Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

| By | | 393 Comments

Are “Phase 1” Projects Just A Waste Of Money & Time?

Q:  You’re putting time and energy into this “temporary” job for your bathroom (not to mention some money), so why not just go ahead and do the full gut job? I know you guys watch money really well, but isn’t this not the most cost-effective in the long-run? :) – Karen A: This is a great question, and we thought it would be fun to elaborate on the subject. Because it’s safe to say that we love saving a buck, but we also like showing an old house some love and making it feel like home, so here’s our take. First of all, I think a lot of people think like Karen does – in

[ Read More ]

| By | | 121 Comments

A Modern Kitchen With Blonde Wood Cabinets

Karin is a pet photographer from Minneapolis and apparently when she’s not snapping pretty pictures of pooches, she’s busy creating a pretty darned awesome kitchen. We know you guys like to a see non-white kitchens when those come in, and this one is actually an all wood one. Check out her letter below, which I’ve peppered with some of Karin’s awesome before & afters. Well, and one demo-tastic during shot. Hi Sherry and John! You’ve been an inspiration for my husband and I as we purchased our first home last summer and immediately started tearing it apart. After years of renting, we finally took the plunge and purchased our first home. We wanted something open

[ Read More ]

| By | | 338 Comments

Using Soap & Water To Remove Wallpaper

Let’s talk about what we’d like to accomplish before this baby comes for a second. In our first house when we were preparing for Clara’s arrival, over those nine months we tackled a few rooms that were still on our redo list (mainly the full bathroom and the nursery) since so much of the house was already done (our kitchen reno was all finished, the hardwood floors had been redone, we had opened up some walls and closed off others, etc). This time around, there’s a baby on the way but this house is much less finished than our first one was, so our goals before baby are more about getting it to a nice

[ Read More ]

| By | | 197 Comments

How To Paint Baskets

This marks the third Tuesday in a row that I’m sharing a crafty-ish project (remember I made a little fall wreath two Tuesdays ago, and stenciled a pillow using a metal grate last Tuesday?). So I thought it would be fun to try to do something crafty each week (aiming for every Tuesday, but knowing that some weeks life throws me curve balls like a sick kiddo or a project that doesn’t work out, so it might be a little loosey goosey sometimes) and call it… wait for it… Weekly Crafty. I’ve always liked sharing small crafty ideas (there’s a whole category devoted to them on our Projects page) and I think it’s a nice

[ Read More ]

| By | | 95 Comments

Fab Freebie: On Your Mark, Get Set, Sew!

With last week’s fabric-filled giveaway still on our brains, we thought you could use something to turn random swatches of fabric into something awesome this week. Enter the Singer Vivo sewing machine, stage left. It’s conveniently compact, and it’s made with non-sewers in mind – so it’s for any do-it-yourselfers and crafters who are looking to knock out projects (like this embellished dishtowel tutorial) without having to lug out a bulky machine or pore over an instruction manual. And to make your new life as a sewing ninja even easier, they’re also throwing in some scissors and a thread kit for a total prize package of over $300. Please use the Rafflecopter widget below to

[ Read More ]

| By | | 289 Comments

Revere Pewter, The Gray Wall Paint Everyone Loves

We were trapped inside for the last few days due to rain, so we made some progress by tackling the job of painting our recently de-carpeted bathroom & closet. Here’s a shot of what we eventually got the space to look like, complete with stenciled floor, and – what we’re talking about today – Benjamin Moore’s Revere Pewter on the walls. But let’s rewind for a second. First up was painting the cream trim white (we went with Benjamin Moore Simply White in semi-gloss, just like the trim in the rest of the house). Part of me hates to downplay the time that task took by sharing one measly before & after picture to cover

[ Read More ]

| By | | 370 Comments

My Chat With Jonathan Adler

Anyone who knows me knows that I love Nate Berkus and Jonathan Adler more than anyone else in the design world (although I have sizable girl-crushes on Sarah Richardson and Candice Olsen) so when I got an email asking if I wanted to hop on a phone interview with J-Ad (as I like to call him in my head since we’re besties) well, I momentarily lost my mind. I debated saying no (I’ll definitely get awkward and squeal-y and make him think I’m nuts) but after chatting about it with John, he convinced me that a 15 minute call with Jonathan Adler might end up on my highlights reel of this whole blogging “career” when

[ Read More ]

| By | | 302 Comments

How To Install Outdoor Fans

Truth: Sherry was oddly into fan hunting and the idea of adding two new fans to keep our freshly-opened sunroom cool (and to create a nice mosquito-warding-off current while we’re out there relaxing), but I was NOT excited about said fans. We actually have quite a bit of practice removing fans (I submit to you Exhibits A, B and C) – and just look at how happy it made me. Generally we’ve had 7.5 to 8′ ceilings in most rooms with them, and being 6′ tall, I’ve always felt like they were low-hanging oversized pinwheels that were one inch shy of giving me a haircut – although we’re suckers for function, so we’ve always kept

[ Read More ]

| By | | 101 Comments

A Nursery With A Planet Wall Mural

Some of our friends with sons lament that it’s hard to find inspiring boy rooms, which is why we’re always excited when a cool one shows up in our inbox. And our excitement for Dacia and Jordan’s nursery creation could almost be described as “out of this world.” Pun intended. Here’s Dacia’s email: Hi John & Sherry! I wanted to share my nursery with you guys. When we found out that our very first wee one was going to be a little dude, I immediately took off with designing the nursery. I had a plan all worked out, and then one night my hubby (who normally couldn’t give two hoots about decorating) sweetly said, “Would

[ Read More ]

| By | | 40 Comments

How To Make A Sweet Hand Print Birdhouse

I wasn’t planning to post about this little craft that Clara and I whipped up together, but then we got a photo of John’s Granny grinning and holding our creation and I couldn’t help but put together a little post about it over here – just so we’ll always remember it. Here’s what we made: a sweet little birdhouse, complete with Clara’s hand-prints on the roof. It was originally painted dark red all over (from HomeGoods, where it was $4.99) but Granny is just such a sunny lady that we thought it would be a fun activity to paint it some happier colors and mark it up with some Clara-hands before sending it off to

[ Read More ]

| By | | 406 Comments

Finding A Restoration Hardware Table For Cheap

(You’ll get the meaning of that post title in a minute) Exciting news, guys – we finally found something to take the spot of our too-small pedestal table in the eat-in part of our kitchen. And we’re happy to report that it’s a lot more proportionate – and functional! – for the space. Now we can seat six or even eight people in a pinch, which has already proven to be useful with our big families (and my spread-out-all-the-tear-sheets propensities). Of course we’re still on the hunt for dining chairs so these are just for the meantime, but man, it’s such an upgrade to have room for adult sized plates again. Just try not to

[ Read More ]

| By | | 430 Comments

How To Stencil A Pillowcase

This is a heartwarming story featuring Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow about getting crafty with a pillowcase, some fabric paint, and a metal grate, hence that pun-tastic title. I don’t know about you, but I always seem to have one or two extra pillowcases around. We only have one set of sheets per bed, but I think since I buy two extra pillows for every bed (and therefore need extra pillowcases) I must see them on sale and grab them without making sure I really need them (hence the over-abundance). Really, it’s sort of a mystery to me since I’m the girl who won’t buy tomato sauce or toothpaste unless I’m sure I’m out, but

[ Read More ]