The beach house feels like it’s coming together in fast motion these days. After over a year of working on it, we can’t believe it finally has working appliances, a kitchen island, even a functioning kitchen sink! But taking the freshly plumbed clawfoot tub for a spin didn’t exactly work out the way Sherry thought it would. We also dive into advice for mixing and matching wood tones in a room for a look that’s collected, not chaotic. Plus the autopilot Christmas decoration we’re both loving this year and the triumphant return of everybody’s favorite segment (consider it our Christmas gift to you).
Be sure to check out younghouselove.com/podcast-77/ for notes, links, and photos from this episode.
You haven’t heard a lot about the duplex that we bought three months ago. It might seem like not much is happening, but we’re actually working on three things behind the scenes that are inching us closer to demo day! We also learn what really goes into creating a home magazine (the good, the bad, and the sweaty) from HGTV Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Sara Peterson. Plus, some simple ways we’re automating our home on the cheap (without the use of any more smart home devices) and how to make your candles burn longer and stronger.
Be sure to check out younghouselove.com/podcast-76/ for notes, links, and photos from this episode.
As much as we love the holidays, all the “stuff” that goes along with it (gifts, decor, things piling up on every surface) can get overwhelming. So this week we’re sharing how we’re approaching things differently in an effort to maintain the joy of the season. And one of the most common questions we get is “who do I figure out my style?” so we’re spelling out exactly how we do that when we’re feeling torn, which actually happens more than you might think. Plus, Sherry revisits a controversial opinion that she passionately shared last week and John declares war on his screen time.
Be sure to check out younghouselove.com/podcast-75/ for notes, links, and photos from this episode.
People always ask if we ever argue, especially with all the house projects we tackle together. Well, the short answer is yes. And the speed bumps we hit while installing our beach house kitchen are a perfect example of what can spark a spat. So we’re sharing what we fought about, how we solved it, and who was right all along. We’re also dispelling a myth about a commonly espoused “real estate deal killer” that might not be as scary or expensive as you think! Plus, our take on the new “it” room to have in your house and our trick for getting holiday cards done faster.
Be sure to check out younghouselove.com/podcast-74/ for notes, links, and photos from this episode.
Young House Love turned 10 years old this fall (!!!) so we're looking back at our last decade of renovating houses, building a business, and making plenty of mistakes along the way - all while on a public stage called the world wide web. You’ll hear how both in decorating and in business there were some pivotal moments that led us to where we are today - literally without them, we wouldn't be here - and they didn't all feel great at the time. In fact, some of them felt downright terrible.
Be sure to check out younghouselove.com/podcast-73/ for notes, links, and photos from this episode.
What we thought would be an easy swap of an old sectional for a new sofa has turned our living room on its head. So this week we’re sharing how we’re rethinking the layout and reinventing the space to work a little harder. We're also sharing countertop pros & cons, since we've lived with 3 different kitchens with 3 different counter choices. So you can hear our regrets to hopefully avoid making the same mistakes. Plus, we run into some hiccups in our meal kit delivery experiment that may have us falling out of love with them for good.
Be sure to check out younghouselove.com/podcast-72/ for notes, links, and photos from this episode.
Keeping your kids safe at home is hugely important and creating a house that looks nice but is also livable (and not too precious) is basically the holy grail. So this week we’re sharing specific tricks and tips for how we childproofed our house without running down the safety aisle and buying every last foam pad and cabinet lock. We also finally got to meet Vern Yip in person, and he taught us a lot (like our favorite new term for choosing the right lighting) and made us laugh so hard (the hotel trick for stretching his Trading Spaces budget is the stuff of legends). We also talk about juggling the task of furnishing the beach house quickly, while attempting to layer in stuff that’s meaningful and not just convenient.
Be sure to check out younghouselove.com/podcast for notes, links, and photos from this episode.
Our week was sent into a tailspin when we got a last-minute invitation to appear on The Rachael Ray Show, and within 24 hours we were on a plane to New York so we could DIY in front of a live studio audience the very next morning. As you can imagine, we have some pretty hilarious stories from behind the scenes (it turns out Rachael Ray was NOT trying to hug Sherry) and the whole adventure was bookended by two other big beach house milestones: moving furniture in and spending our first night there! So we’re sharing how that went - and what woke us up at 6am - plus we’re learning the hardest pieces of IKEA furniture to assemble (who knew?! WE DID!). We also dive into our favorite blog for getting into the Halloween spirit, and we share what store is actually making some pretty great mass produced art these days.
Be sure to check out younghouselove.com/podcast-70/ for notes, links, and photos from this episode.
