bringing it in and we just looked at each other when we saw that they had used straps. So where we sit the most is already sinking in. It is a modular set, so each piece is separate (4 pieces total), but we only have this couch for 2 years. Oh well. Live and learn. But that was $900 to live and learn over. So ask at the furniture store before you buy something. You want to see how it is constructed underneath to know if you are buying something that will last over time.
One question sort of off topic, but you did mention your old wood flooring, so I wanted to ask this question. Won’t it be a lot hard to restain your floors now that you have everything in place {well a lot of the furniture in place}? Wouldn’t it had been easier to finish the floors before bringing everything into the home? I was wondering this because we will need to redo our floors over the next year or two and I have no idea where we are going to put all of our furniture while they get them done. What do you plan on doing? Thanks! :)
YoungHouseLove says
Here’s the thing, you want to refinish your floors when the final floor plan is complete, so since we want to open up the wall between the kitchen and the dining room and double side the fireplace and possibly widen a few other doors we wanted to live in our house for a good 6 months or so before getting to that stuff (in case we come up with a better plan instead of rushing into the first thing we think of). Then once we figure out how we’ll shift walls and doorways we can refinish all of the floors so they look as seamless as possible (and then won’t have to worry about trying to match wood that’s exposed or added later (and worry that all the construction will scratch our refinished floors). As for where the furniture will go, we’ll probably move everything into one side of the house and refinish the other side, wait for that to dry, and refinish the other side. Seemed to work well when we refinished half of our house last time (after moving all of our furniture into the other half).
xo,
s
heather s. says
The hardest part is that many times if you don’t stain the entire house at once you can see visible lines where you stopped and started up again. With your old house you weren’t staining all of the floors – you were only staining half so doing half at one time worked since you were breaking at the kitchen (which is a natural break point anyway since there is generally a threshold between the kitchen and other rooms). Good luck with your plan – I’m interested to see how it turns out!
Jen @ The Decor Scene says
Thanks Sherry for the explaination. I completely forgot about the widening of the doorways. Makes complete sense to me now. We have a Hi-Ranch and only have to do the upper floor hardwoods, because downstairs we did laminates and love them. We might have to move some stuff into a moving POD maybe in our yard so we can “live” in the rest of the house without tripping over everything. LOL!
Also touching on eco-friendly stains and/or poly, I had order samples of some eco-friendly stains. We haven’t used them yet, but the brand was recommened to us by a friend. Check it out here if you want. http://www.ecoprocote.com/TimberSoy-Natural-Wood-Stain-s/87.htm
YoungHouseLove says
Sweet! Off to check it out!
xo,
s
Jen @ The Decor Scene says
http://www.greendepot.com/greendepot/product.asp?s_id=0&pf_id=TSOY&mscssid=98HAMBCF3NBS8PFX6MAQ3SKV96S1DQJF
This is where you can buy the sample. I didn’t see where you can buy the samples anymore on the other link I just posted. Hope it helps in some way.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks so much for sharing!
xo,
s
Morgan says
Loved this post. John is so crafty….and of course you are too Sherry.
Just wanted to give you a heads up. I saw a piece in American Baby that featured some money saving advice from you. Thought you’d like to know.
YoungHouseLove says
Wahoo! Thanks so much! We haven’t seen it yet but we’re excited to hunt one down.
xo,
s
Sammy says
This was such a great post! I love how you guys write. Question, do you take all of your own pictures? They are all sooooo good! Looks like a magazine! Love.
Sammy~
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Sammy! We do take our own pics. The trick is that we take 500 of them and then sort through a ton to see which ones we love best. We also saved up for a nice camera (we use a Nikon D3000) that we’re still learning how to use but really like!
xo,
s
Julie says
I’m totally jealous of your craigslist scores! A huge chunk of my furniture is from craigslist, but I feel like here in Los Angeles people are much more saavy about pricing. I still find great deals compared to buying things new, but there’s no way I could find a mid-century dresser for under $100 (or $200, or $300…) Another one of the more expensive things about living in a big city, I guess – even our craigslist is overpriced :-)
Leah says
TOTALLY agree on the PB Basic Sofa! We bought the PB Basic Sleeper Sofa in 2008 and it looks DREADFUL… the cushions look absolutely disgusting, no matter how much I try to fluff them. I even spent another $1000 (sigh) on a replacement slip clover, thinking that might somehow solve the problem. How wrong I was.
The good news is I found your site a few months ago and bought my very own Karl! (I’m calling mine Karla, though, I think they’re long lost twins, perhaps!).
