Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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Our DIY “Stained Glass” Window

We had a totally different post planned for today, but then a super fun/random project fell into our laps on Monday night. We weren’t sure how things would turn out (we were kinda making up a DIY technique as we went along), but to say that we’re pleasantly surprised is a giant understatement. This might be my favorite under $10 project in the history of my life. And it could easily be repeated with any window you find at a thrift store, architectural salvage shop, or even at your local Habitat for Humanity ReStore. SAVE ALL THE GORGEOUS OLD WINDOWS, GUYS! Or you could just wander the streets hoping to be in the right place

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Our Second Dollhouse Makeover

Since you guys have been asking how this large scale (but also, small scale – ha!) renovation has been going, I thought I’d share our second dollhouse progress. And if you missed our first tiny house makeover, you can check it out here. Yes, this dollhouse totally reminds all of us of our own house, which has been especially fun. And our nine-year-old daughter has been acting as the general contractor, the interior designer, and the architect, which has also been a blast. From helping with painting and art to choosing colors, arranging the furniture and brainstorming future project ideas – she has been at the helm… WHICH HAS BEEN SO ENJOYABLE FOR MY HOUSE-LOVING

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Our Kids Room For Real Simple’s Idea House

Earlier this month we took the whole family (dog included!) up to Brooklyn for a few days to put together the space we’ve be designing for this year’s Real Simple Idea House over the past five or so months. I realize there’s a lot to unpack in that sentence (especially if you missed our podcast episode or Instagram stories about it) so we’ll catch you up right here and show you the *almost* finished space. And explain what’s still left to be done before their big photoshoot for the magazine and tell you about how some last-minute curveballs actually made the room better. And tell you what they do with everything in the house once

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Before & Afters Of Our Beach House: Upstairs

Many moons ago John shared the beach house before & after photos from downstairs (tons of never before seen angles!) right here in this post. And it has taken us a while (how has it been eight months?!) to get the upstairs before & afters all together so you can see all of those comparisons, and browse the entire second floor of our project, which we are thrilled came together (it was looking ROUGH at the start). So let’s pop upstairs & look around, shall we? Because the transformations were just as big up there… UPSTAIRS HALL & OFFICE Here’s the upstairs hall as you face the front room that we converted into a mini

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How To Paint Decorative Oars For Beach House Decor

When we shared the duplex backyard makeovers last month, I promised more details about how we made the decorative oars that hang on each shed. So today I’ve got a detailed tutorial for you (including how NOT to screw up your attempts to make them outdoor friendly) along with a few other “hacks” you guys asked about. The oars actually were not part of our original plans. But after the sheds were built we nixed our plans to run electricity to them (for cost reasons – and because they really don’t need it). But the empty space where we’d planned to hang a light above the door needed… something. That something became oars after a

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A Video Tour Of The Duplex

Finally… we have a full video tour of both sides of the duplex! A ton of people have asked for this (or asked if they missed it) and, well, today is the day. If nothing else, I recommend watching it to see the ecstatic relief on my face at the end that WE. ARE. DONE! Also I talk through a bunch of our changes and choices throughout the reno, and share some of our favorite decisions that upgraded the house in the biggest ways. The video is also just good for seeing how each room flows together, checking out what’s different from side to side, and basically “walking through” the entire project with us. Just

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Our Beach House Backyard Makeover

Just when you thought we were done with backyards (we shared the duplex backyards last week) we’re back with yet another… backyard! And this beach house backyard has been a long time coming, and it started out in an incredibly lackluster state – so we’re excited to show you what we did back there. It might be one of our favorite updates to date – especially since this backyard is really small but it all feels super functional and useful for our family – we’re out there all the time! And it’s about 1000% better than where we started. There’s a lot to see because we squeezed in SO MUCH into a relatively small space.

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The Duplex Backyards: Patios, Sheds, & Outdoor Showers!

AT LAST! The backyards of the duplex are DONE DONE DONE! And with basically zero time to spare (our first weeklong summer renters arrive this Saturday and we actually have some early-birds staying on one side right now until Saturday since we finished in the nick of time and they inquired with just enough time to squeeze them in!). There are lots of pics in this post, so I’ll try to keep the words under control – but this is one of our favorite makeovers in the entire renovation. Let’s go back in time for a second to appreciate how far the back of this house has come. This is what it looked like when

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#145: The Home Features People Wish They Didn’t Have

This week we’re digging into a survey that reveals the top homebuyer regrets – as in what features their homes have that they ended up not loving (and the results may surprise you!).  A new study also concluded some shocking-to-us things about millennial dads versus their baby boomer counterparts – and we have some big feelings about one aspect of the results. We’re also sharing a crappy situation (literally) at our beach houses, and the weird measures we’re taking to resolve it. Plus, more design norms from around the world and our picks for summer entertainment. What’s New Since I’m not about to show you a bunch of bird droppings, in that photo above you

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Our Airbnb: The Kids Bedrooms, Linen Closet, & Locked Owner’s Closets

We’re back with the (finally!) finished photos of the two small-but-mighty bonus sleeping spaces at the duplex! Plus we’ve got pictures and details of two of the hardest working spaces: the linen closet and our locked owner’s closet that guests won’t see – but you can! In short: these little nooks & crannies GO HARD for us. So we’re excited to show you how they turned out. Since we have two larger bedrooms on each side of the duplex with closets and dressers (you can see them here and here), we refer to these as “bonus sleeping nooks” – which are pretty common around Cape Charles, as well as in other beach communities. They pass

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#144: When You Don’t Even Recognize Your Own Shopping Habits

We recently made two big changes to our shopping habits that are having both positive and negative repercussions. So we’re sharing what we did, why we did it, and how we’re trying to course correct a few pitfalls that popped up. We also got a refreshing reminder that it’s liberating to acknowledge that you don’t have to be good at everything – especially in a social media world where everyone else seems to have it all figured out. Plus, we share a big hiccup that was narrowly avoided at the duplex, an organizational tool that we’ve fallen hard for, and Sherry’s deep feelings for a certain crunchy green snack. What’s New If you want to

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#143: So We Had Our First Guests At The Duplex…

After over a year and a half of renovation, the duplex officially hosted its first overnight guests!!! And it was an exciting, emotional, and eye-opening test of all the work that we’ve put into it. So we’re sharing what we learned and what we’re changing before it plays host again. We’re also talking about how a house that we considered buying last fall as a long-term rental popped back onto our radar with some surprising news. Plus, how we solved some household frustrations for under $25 – and Sherry rants about a certain paper product while John finds unusual joy in another one. What’s New ***Heads up, there’s a Game of Thrones spoiler a few

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