This week John is laying out why he thinks the end of HGTV’s Fixer Upper might actually bring some good things, and Sherry’s revealing the secret screw-up that almost ruined our beach house floors. Plus If you’ve ever dreamed about buying a second property or wading into the real estate investing waters, we’re getting pro tips from real estate expert Dana Bull. She’s breaking down a less risky way to buy your first rental, explaining why being a landlord isn’t as scary as it sounds, and sharing tricks for renovating wisely.
Be sure to check out younghouselove.com/podcast-69/ for notes, links, and photos from this episode.
This week we’re giving a listener whose house flooded after Hurricane Harvey some advice on finding the right people to help get her kitchen back together again after the storm. We also share why we’re loving a new “smart” platform for buying and selling secondhand stuff. And we’re sharing a series of recent faux plant scores that make us proud to be fake plant owners. Plus John’s shares a free tool that’s finally putting the kibosh on one of his worst habits.
Be sure to check out younghouselove.com/podcast-68 for notes, links, and photos from this episode.
When we look back at how we updated our previous homes, there are more than a few design decisions we regret - so we're breaking down five things that we’d go back and do differently if we had a time machine. And ding-dong, the deck is gone! Yup, we ripped that monster off the house, and the yard’s already feeling awesomely open - but checking this item off our to-do list has actually just added more to it (it's like the plot of 'If You Give A Mouse A Cookie'). We also check Sherry’s Color of The Year predicting skills, and John explains why he rejects tool brand monogamy.
Be sure to check out younghouselove.com/podcast-67 for notes, links, and photos from this episode.
Some people have declared the stainless steel appliance trend over (cue the gasps!). We used stainless appliances in our kitchen, but have decided against them for our beach house, so we're weighing in on when you might want to pull the trigger on stainless - or avoid it completely. And speaking of the kitchen, we've been trying some new things in there lately, including jumping on a certain culinary bandwagon, bringing some organization to our fridge, and finally taking a couple of those meal delivery services for a spin to see if they’re all that they're cracked up to be.
Be sure to check out younghouselove.com/podcast-66/ for notes, links, and photos from this episode.
We’ve probably all got dual purpose rooms like a mudroom-slash-laundry room, a breakfast-nook-slash-homework-spot, or the ol’ guest-room-slash-office. So today we’re sharing the key to making one space actually work in multiple ways - instead of feeling like it does one thing waaay better than the other. We also chat about a recent attic clutter revelation, and John shares a negotiation technique so covert you might not even know you’re doing it. He also gets a tool he has daydreamed about for years and Sherry’s love of all things woo-woo leads her to try some unusual accessories that claim to help with sleep, allergies, and even happiness.
Be sure to check out younghouselove.com/podcast-65/ for notes, links, and photos from this episode.
We’ve got some big news this week that you probably didn’t see coming (also: we might be crazy). Plus we share how we were able to pay off our mortgage (!!) and how the groundwork we laid over a decade ago in our first house made it all possible. We also chat about stuff you should NOT pass down to your kids (there’s some surprising stuff that experts say don’t make good heirlooms anymore) and we cover everything from our first house's cost to how our mortgage for our third house was actually smaller than our first.
Be sure to check out http://www.younghouselove.com/podcast-64/ for notes, links, and photos from this episode.
Who wouldn’t want more money in the ol’ bank account? So we picked a money expert’s brain for the most common places he finds his clients overspending, and for his best tips on making (and sticking to!) an easy household budget - which is definitely the key to saving more each month. Plus we share our not-scary techniques for negotiating with contractors, including how one short sentence has saved us $1500 in the past two weeks. We also dive into the not-so-straightforward process of fixing up our vintage pink stove, and a simple craft idea to keep little hands busy (which is always a good thing).
Be sure to check out younghouselove.com/podcast-63/ for notes, links, and photos from this episode.
Watching your former homes get altered by their new owners can be tough, and we witnessed some changes that bothered us more than we expected. This week we’re sharing how we got over those feelings and how to find the silver lining in seeing someone undo your designs. We also took a long overdue step in making our current home’s driveway more kid-friendly, Sherry gets sentenced to more time in “tooth jail,” and our beach house has a brush with a true-crime saga.
Be sure to check out younghouselove.com/podcast for notes, links, and photos from this episode.
When it comes to paper clutter around the house, the struggle is real. Where does it come from? Is it in the rabbit family, because HOW IS IT MULTIPLYING?! We get it. And this week we’re sharing exactly how we keep it at bay (and exactly where we put everything, from receipts and school papers to bills, party invitations, and coupons). Also, a recent trip to tile at the beach house goes less than smoothly, but a bout of good karma saves the day. John also shares some psychology behind how to price your items on Craigslist, Sherry drops an easy way to keep frame galleries in order, and - believe it or not - there’s already a color of the year for 2018.
Be sure to check out younghouselove.com/podcast for notes, links, and photos from this episode.
