Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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Painting Words Over A Canvas For Customized Quote Art

Remember when I shared our possessed painting that jumped off the wall cheap painting that we got for $20 at a yard sale… … and mentioned that we: mostly liked the size of it and the chunky frame (which actually came with a little dent in it – a total sign that this guy was a trouble-maker) weren’t in love with the art itself (it just felt sort of generic and hotel-ish in person) Yes? Me too. And then remember when a bunch of you (seriously, like at least a dozen of you guys) recommended that we do some sort of letter stenciling over it like this genius creation by Emily Von Henderson or this

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Some Ways We Save Money With Kid Clothes

One of the most common questions on instagram/Facebook/Twitter when we share a photo isn’t “what paint color is that?” or “who makes that lamp?” – it’s “where did you get that shirt/dress/skirt?” – and they’re not talking about me (or John)… they’re talking about Clara. Yes, there have been a bunch of requests for a post about how we score deals/save money in the kid clothing department along with where we get her clothes. So whoop, here it is. And thanks to all of those aforementioned instagram photos that we’ve shared, we have a whole bunch of shots to use throughout this rundown. Admittedly it’s kinda weird to analyze your kid’s clothing in so much

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Thrifting A Vintage Moroccan Side Table

This morning we shared pics from our recent thrifting trip and I promised you more details about a certain table that we adopted (along with my cleaning/restoring ritual for old musty wood) so here’s the rundown. We really liked this cool Moroccan accent table that we found at the first place we went (Love of Jesus Thrift here in Richmond). Especially since it reminded us of a few designer ones like this that are selling for $260+. So at $25 for a solid wood table with awesome lines, we took it home. Boy was in rough shape, so I: gave him a wipe down with a damp cloth with a tiny amount of Mrs Meyers

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A Day Of Thrifting

Occasion: The thrifting bug struck on a lazy Saturday morning Location: All over Richmond to six of my favorite thrift stores with the hubby and toddler in tow (Burger very smartly stayed home to nap) You know we love a good thrift-fest (like these thrifty adventures of yore), so let’s go secondhand window shopping, shall we? First we went to Love of Jesus (on Midlothian for any locals who are wondering), which is an awesome place for larger furnishings. Of course like most thrift stores it’s hit or miss, but when you hit, it’s a good time. We actually got a lot of pieces that we transformed for our book here (like a $15 desk

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How To Build A Deck

The deck is officially done. Sound the celebratory cowbells! I actually finished it on Friday and we’ve spent the last few days crossing all appendages and waiting for an inspection (I couldn’t bear to share my triumph until I was actually sure it was a to-code triumph). The inspection finally happened yesterday afternoon, and – ta-da! – we passed. Relief flooded over me like all the sweat that I put into building this thing (lesson learned: build decks in the spring or fall). Here she is in all of her wood-riddled, approved-by-the-county glory: It’s definitely an upgrade from the tiny rotting balcony that we started with: We thought it’d be great to have it done

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Budget Blooms: Tulips, Take Three

Things I’m great at: making up words to songs when I don’t know them, eating Oreos, dancing like Elaine from Seinfeld. Things I’m bad at: loading the dishwasher, remembering to get haircuts more than once every few years, and apparently doing monthly budget bloom posts. I used to do them once a month for over a year, but then I fell off, struggled to get back on it six months ago with one measly post in February, and just never got it together in any sort of regular pattern. So here’s a random Budget Blooms post after over half a year of absence in that department. Won’t you forgive me? In return I played around

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Multiplying Egg Chairs…

I’m back as promised with: an egg chair update (since I just tossed pillows on it but promised to share the rest of the details once we figured out a real seat and all that jazz) three new egg chairs that we recently brought home I guess we should skip right ahead to those huh? Don’t worry, our living room doesn’t look like an egg chair family reunion. They’re of the dollhouse variety (you can read more on Clara’s DIY dollhouse here): When a super sweet reader (thanks Nicole!) told me CB2 had them on clearance for 50 cents each (wahooo!) I couldn’t resist. They’re actually Christmas ornaments (hence the super sale price so far

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Fab Freebie: Get Your Fixture Fix

***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries – see who won below!*** And the random person getting their fixture fix this week is… Anne L (who simply described the problem in her bathroom as: “Pink carpet in bathroom?! Nasty!”) Congrats Anne! Got a bathroom that could use a new faucet? Or new showerhead? Or new just about every fixture? Well then you’re in luck. The generous folks at Moen are dishing out an ENTIRE suite of bathroom fixtures in your choice of three of their most popular collections: the modern 90 Degree, the sexy Voss or the classic Boardwalk. You’ll get: Two bathroom faucets A rainshower showerhead and matching tub spout One 18-inch towel bar

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How To Turn A Basket Into A Pendant Light

This is the story of making an old basket into a pendant light using just this $10 thrift store basket that we found along with two other simple supplies. Here she is all wired up and hung in front of the fireplace. But allow me to further illuminate the basket to light conversion process. Har-har. The first step was heading over to a local lighting outlet (The Decorating Outlet) to check out any existing pendant lights that they were selling cheaply (that way we could convert one into a pendant for our big basket shade). While we were there we saw this awesomesauce basket pendant that was selling for $322 (originally $460). Wowsers. Feeling inspired,

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Window Shopping: High Bridges & Green Fronts

We took a little day trip last weekend to a nearby town called Farmville. It’s about an hour away from Richmond and, as the name suggests, involves driving deep into rural Central Virginia. The reason for our adventure was actual to do a family bike ride on a new rails-to-trails park that opened up around Farmville called High Bridge Trail State Park. For those of you who catch our Instagram pics on Facebook or Twitter, you saw a picture of that very (very, very) high bridge already. But coercing Sherry into riding her bike over this steel and wood skyway was my main thrill of the day. And hers was something else entirely. She was

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A Painted White Brick Fireplace In A Vaulted Living Room

Should all brick fireplaces be painted? No way. We always tell anyone who’s on the fence not to touch that brush. But if you’re 100% sure you prefer the look of painted brick, then it can be a great way to bring an airy and light vibe to a room (we sold our first house in two weeks with two painted brick fireplaces so it didn’t seem to be a resale deterrent at all). This makeover from Jamie and Ehren is all about crisping up a space – both with white fireplace paint and some darker blue paint worked in there for contrast on those awesome built-ins. Here’s their letter: Hey YoungHouseLovers! Your blog inspired

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Replacing An Exterior Light

Let’s talk more about things that were too tiny. But instead of yesterday’s mini-mirror, this time we’re taking things outside. To the carport to be exact. See that tiny little lantern hanging from the ceiling? Yeah…. she’s not looking so hot. Rust? Check. Cracked glass? Check. Teeny tiny dollhouse-ish scale? Check. So we’ve been keeping an eye out for a larger light since we moved in back in late 2010. You name it, and we’ve looked there (at stores like Home Depot, online, on Craigslist, at local outlets and secondhand stores like The Habitat For Humanity ReStore, etc). Ideally we wanted a big chunky clean lined lantern in a rich dark oil-rubbed bronze finish and

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