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man, that’s such a bummer that your PB Basic (and replacement slipcover) never did it for you either. Boo! So glad that Karla came into your life, haha.
xo,
s
jillian m. {coffee, light and sweet} says
thanks so much for sharing these! i’m bookmarking this post so i can remember what NOT to do when i move.
Christa M says
Perhaps it’s because I am not physically in the your old bathroom, but I have to tell you, I LOVE the look of the black window trim (I would have removed the shutters though)….why didn’t it work for you?
YoungHouseLove says
We just thought when you walked by the room and looked in from the hall you went “holy cow- that’s so heavy and dark and out of place in the rest of the house.” If we had other high contrast focal points in some of our other rooms it might have fit into the look of our house more, but we had a soft beachy light and airy thing going- so it looked kind of crazy to us.
xo,
s
Christa M says
Ok, that makes total sense!
Robin @ Our Semi Organic Life says
It’s interesting how you learn the hard way that sometimes white on white is better than anything!
love the advice, nothing better than learning from other’s mistakes. thanks!
katrina says
It’s this kind of post that makes me love your blog even more! Thank you for the honesty, and all the nitty-gritty details, and sharing your experiences with all of us!
Just today I was thinking of buying an interim item (not a boob light, fortunately) but this reminded me that it’s better to wait!
LARY says
Amazing tips! You guys really inspire me… even though we don’t own a house yet, we try to make our rental apt. feel just like home.. the day we actually move to our “real home” I will be following all your tips even more :)
p.s whenever I have my first baby I’m soooo taking weekly pictures too hehe
Kate says
We’re putting in an offer on our first house tonight (!) and are both looking forward to and dreading all the little things that are waiting for us in that house (some of which we know about and some of which I’m sure we’ll see later). I especially liked the tips about Craigslist and building things – we’re going to have a lot more room, and we’re really hoping to really take advantage of second hand furniture and building to (slowly) fill in what we need.
However, I admit that I do sometimes like boob lights!
Jo @ Jo In the Kitchen says
I love the “that’s what she said” use in this post. Totally cracks me up!
Jacki says
Thanks for this very useful article!
Joan G says
Just a heads up the link to Clara’s dresser make over takes you to the Guest Room Reveal. I wanted to see the dresser ;)
We also call them boob lights, a term we originally heard on “Sarah’s House”.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks! Off to fix that!
xo,
s
shanna says
Love this post! It’s so fun to read. I gotta say, though, I would happily take a boob light in my in-laws’ foyer over the 1980s atrocity light fixture hanging there now. They’ve asked me to help redo and update their home (working on painting their country blue trim with soft white now) and the foyer is on the list. The light is … scary. Yes, even scarier than a boob light. Truly.
Bethany S says
Would you guys say you have no regrets as far as cloth diapers go? We’re going to have twin girls soon, and have been contemplate cloth vs disposable. Is it really cheaper? Or does the cost or running extra loads of laundry cancel it all out? Would you recommend cloth diapering to a new mom of twins?
YoungHouseLove says
No regrets at all. Honestly it has been a lot smoother, easier, and cheaper than we ever imagined. We still use the same 12 cloth diapers that we got a year ago and they look mint. We use disposables when we travel, but not having to buy 50+ disposable diapers a week for the past 11 months has definitely saved us a boatload! And since we have energy efficient washers and dryers, the tag they came with certifies that it should cost us less than $15 a year to run them (that’s actually based on eight loads of laundry per week and we do far less). We would basically recommend cloth diapers to anyone who’s game. As far as we’re concerned, they’re addicting. Haha.
Congrats and good luck with those twins on the way!
xo,
s
lauren says
Do you throw your bum geniuses in the dryer? Are they slow to dry? We’re picking out cloth diapers now for our little guy’s arrival in May. The all in ones seem more convenient (not having to deal with inserts) but I’m reading reviews that say they take forever to dry so you end up needing more diapers.
YoungHouseLove says
Yup, we line dry them outside from time to time (sunlight is great for bleaching them so they look like new) but we also toss them into the dryer a lot too. They don’t seem to take that long, maybe around 40 mins like most loads. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Emily K says
This may be my favorite post ever. So helpful, so well-written, so inspirational. So…thanks!
SouthsideShellyP says
I have learned so much from this blog since I started reading it three months ago. I learn both what to do and what not to do but mostly it gives me the confidence to DO IT rather than be indecisive and inert. The whole house color palette suggestion is really good and the less is more approach to color is right on. At a local home tour, each bedroom was a different color but public spaces were same tones (mostly grey but lovely). I think I need to hit Craig’s List more to find re-usable furniture pieces. Years ago I would flea and junk and antique and repurpose and need to get back into it. Thanks for the fun post. I am on pins and needles waiting to see that console table.