Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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How To Make “Baby’s First Christmas” Silhouette Ornaments

Back when we admitted to putting up our Christmas tree before Thanksgiving (oh the shame) a bunch of you asked if Clara was getting a special “First Christmas” ornament. Well, we finally got around to DIYing one right before moving boxes took over our house (at which point we got so caught up in packing that we neglected to write this post, which is why it’s getting posted about a week after our tree came down). Oops. Anyway we decided to make something silver so it would have a good chance of matching our tree for years to come (we tend to use some element of silver since we have so many silver ornaments and

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A Packing To-Do List

Look how spiffy our house is looking these days: With less than 5 days until the big move, we’ve learned that packing is no joke. But we’ve got our eye on the prize (our exciting new digs) so we’re trying to keep our spirits up, stay hydrated, and play some good music for dancing as we go (the dancing is for Clara- gotta keep the baby entertained or packing progress can screech to a halt). Oh and we got many of our “secondhand boxes” as we’re lovingly calling them by trolling craigslist and freecycle (and even driving to a local reader’s house when she offered some up to us on Facebook). But admittedly we did

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Everyone Loves A Freebie…

Ain’t free stuff awesome? If it weren’t, why would Oprah’s audiences blow a gasket on national TV every year when she says “Faaaay-vo-rit thiiiiiings!” But enough about Ms. Winfrey (Sherry’s perma-smiling over here, because Oprah’s her jam). We’re bringing up freebies because we’re making a swag related declaration. Moving forward, we’re just saying no. We’ll still offer up free house stuff to you guys in the form of our weekly giveaways, but we’re not going to accept products or services for our casa at any special “blogger discount” or for free – even if we genuinely love them. We have absolutely nothing against other bloggers who do (it’s definitely an obvious perk of the job)

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A Beautiful Front Porch Makeover

When Stacie told us she was redoing the front of her amazingly glorious home in Richmond’s Historic Fan district, we knew she wouldn’t disappoint. I mean, she totally wowed us with her style here and here, so we were prepared to wet ourselves a little when we saw her exterior upgrade. Good thing we were prepared, because her overhaul was nothing short of insane. And like any sweet homeowner she wants to shout out her restoration guy for his commitment to keeping things historic and cutting no corners (his name is Eric Schmoldt at Advantage Construction, whose house we actually crashed here – small world). Hats off to Eric and Stacie. Between her vision and

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Fab Freebie: Gifts In Bloom

***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries – scroll down to see who won (and check out a special discount!)*** It’s the season of giving, aka: the season of gifting. Which is why this week’s giveaway from GiftTree.com should come in handy. Fresh blooms always make a room feel more festive and inviting, especially around the holidays. And GiftTree has a great selection of florals with some holiday flair: And no worries if you’re having trouble deciding whether to send a bouquet to your loved one or just to yourself. The $100 gift card that’s up for grabs means you can actually do both. Here are all the dirty deets: PRIZE: An $100 gift card

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Free Annual Calendar Printable

Last year we DIYed a calendar for our kitchen complete with a favorite quote each month (you know, for a nice inside-joke vibe). You can check it out here. But last time we were waaaaay slow and didn’t finish it ’til February. So in an effort to keep that from happening again this year, we decided to complete the project before our big move distracted us (in just one week and counting!). We stuck with the same general look: colorful text on a clean white backdrop. But instead of meaningful words and funny phrases, we chose to do this one by the numbers. Sesame Street style if you will. Observe: Basically we took each month’s

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Coming Undone

In case anyone’s wondering, I’ve managed to keep up my make-the-bed-everyday-for-a-month resolution beyond October. Hootie hoo. And Burger has kept up his end of the bargain and still undoes it an hour later. Oh well. Speaking of things coming apart, we realized that this very weekend last year I was holed up in our bathroom demolishing the darned thing (inexplicably without shoes on in the beginning, which we don’t recommend). While that still takes the cake as my most physically grueling disassembly ever, this weekend kicks off another that threatens to be equally taxing on our emotions: packing up. With our move less than a week and a half away we’re starting to take things

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What We Put In Our Thanksgiving “Thanks Jar”

We promised to share some of the things that we dropped into our Thanksgiving-inspired “thanks jar” over the last month, which we finally got to read after a month of blindly writing without knowing what the other person was jotting down each day. Here are a few highlights: For finally figuring out what the heck to do with this thrift store glass jar. – John That Clara’s birth was a miracle and she’s a healthy & happy little girl. -Sherry That we sold our house & found a new one that we love (fingers crossed for a smooth closing).- Sherry That Clara finds Burger as hilarious as we do. She just cracked up watching him.-

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Why Cohesive Flooring Is Key In A Small Home

We’re trying to soak up all the things that we love about this house before we move on to our next big project, and we realized that our floors make us inordinately happy. And it’s not just the fact that they’re mostly hardwood in a nice mocha color, it’s the whole cohesive flooring thing in general. Seriously, I never thought these words would come out of my mouth (because it honestly sounds like I’m a motivational speaker or someone who takes design way too seriously) but… cohesive flooring is a game changer. Really. It is. Our house used to have eight different flooring materials and seams. Think about that for a second. Eight! All on

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Closure.

You guys probably remember us mentioning “the bed & breakfast” house around the corner from us a few times. We’ve admired it for years. Not just because it has an in-ground pool, a tennis court, and a picnic area, but also because it’s just about the most charming exterior around. Here’s a pic we snapped during a snowstorm last year: In fact, when Sherry and I started our house hunt this fall, we secretly schemed about knocking on their door and begging the owner to let us buy it. But before we could muster the confidence to march up to their doorstep we learned that someone else had beaten us to the punch. The nerve.

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How To Make Faux Christmas Presents For Decorating The Mantel

Jingle bells! Batman Smells! Robin laid an egg. Batmobile lost a wheel and Joker did ballet. What? You didn’t sing that song at camp while wearing culottes and a tie-dyed shirt? Well I did. Anyway, the point is that I hung the stockings and did a little extra Christmas decorating beyond putting up the tree (just in time to put it all away in about a week when we start packing for the big move in mid December). Gotta celebrate Clara’s first Christmas, even if it’s only for a hot second. Out came the ol’ feather trees (from Target and a local store called Buford Road Pharmacy a few years back) along with the same

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