Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

Posts By John Petersik

John Petersik is one half of the duo behind the award-winning home improvement and do-it-yourself design blog, Young House Love. Together, he and his wife Sherry have renovated seven homes, published two New York Times Bestselling books, and designed products sold in Target and Home Depot. They are currently enjoying their downsized home on Florida's Gulf Coast with their two kids and their dog, Penny.

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An Extremely Cheap & Easy Chair Makeover

We’re excited to share what we’re convinced is one of the thriftiest makeovers of the decade submitted by one of our very own readers. So without further ado, here’s Amy’s letter: You inspired me to finish at least one project I said I would do over my summer break from work. I inherited this antique chair from my great aunt a few years ago (it originally belonged to my great-grandmother). My mom remembers it over the years being many different colors with different fabrics, and when it was handed down to me it was a peach color with a crushed velvet seat (which wasn’t really my style). Luckily, two weeks ago I came across a

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A Charming Brick Home Tour In Richmond VA

Yup, we’re house crashing again- and this time we’re invading the home of a local celebrity of sorts. Lesley is the owner of Clementine, an über cool consignment shop in ever-popular Carytown (a street chock full of unique shops and eateries here in Richmond). And she and her husband Jeff graciously allowed us to snoop around their home and shoot some photos to share with you. Without further ado, their beautiful home. From the moment we arrived, the yellow door with hand painted house numbers caught our attention. Lesley just printed out the numbers and transfered them onto the door with a pencil rubbing and tracing technique, painted them there with a thin brush, and

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Adding A Seagrass Rug From World Market

You all know by now that we’re in love with our master bedroom. And after much trial-and-error we were convinced that we’d thought of every last thing to make it comfy cozy meets hotel chic. But the other day we looked down and realized there was something missing… …and thus begun a hunt for the perfect rug. Fortunately the search ended quickly when we found the most amazing thing (at the most amazing price) courtesy of World Market. In addition to their normal collection of global rugs, they offer a cool customizable option that we haven’t seen anywhere else. It’s basically seagrass rug by the foot. First you choose from three different grass colors (from

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Fun Wedding Details To Add

Y’all ready for me to break down more details about our DIY backyard wedding? Good, because here comes more wedding week straight atcha… Any of you who’ve planned a wedding or other big event know you can score major points with your guests by thinking of the little things that suggest that you’ve thought of everything. And for us that included offering up complementary flip-flops for guests whose shoes were a bit too ambitious for a garden wedding. And of course Sherry wanted the dollar store flip flops to look as sweet as the sentiment, so she tied pairs of them with rustic twine and stuck ’em in a burlap basket for easy access. We

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Our DIY Wedding Invitations & Save The Dates

Wedding week continues here at Young House Love with a look back at all the paper goods we designed for the event – from our summery invitation all the way to the customized thank you postcard. But let’s kick things off with the piece of paper that kicked things off in early 2007: the save-the-date. We wanted something simple yet meaningful so we took inspiration from one of our favorite traditions as a couple: taking pictures in a photobooth. I’ll admit that we didn’t want to waste lots of quarters trying to get the perfect photostrip, so we faked our own using a digital camera, photoshop, and some glossy photo paper. The result was a

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The After Party

On Tuesday, Annastazia proved that we’re not the only ones around here with great before & after photos of their home. So I know lots of ears will perk up when I tell you that now there’s a way for your before & after pics to help a worthy cause (and maybe even earn you a little reward to the tune of a $50 gift card). One Project Closer – a blog chronicling the home improvement adventures of two Baltimore, MD couples – is hosting a blogging event this summer called Before & After ’08. You can read more about it by clicking here, but here’s the gist: Readers submit stories and photos of their

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Our Home In R. Home

Ok, so we’ve extended our 15 minutes of local fame a smidge thanks to the latest issue of R. Home magazine, the much loved home & garden offspring of our hometown’s über popular Richmond Magazine. We’ve been anxiously awaiting this July/August issue since way back in April when they first contacted us for an interview and a professional photoshoot (I know, we’re fancy), and it’s finally here. And I must say we’re thrilled (especially Sherry, who has worried for two months that her pose on the second page might make her appear one-legged). The article chronicles the short story of us and the birth of Young House Love, while sporting some swanky, professional pics of

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Father Knows Best

My dad gave me a toolbox when I was in high school. I think it had four things in it: a hammer, a handsaw, a set of screwdrivers and a photo of his dad (to show me that being handy was in my blood). But not even my ancestry could interest me in tools as a teenager. Yet I dragged that toolbox along to college, then to New York City and even back here to Richmond. With each move my need for (and skill with) those tools grew. And I added plenty to my collection along the way – levels, drills, wrenches, etc – eventually outgrowing the toolbox itself. But to this day we still

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Our Glass Floating Wall Vases From CB2

After countless readers asked what was hanging to the left of our living room fireplace, we thought our cheap teardrop vases from CB2 warranted a post of their very own. With 15 framed works of art in the expansive living and dining room (yup, I counted) the last thing we wanted to bring in were a few more hard edged rectangles. So for less than $12 (actually they were a gift so they were F-R-E-E), we added instant interest. Some wild grass “borrowed” from a Target parking lot completed the look (and has surprisingly held up for the last 12+ months). Observe: These vases are versatile. If you have a wall at the end of

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