year of fun

A few weeks ago, my sister told me about a blog called Young House Love written by a couple who tackled the task of renovating their old, wood-paneled home using DIY techniques and a lot of time and patience. They took four and half years to get it to their taste. Now they live in a new house with similar challenges and blog full time. They also just published a book that my sister, her best friend and I all preordered so that we could go together to a book signing with these bloggers turned authors at the Chicago West Elm.

After waiting in line for three and a half hours (don’t worry, we brought chairs and were sitting almost the whole time), we finally met Sherry and John, took pictures with them and had our books signed. So much was fun about this experience (especially the free cookies and hot chocolate we got while waiting) but the best part was probably the time the three of us spent reading the book, looking at projects and talking about what we’d each like to do in our own homes.

The intro to the book is totally inspirational and reading it made me feel like I could do many of these projects, as the couple themselves had no experience with renovation when they started. The biggest idea I took from it is that your home should be something you love and that makes you smile every day. And that walking in to a room you made beautiful is satisfying on so many levels. I foresee many fun projects in my future…