The Day I met Young House Love

I had been looking forward to meeting Sherry and John of Young House Love ever since they added a Charlotte date of 2/5 to their book tour and they definitely did not disappoint. They are just as cute and fun in person as they seem on their blog! They are goofy and silly with each other too just like Eric and I are :)  I think they would be perfect couple friends if only they lived in Charlotte, sigh. I know it was only on a Tuesday but it's safe to say that was the highlight of my week!

The event was at UNCC Barnes and Noble. Here is the giant display of books. I already had mine thanks to a Christmas gift from my mom (she had even bubble wrapped it inside the box so it would be in perfect condition haha) but I did pick up another book to get signed for a coworker.

They actually held the event upstairs from the bookstore in a big room in the Student Union with those movable walls. Because seriously how many people can really fit into a college campus bookstore.

The event was at 6pm and I was glad I got there 45 minutes early. I scored Katie, Danielle and I seats in the 4th row. I was so excited and totally jabbering on like a giddy school girl as we passed time waiting... I'm sure they were ready for YHL to come out just so I would be quiet.

About 5 after the room had really filled up and there were about 250 or so there. A guy from the bookstore gave an introduction and Sherry was popping her head around the door they were about to enter so I don't think too many were really listening to the intro. At the end of the intro he slipped up and said "here's Shaun... uh Sherry and John". I'm sure he's never been in a room with that many DIY loving ladies. It's kinda cool that their combined name is actually another name unlike Emric for Emily and Eric.

Sherry and John talked about the 5 main things that were different about writing the book compared to blogging. It was very interesting. I'm not going to recap the 5 things but here are 5 awesome things I learned.

1. They did all the projects and stagings in the book in a 3 week time span because that was the amount of time they had the book photographers. Crazy! I was kind of thing some things might be like on cooking shows where you do a few steps and then pull an already completed end product out of the oven. But nope, they did them all start to finish in 3 weeks.

2. Emerald may be the Pantone color of the year but Sherry's decorating color of the year is Red. Not that old stuffy formal living room red but a modern and fun red which she has already started to incorporate into Clara's room. I have to admit I previously thought of red the same way Sherry did and have never been a red fan for those reasons but now I am warming up to the idea of red more.

3. John likes to plan things out with spreadsheets. Wow me too... maybe that isn't so dorky after all! (I guess it did made for a wonderful Italy trip in 2011) John had a big excel to plan out how many pictures and pages each of their projects would need in the book and which things would just be one photo or quick tips, etc. to keep everything balanced.

4. The book offered the couple a lot of DIY freedom. They could do a project that didn't fit into their current home or fit with their color scheme which they don't do with the blog usually. I have often seen a cool idea but it wouldn't go with our style/colors/space so I wouldn't pursue the project. It would be fun to have that freedom especially with paint.

5. Writing a book = keeping secrets. I never really thought about how hard it would be to not talk about something you were spending all of your time doing. I am a talkative person so this would be hard for me like Sherry said it was for her. They day the book came out she was glad to finally be able to talk about what was in it.


Then they did a Q&A. I got to ask the 2nd question... Do you know what your 2nd book will be about... do you think it will be similar to this book or completely different? They said they hadn't started talking about it too much yet as they wanted a long break but that their publisher said you never want your 2nd book to be too much like your 1st. You want them each to stand alone. It will be really interesting to see what they end up writing about next!

After Q&A it was time for the book signing. Big thanks to Katie for playing paparazzi.. err.. photographer. They went row by row so we were the 4th row to go. Danielle went first.

Then it was my turn! They were friendly and really easy to talk to. I had my book signed and a book signed for my coworker.

 

Of course I had to get a picture with my favorite bloggers and DIYers!

They did have a guest book for everyone to sign. I got to sign and write my blog in there. In my book they wrote "Thanks for the love! xoxo, Sherry and John".

 

I can now think of a million more things I would have asked them or talked to them about but maybe sometime they will be visiting Charlotte and we will meet again! If you don't already have their book you should pick one up, I highly recommend it! Thank you thank you Sherry and John for coming to the Queen City!