We’ve been on an organizing bender lately, so we called up pro organizers to the stars (yes, they’ve done Gwyneth Paltrow’s pantry!) and Target’s new home organizing experts: The Home Edit. Clea and Joanna explain how people are sabotaging their own organizing efforts, the right way to shop for baskets and bins, and how to not drive yourself crazy with labels. Also, Sherry shares two new (free!) sources of design inspiration that she has been devouring, John faces the facts about our online shopping habits, and we revisit if it’s really free to use a buyer’s agent when buying a house.
Be sure to check out younghouselove.com/podcast for notes, links, and photos from this episode.
It’s been a busy few weeks on our beach house renovation and they’ve been... well... less than smooth, to say the least. So this week we’re taking you through the saga of three setbacks that happened pretty much back to back (including a missed deadline, having no water line to our house, and a surprise medical complication). And although we're keeping it real about renovations not always being easy or straightforward, it all has a happy ending: we survived nearly 20 hours of tiling, and we share the handy gadget that made working in a house with no electricity possible. Also Sherry continues to refuse to be a clean freak, and we spill what it’s like to attend a live recording for a huge podcast (they had lines around the block).
Be sure to check out younghouselove.com/podcast for notes, links, and photos from this episode.
When does sharing things about your kids online become oversharing? And how do older kids who have grown up on their parents' blogs and social media feeds feel about having their childhoods posted for public consumption? You’ve probably noticed we’re much more private about our own kids these days, and in this special episode, we’re diving into “sharenting” and the reasons why we’ve decided to scale back. We also talked with four other bloggers (Erin Loechner, Myquillyn Smith, Cassie Freeman, and Joy Cho) about how much is too much to share - and we loved hearing how they find the right balance for their family. It was fascinating to chat with people who all come at this topic from a different angle to hear what feels right for them and when they know they’ve crossed the line.
Be sure to check out younghouselove.com/podcast for notes, links, and photos from this episode.
Decorating is incredibly subjective, and everyone has design choices they LOVE and other things that make them feel… I don’t know… twitchy? Sad? Hangry? So we’re sharing what we’re neurotic about avoiding in our own home: like a certain way of arranging furniture and a specific color combo. We’re also detailing a range of places to find original art (in an awesomely broad range of prices) and we share a personal update about our beloved chihuahua. Plus, we’re revealing our new secret weapon for typos, and - wait for it - the exciting conclusion to the “what computer bag will John get?” saga. WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE! Oh, and you get to experience the beauty of Drunk House Love.
Be sure to check out younghouselove.com/podcast for notes, links, and photos from this episode.
With another wave of decluttering washing over our house, we’re looking back at our last yard sale and the strange trick we used to make it a fast-selling success (and the minor detail we overlooked that nearly turned it into a major disaster). We’re also talking about how we sold both of our homes without a realtor, and what five things you should consider before you go the For Sale By Owner route yourself - including the HUGE misstep we made when putting our first home on the market. You’ll also hear why we’ve given up on one area of our yard looking pretty anymore (we’ve opted for pure function in that spot) and Sherry shares her new favorite footwear.
Be sure to check out younghouselove.com/podcast for notes, links, and photos from this episode.
This week we talk about a fun new design assignment we’ve taken on (our first commercial space!) and we finally have some good news in the beach house department! We also get a crash course in Feng Shui by an expert, and learn the places in our home where we’re intuitively following their guidelines... and the spots where we’re not doing so hot: like the wrong message our bedroom decor might be sending, and how our office floor plan might be thwarting one person’s productivity. Plus we share how you can hang out with us this summer thanks to HGTV Magazine, and we both reveal an item of clothing that we’re oddly particular about getting just right.
Be sure to check out younghouselove.com/podcast for notes, links, and photos from this episode.
Back in July of 2007, we couldn’t imagine getting married any other way than exactly how we did: a small sweet wedding held in our very own backyard. But fast forward ten years and there are a few things we’d do differently in hindsight. So we're diving into those details, along with sharing the special way we rang in our 10th anniversary (some old habits never die). Plus we reveal what home purchase we’re arguing about these days, and why I need an intervention when it comes to a certain accessory that I've been married to longer than Sherry.
Be sure to check out younghouselove.com/podcast for notes, links, and photos from this episode.
Sherry has taken on a new side job that John's steering clear of, and - spoiler alert - it has already given her a good excuse to go shopping. Plus, we’ve missed our goal of being able to spend a night at the beach house by the start of summer, and it's all due to something we never could’ve anticipated (or prevented). We also find out which design trends most people are ready to be done with (shiplap? succulents? decorative poufs? *gasp!*) and you'll hear what annoying outdoor to-do list item I checked off my list for Father’s Day. And - oh, look! A deer!
Be sure to check out younghouselove.com/podcast for notes, links, and photos from this episode.