YOUNGHOUSELOVE

We've shared a lot of real-time renovation updates on Instagram Stories, but here's a quick catch-up blog post for anyone thirsty for the longer format (we know we'll love having these posts to look back on). We're about 7 weeks into our biggest renovation in over 5 years, and the house pretty much looks as chaotic as expected. Over the past month and a half, walls have been busted open, ceilings have been torn out, and entirely new rooms have been framed. So lots of progress, but lots of dust... and a lot more to do.

Planning a family spring break trip can be challenging - especially if you're looking for somewhere warm, unique, and not overrun with other spring breakers. But ever since we moved full-time to the unofficial spring break capital of the United States (aka: Florida's Emerald Coast), we've become well-practiced in finding unique spring break destinations. So here are 8 places that we have loved visiting for family vacations.

We can't give you 100 one-syllable girl names without a list for boys too! And, well, we did marry one of the most popular monosyllabic names of all time: John. Short boy names have been popular for centuries. Think Gods (Zeus), Gospels (Mark, Luke), Founding Fathers (George, James, Ben), all the way to modern TV characters (Ross, Zack, Bart). They can feel strong, timeless, charming, unique, or all of the above. So today we're sharing 100 of my favorites.

We're back with more baby names because, well, we love everything about them! One-syllable girl names are gaining popularity in recent years, especially as longer names like Olivia, Charlotte, and Isabella become oversaturated. In fact, only 1 single-syllable girl name broke into the latest Top 50 list from the Social Security Administration (#40: Grace). So choosing a one-syllable name is a great way to find something unique.

When we hyper-focus on a task, we're known to go ALL IN. And that's exactly how we approached the giant job of digitizing all of our old photo albums. We crowdsourced suggestions, took some deep dives into message boards, and Googled the heck out of it. From there, we narrowed our options to 5 photo digitization methods that we tested for quality, price, and speed. There was one clear winner for us.

Last fall, we got to eat, walk, and gasp our way through Florence, Italy (including a day trip to Venice) with three friends. Literally, it was the stuff of dreams. We already shared how we packed light for this trip, but today we're recapping everything we did, saw, and ate. So if you're considering a trip to Florence (and/or Venice), here are our thoughts on what was extremely enjoyable.

The annual Color of the Year announcements are one of our favorite traditions to follow (and predict, with varying degrees of success). Each year, a lot of the largest paint manufacturers select a hue and/or palette they believe captures and/or forecasts design trends. Some are bold. Some are boring. Some are straight-up bonkers. So we'll continue to update this post as the 2026 COTYs are announced.

We recently read that Ina Garten likes to give "disappearing gifts." By this, she means consumable gifts that don't take up room in the recipient's home. Material gifts often come with an unintentional burden on the recipient to find space to use, store, or display an item. The easiest way to avoid that? Give someone something that isn't a thing at all! So here are 30 ideas for gifts that won't take up any space.