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.

| By | | 501 Comments

A Porch Update: Adding Mums With Our Yellow Door

We’ve done it again! For the second year in a row, we managed to accidentally allow the bushes in our big wooden porch planters to die. Oh the shame. Chalk it up to a miscommunication. Sherry thought I was watering them. I thought she was. Clara didn’t have a clue who was watering what (or what watering even is) and all the while Burger was “watering” plants in the back. By the time we realized our folly it was too late (although Sherry desperately dumped five cups of water a day on them for the last few weeks to no avail). So I’d say we’re equally to blame for our plants getting a bit on

[ Read More ]

| By | | 116 Comments

Reupholstering A Loveseat With Striped Fabric

Having wrestled for an unnaturally long time with our own chair upholstery project (well, I was more a bystander while my wife played the role of the wrestler), we’re that much more impressed with Erin’s redo of her great aunt’s loveseat. Here’s her letter: A few months ago I set out to reupholster my great aunt’s old loveseat. I actually planned on hiring someone to reupholster it, as I have never done anything like this before (not even close!). But then I got to thinking “Why not try my hand at it first?” So Project Loveseat was born! It was definitely a challenge. And one that I just sort of winged. I couldn’t even write

[ Read More ]

| By | | 558 Comments

Shifting Cabinets And Appliances For A New Kitchen Layout

In Monday’s appliance post we mentioned a couple switches (like wall oven out, stove in) but that was just the beginning. And then yesterday we shared that we were contemplating a new spot for the fridge. Well, it has all been settled. And we’re excited about it. But before I lay out the new layout for you, let’s talk demo again. This past weekend we found ourselves poised to purchase a slightly smaller yet not counter-depth fridge at the Sears Outlet (aka Scratch & Dent) – which was basically short and narrow enough to fit into the existing fridge spot but a bit deeper (so it actually would have stuck out into the room more

[ Read More ]

| By | | 5,418 Comments

Fab Freebie: Ideas For Ikea

***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries – see who won below!*** Random.org has selected the two random folks who are about to get $100 to IKEA. And they are… Jennifer (who improves lives by teaching and will also be adopting a child from Ethiopia) and Ashley (who says needs some improvement for herself). Congrats! If you take one thing away from this post, it should be this: two people are winning $100 gift cards to IKEA this week. Woot! But if you have room for a second thing, know that it’s because Ikea is hosting their second annual Life Improvement Project that, among other things (like hilariously helpful “instructions” for living a better life)

[ Read More ]

| By | | 488 Comments

How We Saved Money On Our Kitchen Appliances (63% off!)

We bought nearly $3,800 worth of kitchen appliances this weekend. But if you know anything about us, you know we love a deal. So here’s how we managed to shave off about $1,400 from that total (we ended up paying 63% of their original cost). Yee haw! Before I dive into the heavy math, let’s cover some basic questions first. Why new appliances? We’ll make this one multiple choice: A: We prefer stainless steel over the current bisque / black mix we’ve got going on. B: The wall oven has a big burn mark up the front of it and cooks/burns things unevenly. C: Our refrigerator is slowly dying (the ice maker doesn’t work and

[ Read More ]

| By | | 424 Comments

A Quick Trip To The Carolinas

Last weekend my cousin got married in Brevard, North Carolina. Translation: weekend road trip! Okay, so it wasn’t on the scale of our road trip to Texas for my cousin’s wedding two years ago (different cousin, btw – I’ve got lots of ’em) but it was still a good time. Brevard is in southwestern NC somewhere between Asheville and the South Carolina border (so close actually, the rehearsal dinner was in SC). It’s about a seven hour drive from Richmond, though we broke up our ride with a stop in Charlotte to see our pals Matt and Kristin. The wedding was obviously the highlight of the trip (you can see some pics over on Young

[ Read More ]

| By | | 136 Comments

Stenciling A Wall In The Dining Room

Coming off of the heels of our own adventures in stencil land, we just had to share this note from Ginny who stenciled her dining nook earlier this year. Methinks she had a clawed hand of her own going on after she finished (just like my lady wife). Here’s what Ginny had to say about her dining area makeover: I wanted to create a dining corner in my living room. Well, although I bought my table, finally got the chairs I wanted, and tried to dress it up, it still didn’t feel like a dining room to me. It was just this table in the corner of the room. Then it hit me like a

[ Read More ]

| By | | 3,471 Comments

Fab Freebie: Gone Fishing

***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries – see who won below!*** Our two lucky winners as selected by random.org are… Susie (who doesn’t like fish, despite her former employment at Red Lobster) and Sarah (who especially loves Maryland crab, shrimp, salmon, and freshly caught smoked trout). Congrats ladies! Back when I lived in Brooklyn there was this cool dishware store down the street called Fishs Eddy that I loved. Last Christmas I even bought Sherry two coffee mugs from there. And now, in what can only be called a full circle moment, we’re teaming up with them for a giveaway for you guys. They’ve got tons of fun colorful patterns so we’ve put together

[ Read More ]

| By | | 195 Comments

September Superlatives

It’s that time again! When we take a moment to look back on all that we’ve done in the past month at a glance (and gather all the links in one handy place for ya). And of course we tossed in some never-before-seen stuff, just because we’re over-sharers. This month felt pretty scattered since we did everything from finding secondhand night stands and starting to stencil some walls to building a 13 foot desk, altering a light fixture, framing out a mirror, making free art, and beyond. So let’s take a walk down memory lane, with yearbook-esque superlatives. Why? Because that’s our idea of a good time. Most Pro-Banquette: Starting off the month with a

[ Read More ]

| By | | 248 Comments

Online Tools for Planning A Space in 3D

Break out the 3D glasses! Okay, not really. Put them away. This blog will not be coming to you in any additional dimensions today. As you saw in our latest kitchen planning post yesterday, I finally bit the bullet and learned me some Google Sketch-Up (as many of you recommended) to help us plan our kitchen renovation. But having been a loyal user of Floorplanner.com in the past and having recently become acquainted with Ikea’s Kitchen Planner, I thought I’d give you my take on how these three 3D modeling tools stack up against each other… because there’s actually not a clear winner in my book. Each have pros, cons, and a different scenario where

[ Read More ]

| By | | 1,371 Comments

Why We Decided Not To Do A Banquette In Our Kitchen

For all those wondering when the heck we’ll tackle that kitchen banquette idea that we mentioned a few weeks ago (here and here), well… probably never. Cue the frowny face emoticons. Here’s the deal. After getting lots of positive feedback on the idea a few weeks ago (over 1,400 comments total!), Sherry and I were certain your collective enthusiasm would push us from “we think this is a good idea” to “this is definitely a good idea.” And it nearly did. But parts of us still questioned the whole commitment-factor when it came to actually doing it (we definitely described it as a half baked idea when we shared it). We worried if it’d really

[ Read More ]

| By | | 173 Comments

A Classic Marble Bathroom Renovation

Just as we mentioned last week, Reader Redesigns are back y’all!! And we’re kicking things off with Michelle’s amazing bathroom renovation. She and her husband David gutted the crazy yellow bathroom, completely reconfigured the layout, and built it back up in beautiful greys and fresh sparkling whites. Here’s her letter: Hi Sherry & John! Your bathroom at your first house sparked me and my hubs to renovate our 1952 en-suite bathroom. We followed soooo many of your tips (we ran into all of the same demolition problems, including the wire mesh). It was no bueno! But thank goodness all of the hard work is done. I shared the big final reveal of the bathroom here

[ Read More ]