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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#56: The Big Mistake We Made Selling Our House By Owner

With another wave of decluttering washing over our house, we’re looking back at our last yard sale and the strange trick we used to make it a fast-selling success (and the minor detail we overlooked that nearly turned it into a major disaster). We’re also talking about how we sold both of our homes without a realtor, and what five things you should consider before you go the For Sale By Owner route yourself – including the HUGE misstep we made when putting our first home on the market. You’ll also hear why we’ve given up on one area of our yard looking pretty anymore (we’ve just opted for pure function), and Sherry shares her

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Celebrating Ten Years (!) Of Marriage In Puerto Rico

You might as well just pronounce us Mr. and Mrs. Puerto-Retersik, because we recently snuck off for a few days to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary (!!!) in Puerto Rico. Also because Puerto-Retersik rolls right off the tongue if you try hard enough. Promise. As we mentioned in last week’s podcast we wanted to share a few more pictures and details about our anniversary trip to San Juan because we LOVED it and we couldn’t recommend it more highly. So here’s the gist on where we stayed, what we did, and what we ate in case any of you are considering a trip to that area. Why Puerto Rico? After taking our actual honeymoon to Anchorage, Alaska

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How To Pressure Wash Your Outdoor Cushions

Despite having a blast with the pressure washer we rented a few years ago, we’d always been hesitant to bite the bullet and purchase one. Part of us didn’t want to store another bulky tool, especially since it didn’t seem like something we’d be using all that often. But recently the universe sent us several signs that we were missing out. My neighbor kept waxing poetic about his. They were popping up in our blog feeds everywhere. Oh, and the pollen. The universe sent us lots and lots of pollen this year. Exhibit A: Those are pillows from the open sunroom on the back of our house, shown below shortly after we finished it back in

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How We Cut The Cable & Saved Hundreds

Here it is, the post we promised all about cutting the cable cord (and how much we’re saving as a result). As self-proclaimed TV enthusiasts, we’ve been known to collapse on the couch after some good painting/organizing/spackling and kick back with some tube. So in all of the hubbub about cutting the cable cord in recent years, we never really considered ourselves strong candidates – especially because so many of the channels Sherry likes (Bravo, Bravo, and also Bravo) weren’t always easy to get outside of a traditional cable package. But after some recent frustrations with our cable provider, and an ever-growing bill (which went from $99 to $169 the last 4 years!) we became even more

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That Time Our Beach House Photobombed HGTV

Despite not even being close to finished, our beach house made its television debut on HGTV this past Sunday night! See it there on the right side of the screen? Our rotten siding basically worked its way into a solid 5% of the episode. We had no idea it was going to be on, hence Sherry cranking her excitement level up to 11 on Insta-stories that night for those of you who got to witness that (here it is below, in case you missed it): It was part of an HGTV show called Beachfront Bargain Hunt because the house RIGHT NEXT DOOR was one of the three homes the featured couple was considering (the show follows a

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Our New Project Is Gonna Knock Your You-Know-Whats Off!

The last year or so has felt a bit like a smorgasbord of side projects – a coloring book, a teacher’s lounge makeover, a podcast, new lighting designs, and a big ol’ beach house renovation. But behind the scenes, we Petersiks have had one more thing in the works for a while. And it definitely takes the proverbial “random project” cake. But we are so, so, SO excited to finally share it with you guys! We’re a shoes-off-at-the-door household, but there’s no denying that our feet felt a little chilly at times. Plus, just like you hang art or paint your walls to express your design personality – we though, shouldn’t your feet do the same thing? And thus the idea

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Updating The Bedroom With A Chandelier & A New Bed

It seems like every room in our house undergoes a gradual (and often never-ending) evolution, but our bedrooms seem especially prone to this slow-burn decorating process. Exhibit A: this old “Evolution Of A Bedroom” post that chronicled the meandering path of our bedroom in our last house. Exhibit B: this more recent one about the winding evolution of our daughter’s current bedroom. Well, if it pleases the court, I’d like to submit yet another bedroom into evidence: our current bedroom. (I don’t know why I doubled-down on the legal metaphor guys. Consider your objection sustained). bench / rug / plant / similar floor lamp, chair, pillow / garden stool / chandelier / art (top, bottom) When we bought the house, the room looked

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How To Fix A Rocking Toilet

The toilet in our hall bathroom has rocked a little bit from the day we moved in (the inspector even noted it on our little home inspection form). Some people can fix this with plastic shims or tightening bolts, but we quickly diagnosed the issue as a rusted bolt under the toilet flange. That’s a fix that requires removing the entire toilet and replacing the bolt, so it took us a while to get to this to-do task. But here’s how I finally decided to seize the day toilet and show this rocking throne who was boss! The process is similar to our toilet installation tutorial, but that project didn’t involve removing an old toilet

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Taking The Beach House Down To The Studs

We’ve shared some random details about our beach house progress here and there, but we’re waaaaay overdue for a giant picture-filled blog post about everything that has been going on over there, complete with our latest (and hopefully final) floor plans! Let’s just say that things are looking VERY different these days (you can check out the before pictures here and virtually walk through via this video tour). We definitely have the whole “sometimes it has to get uglier before it can get prettier” thing going on. As you can see from the photo above, we’ve demoed out all of the existing walls. The big “LEAVE” is not some horror-movie-style warning, just a note the contractor left for his crew so nobody

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Refinishing Our Hardwood Floors: Before & After

The new floors in our kitchen are easy to forget amidst all of the other big changes (a completely new layout! a wide doorway to the living room! new cabinets! new counters!). But every now and then we’re reminded that the floors are a HUGE reason that space – and heck, the entire first floor – feels so fresh, updated, and open. So we thought it might be helpful to recap the entire process, including time & cost, for anyone else who’s debating a similar upgrade. This before picture does a good job of demonstrating just how much of a difference the new floors have made. Yes, the photo below was taken from the same exact spot as the after shot

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Why We Returned Our Mail-Order Foam Mattress

If you’ve been anywhere near the internet in the last couple of years, you’re probably well aware of a new generation of mail-order mattresses: Casper. Leesa. Tuft & Needle (just to name a few). They’re these affordable foam mattresses that ship straight to your door, magically unfurl on your bed, and promise an improved night’s sleep or your money back. Having been bombarded with that message for months (years?) we decided to jump on the bandwagon… but quickly second-guessed our decision. And so the “Is this The One?” mattress spiral was born. Let me preface this by saying that I’ve been hesitant to write this post. We generally don’t like to spotlight products that don’t

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How To Make Long Reclaimed Wood Shelves

Long ago we promised more details about how we made the reclaimed wood shelves that we hung as part of our big kitchen remodel, so we’re finally back with every last measurement, stain method, and hanging tip. We hadn’t originally planned to put shelves there, but after our initial idea to display a large piece of art fell flat (literally – it felt like that wall needed more dimension) we turned our attention to shelves. Besides adding some storage for things in heavy rotation like drinking glasses (if you cycle through things fast enough they don’t have time to get dusty), Sherry has never met a shelf didn’t have fun accessorizing. Also, plants. Gotta love plants. These shiny

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