Meeting Young House Love

So you might have guessed it from reading my posts, but just in case you did not know. I love the blog Young House Love. John and Sherry are a normal couple that began writing their blog years ago as a way to keep their families apprised of their home updates. From there it has become a monster success. So much so that they have both quit their jobs and have written a DIY book!

 I was one of the first in line to buy their book, and so pumped when they announced that they would be coming in to Austin to do a signing! My friend Corey agreed to come with me for the signing and talk they were giving on writing their book. I was pumped.

 Fast forward to this past Tuesday, I was worried because I had seen their updates from other cities and it looked like the lines were going to be really long and because it was pouring rain that we might be standing outside in it for hours. Good thing the folks at Book People are quite the pros at hosting book signings and they had us all inside and cozy while we waited for them to arrive.

They arrived right on time and were as sweet and approachable as they are on the blog. Their talk on writing their book was really interesting. I was exhausted just listening to them talk about the process. Most nights while doing the photo shoots for the book they only got a few hours of sleep. They also did not hire any stylist or any other help to do all the project shoots and the projects themselves. Each and every thing you see in the book they did. It is really inspiring. It all makes me even more excited for our bathroom remodel!

Anyway here they are talking to the group. Sherry is of course making a funny face because that is how she rolls:

After the talk Corey and I grabbed a coffee and waited to get out books signed. The store grouped us by letter section so we all did not have to stand in line forever. It worked quite well. After only about 30 minutes our group was called and we started to wait in line. It then hit me that I was going to get to talk to them. And I know you all are probably thinking, “So what?”, but these guys are like mom and dad’s Bob Villa to me! They are the reason I have been willing to do so much of my home projects. I read their blog every day and refer to them by first name to Parker whilst doing almost all of our home projects. I of course began to freak out.

In line, they are on the other side of the glass. I think they would have preferred to stay that way after talking to me!

Corey gave me a look like “Keep it together Christine”:

 And I had this look on my face:

It is blurry because I could not sit still I was such a wreck!

Anyway I decided I wanted to tell them that I refer to them by first name so much that Parker now refers to them as my besties (silly term for best friends). I did not, however, think about how creepy this would come off. Oh well I went with it. Corey and I got up there, got our picture taken and then I stared to run my mouth. Sherry was gracious and said she thinks of other blogs as her friends and “besties” too and that she was glad I did the same. Yea right, I am sure she thought I was nuts. Oh well. Here we are, being awesome with my besties!

They of course signed the book to their bestie, Christine! Woot! It makes me happy. All in all it was a fun night. I am so glad I went. And if you have not read their blog you should do so. It is awesome, funny, thoughtful, and helpful!

House Goals for 2013

Happy new year everyone! We had a great year in 2012 and we are so ready to get going on new house projects for 2013! 

First off, I am going to learn how to sew this year! Parker’s very generous grandpa gave me a sewing machine and lessons for Christmas this year and although I never thought about trying to learn to sew I can already tell you I am enthralled with the idea of making lots of custom items for my home on this fancy machine. Just in case you were wondering I got the “Baby Lock – Grace” machine. It is amazing. 

I plan on making curtains for the whole house on this bad boy, straight lines are my friend. So far my inspiration comes from pictures like this:

And this:

And this:

I will let you know when I get started!

Secondly and probably the biggest DIY project I will ever take on is our Master bathroom renovation! Yes, you heard me right Parker and I are going to do our master bathroom renovation ourselves (mostly). We plan to take out a small closet, frame out a new door move the sink (I know, we are calling plumber) and tile a shower. We will also have to redo the floors and install a new vanity. This is going to be major y’all. 

Thirdly, install a ladder into the attic access in the garage. Right now we just have a hole and we pull our ladder up to it. Although it is not that big of a deal we plan on using the attic as storage for a lot of our Christmas décor and getting in and out of that area easily will be a big help. Plus we went to Home Depot the other day and we found that these attic access ladder things are not much more than $150. Not too bad. 

If I can get these three big house projects done this year I will be super happy with us. I fear the master bathroom project is going to take at least a month because Parker works on weekends and we are limited to how many hours we have together to get this all done. I will be back later with all the mood boards and ideas I have out there for this project and show you some detailed before pictures. Trust me you are going to be amazed we have been able to deal with this bathroom for 6 months.