Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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#41: The Realities (And Not So Realities) Of TV Makeovers

In this week’s episode we go behind the scenes of a home makeover show thanks to Old Home Love’s Candis and Andy Meredith, who tell us how they got their HGTV show and what surprised them most about the process. Plus, they share their infectious affection for historic homes and give us their best tips for bringing old character to a house of any age. Sherry also talks about how she has been helping our neighbors stage their house to sell, I reveal how I managed to simplify one of our least favorite chores, and we both share how we recently saved hundreds of dollars (!!!) on a beach house update. Also, why is it SO DANG HARD to cut the cable cord?! You can download

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How To Combine Light Fixtures

This week we dove into the struggle to find light fixtures that feel related without being too matchy-matchy or boring (the discussion kicks in around the 20-minute mark of this week’s podcast) and I promised to link to some lighting combinations that I liked in the show notes, but then I promptly fell into a mood board making wormhole. When I regained consciousness in this reality, I had way too many mood boards for the show notes, had inexplicably eaten two pop tarts, and this post was born. Whether you’re dealing with an open concept floor plan where you can see your kitchen pendants, dining room chandelier, and living room lights all from one vantage point –

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#40: Going On Vacation For “Research”

This week we’re sharing how a recent weekend getaway to a small cottage turned into a reconnaissance mission for our own vacation rental project. Plus, finding ceiling lights that look good together but aren’t too matchy can be tough. We struggled with it ourselves until we learned to rely on one simple trick for keeping our home’s light fixtures in check – without robbing them of all interest and personality. We’re breaking that down this week, along with what pro decorators say guys should never have in their homes. We also herald a new painting tool that I’m obsessed with… and it turns out Sherry’s really bad at something that most people can do without even trying.  You can download this

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Updating The Bedroom With A Chandelier & A New Bed

It seems like every room in our house undergoes a gradual (and often never-ending) evolution, but our bedrooms seem especially prone to this slow-burn decorating process. Exhibit A: this old “Evolution Of A Bedroom” post that chronicled the meandering path of our bedroom in our last house. Exhibit B: this more recent one about the winding evolution of our daughter’s current bedroom. Well, if it pleases the court, I’d like to submit yet another bedroom into evidence: our current bedroom. (I don’t know why I doubled-down on the legal metaphor guys. Consider your objection sustained). bench / rug / plant / similar floor lamp, chair, pillow / garden stool / chandelier / art (top, bottom) When we bought the house, the room looked

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#39: How To Make House Cleaning Suck A Little Less

Guess what? Even pro house cleaners hate cleaning. So we asked YouTube cleaning guru Melissa Maker to share her secrets for making your cleaning chores faster, more effective, and all-around less painful. Plus, Sherry dives headfirst into the (often mispronounced) Danish concept of “hygge” and how it can make for a happier and cozier home. We also take a look at the wacky backstory to one of our favorite household products and an even wackier date night that had us laughing with (and at) our neighbors. You can download this episode from iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and TuneIn Radio – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos that we referenced. Note: If you’re

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House Crashing: A Family-Friendly Whole House Renovation

We’ve shared this glorious back porch on Instagram twice (during the holidays, seen below, and last summer, seen here), which belongs to our good friends Carey & Jordan. And based on the reaction to just this view alone from you guys, we figured we should do a good old fashioned House Crash so we can show you guys more of their beautiful home. They’ve also got some really great tips about what wears well with kids and dogs (and what they wouldn’t do again), which was especially helpful since we’re currently mulling over some bathroom renos. But enough jabbering, let’s get on with the tour! similar storm door / similar black sconces / string lights Carey & Jordan used to live

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#38: How The Internet Changed & How Our Lives Changed With It

In this special episode, we’re talking about the unpredictable and sometimes dramatic ways that we’ve seen the internet change in the last decade. Has social media dethroned blogging? Has sponsored content made things worse? And what has made us more guarded about opening our lives up for public consumption? In this recording of our keynote talk from Altitude Summit, we tackle all of this and more, including why a Bachelorette turned to us for advice, what we regret about a major moment in our career, and what blog comment still brings Sherry to tears. You can download this episode from iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and TuneIn Radio – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links,

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New Lighting Designs (And Photoshoot Secrets)

Back when we revealed our kitchen makeover, we mentioned that we worked with Shades of Light to design our pendant lights (below). But those were just one of a whole slew of new designs that we’ve added to our lighting collection over the last year-ish. So in addition to sharing some of our latest designs with you guys, we also wanted to take you behind the scenes and show you some of the tricks that catalogs and websites use when it comes to photographing stuff (including how we turned an armchair into a headboard, all in the name of getting the shot). After launching our initial collection back in 2013, we added a few new pieces over the years (like the geometric flush mount that

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#37: To Brass… Or Not To Brass?

In this episode we’re talking about what women “should” and “shouldn’t” have around the house (Sherry’s guilty of at least one!) and we’re diving deep into the question of metal finishes. Should they all match within a room? How about throughout the house? And is the brass trend over or here to stay? Plus, you guys call in with your very own random and hilarious house quirks, and we share the awesome and the cringe-worthy moments from our trip to Palm Springs. You can download this episode from iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and TuneIn Radio – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos that we referenced. Note: If you’re reading in a

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How To Fix A Rocking Toilet

The toilet in our hall bathroom has rocked a little bit from the day we moved in (the inspector even noted it on our little home inspection form). Some people can fix this with plastic shims or tightening bolts, but we quickly diagnosed the issue as a rusted bolt under the toilet flange. That’s a fix that requires removing the entire toilet and replacing the bolt, so it took us a while to get to this to-do task. But here’s how I finally decided to seize the day toilet and show this rocking throne who was boss! The process is similar to our toilet installation tutorial, but that project didn’t involve removing an old toilet

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Taking The Beach House Down To The Studs

We’ve shared some random details about our beach house progress here and there, but we’re waaaaay overdue for a giant picture-filled blog post about everything that has been going on over there, complete with our latest (and hopefully final) floor plans! Let’s just say that things are looking VERY different these days (you can check out the before pictures here and virtually walk through via this video tour). We definitely have the whole “sometimes it has to get uglier before it can get prettier” thing going on. As you can see from the photo above, we’ve demoed out all of the existing walls. The big “LEAVE” is not some horror-movie-style warning, just a note the contractor left for his crew so nobody

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#36: A BIG Beach House Update & Reflecting On Rejection

In this long overdue update on our beach house renovation, you’ll hear how we’ve got some walls going up and many others coming down – and why we’ve changed our mind on the floor plan (again!). We also revisit our bathroom reno for a sec (which is still percolating). Plus, we talk with Oh Joy’s eponymous founder, Joy Cho, about turning a blog into a lifestyle brand – and pushing through the many rejections along the way. We’re also talking about a simple upgrade that has streamlined our hall bathroom and an even simpler sticky fix that has solved a cord nuisance in our house. Oh, and Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! You can download this

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