Fun fact: 17 is a prime number. Even more fun: you’ve arrived at the show notes for Episode 17 of Young House Love Has A Podcast. On this week’s episode we talk about a major home project we’ve finally started (we’re revealing details here first), answer a listener’s question about affordable wall art, share a small tech upgrade that’s making life a bit lazier in the bedroom, prepare for a hydration challenge we’re calling “Aquatober,” and weigh in on the paint color of the year for 2017.
Episode Availability
This episode is available on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher and TuneIn Radio — or you can listen on your preferred podcast player. Below you’ll find links, project examples and images referenced in the episode so you can follow along and try some of these ideas at home.
What’s New
- Big news: the kitchen renovation is officially underway. If you remember our move-in day photos, the space has come a long way, but one persistent eyesore remained — that fake brick laminate flooring. We finally ripped it out.
- We’ve been making smaller updates over the years, but this is the first big demolition phase. Here’s a sneak peek of some of the mess and progress as we remove the old floor and start fresh.
What’s Not
- We discussed Sherwin-Williams’ 2017 Color of the Year, Poised Taupe, and mentioned several other past color picks like Vintage Wine, Coral Reef, Aloe, Lemon Sorbet, and Breath of Fresh Air. These examples highlight how color trends change and how a single paint choice can shift the mood of a space.
Listener Question: Affordable Ways to Fill Walls
We get asked all the time where to find inexpensive, impactful art — and how to use simple tricks to make walls look intentional without spending a lot. Below are approaches we love and some specific project ideas you can recreate easily.
- Check our blog’s art and crafting archives and Chapter 6, “Hang,” in our first book for step-by-step ideas and visuals.
- Project ideas mentioned in the episode:
- Use calendar pages as rotating art pieces for seasonal interest.
- Create a wall “papered” with frames to form a large, cohesive installation.
- Build a gallery wall: use a large paper template to arrange frames, set up a neat grid, place small paper placeholders to visualize spacing, or simply arrange freely and adjust until it feels right.
- Make large, affordable office art with oversized prints or simple painted canvases.
- Try an easy large-scale DIY painting for instant impact on a budget.
- Install affordable postcard or print shelves to display smaller pieces that can be swapped often.
- We also shared a short curated assortment of affordable art options — many pieces are under $40 — and explained how rotating inexpensive finds keeps a room feeling fresh without a big investment.
We’re Digging
In the episode we highlighted a pair of nightstands that include a clever “touch strip” feature on the back (think of it like a snap bracelet integrated for convenience). We also mentioned a retrofit touch kit that lets you add touch-dimming capability to existing lamps, which is one of those tiny upgrades that pays off in everyday life.
- The nightstands shown above were used to demonstrate how small hardware or lighting tweaks (like a touch retrofit) can change how you use a room.
- If you’ve tried retrofitting a lamp or using a touch kit, tag us on social media — we love seeing reader projects and tips.
- Also mentioned: Aquatober, our light-hearted hydration push for October. If you want to join, we explain the idea on our site and share a simple graphic you can use to track water intake.
Psst — Looking for something we’ve featured in a previous episode? We keep a master list of everything we’ve been digging across past shows so you can quickly find older recommendations and inspirations.
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