You asked and we answered! Yes, due to popular demand, we have put on our Oprah hats (are they berets? fedoras? what would Oprah wear?), and made a list of our favorite home/life/everything purchases from the past year. These are all items we bought with our own money and loved in 2025... so much so that when we took a look back, they stood out as some of our best buys and favorite additions to our life. So you're still searching for holiday gifts (or struggling to tell someone what you want), this post might help.

Continue reading Our Favorite Things of 2025 at Young House Love.

Dyeing your clothes can sound difficult, messy, and downright scary. But guess what? It's none of those things! After all, I'm the girl who dyed her wedding dress so I could wear it again. Trust me, anyone can dye clothes at home because it's easy, straightforward, and crazy affordable.

Continue reading How To Dye Clothes at Young House Love.

Did Christmas come early this year? Nope! But our annual gift guides did (by a smidge, at least). So, without further ado… let’s dive into the 3 categories that we cover every year, which are all here in just one post:

1. Gift Ideas for Grown-Ups
2. Gift Ideas for Kids
3. Gift Ideas Under $12.99

It’s probably helpful to mention that nothing was sponsored/gifted in order to get into this guide. If something’s in here, we just genuinely love it (and in many cases, already own it and can vouch for it). Each list also includes some things that we plan to give a friend or family member this year, and a few things we’d love to receive (wink, wink – please consult this post, John).

Quick note: There aren’t just gifts that are under $12.99 on the last gift guide.

Continue reading 2022 Holiday Gift Guides at Young House Love.

Rugs are hard. We get it. How do you know the right size and placement? Will it look good in your room? What if looks nothing like the photos online? If you have any of those thoughts, this post is for you. We’re going to dive into an especially magical rug that goes with basically any colored sofa/wall/room, but also talk generally about rug size and placement. Plus, we’ve listed a bunch of other favorite rugs, vetted by us (we bought them all with our own money & love them – no affiliation with any of ’em).

The Magic Rug

Let’s start with the magic rug. We bought this rug many years ago for one of the duplex living rooms in Cape Charles.

I’m not sure who first dubbed (in the rust color) the “magic rug,” but it all began when we realized it looked good with essentially any room, no matter the color scheme.

Continue reading Rug Sizing Tips & Our Favorite “Magic Rug” at Young House Love.

Every year it feels like we’re the last bloggers in all of blogland to get our gift guide up (is it me or are they coming out earlier and earlier?!), but the deed is done! We just do one post with three categories (adults, kids, and under $25), so here it is. We love including small makers and Black-owned businesses as well as some tried & true items from larger companies that we’ve bought & loved (like a favorite book, family game, etc) so let’s get into it.

Gifts For Grown-Ups

Here’s what we’re loving, either firsthand items that we’ve bought and enjoyed ourselves, things we’re getting for friends & family, or items that we’re hoping to find under the tree ourselves (hint, hint John).

1. These rose gold birthstone rings feel so special and her reviews are stellar ($50)
2. I want this “Distracted By Plants” shirt & know 7 friends who’d also want it ($14)
3. Oprah put this chic Linen Wireless Charger on her fav.

Continue reading 2021 Holiday Gift Guides at Young House Love.

This year we got our gift guide post up a lot sooner than usual, because we’re highlighting tons of small makers and Black-owned businesses that we love, and we want to give those shops as much lead time as possible (heck, large stores seem to need more lead time than ever these days too). We also included a handful of tried & true items from larger companies that we’ve bought and loved (like a favorite tool or family game).

There’s stuff for grown-ups, kids, and a ton of budget-friendly ideas that are under $20, and even under $10 that would be great for teachers, neighbors, coworkers, or white elephant exchanges!

Gifts For Grown-Ups

Here’s what we’re loving, either firsthand items that we’ve personally bought and enjoyed – or things that we’re getting for friends & family (or hoping to find under the tree ourselves).

1. This plant lover’s doormat makes me laugh so hard ($52)
2. We’re eying this favorite daughter t-shirt for all three of John’s sisters ($24)
3. John & the kids got me two surprise mail-order plants like this for Mother’s Day (this pothos & this fern) and they’re still going strong (from $25)
4. Santa is bringing me Bobbi’s black & white earrings & I’m THRILLED ($45)
5. We own and love this wave basket which works as a large tray for magazines on a table or you can hang it on the wall as large textural art!

Continue reading 2020 Holiday Gift Guides at Young House Love.

All week on our Instagram stories we’ve been highlighting Black-owned businesses as a way that you can get involved, vote with your dollars, and show these super deserving small businesses some love. It all started because after getting personal in this post on IG and Facebook, I came across an article that said “…over the past 30 years, the US has seen a sharp decline in independent Black-owned business, and that Black women in particular face so many obstacles getting their business ventures funded.”

That SUCKS! So after highlighting some of my favorite Black-owned shops, you guys started flooding my DMs with some of yours. Dozens of enthusiastically recommended shops quickly turned into hundreds, crossing all sorts of categories – from home and food to fashion and beauty, even things like travel, weddings, and business consulting.

We’re still trying to catch up on all of your amazing recommendations, but we’ve got over 500 of them categorized below for you to shop from whenever you’d like.

Continue reading 500+ Highly Recommended Black-Owned Businesses To Support at Young House Love.

For everyone who has been asking for the details on our new coffee table (glimpses of it have made their way into my InstaStories over the last few months – and boy did you guys notice!), I’m finally writing up all the details.

How many words can someone possibly share about the hunt for and the creation of a living room coffee table that checks every one of their oddly specific boxes, you ask? Well, settle in. I shall regale you with a tale of woe and triumph and there’s even a random not-sure-it-even-works alien joke worked in there for good measure. Plus I’ll show you exactly how to get this exact coffee table if you want to pull this same hack at your house (it is BEGINNER LEVEL EASY).

Let’s back up for a second. You know how sometimes you dream about an item that doesn’t exist and you’re like “I like this one thing but wish it had that other top or that other wood finish.” Like you want to pull a Frankenstein combo move and merge three things together?

Continue reading How To Build A DIY Coffee Table at Young House Love.