Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

Posts by Sherry Petersik

Sherry Petersik is one half of the duo behind the award-winning home improvement and do-it-yourself design blog, Young House Love. Together, she and her husband John 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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A Free Thanksgiving Gratitude Printable

Updated 2018 Since Thanksgiving is suddenly upon us (how did that happen?) we thought we’d add a new tradition along with reviving one from last year. First let’s talk about our Thanksgiving craft from last year, which is a small thrift store jar that we got for 99 cents… … and then etched with $6 etching cream from Michael’s… … using a homemade tape stencil to create a Thanks jar (more DIY details here). As for how it worked, we each filled out and dropped in a little homemade card with something we were thankful for each day for the entire month of November. And we weren’t allowed to peek inside to see what each

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My Minimal Wardrobe – How I Simplified My Closet

Whenever I’m asked about my clothes, I joke that I wear basically the same thing every day. But it turns out that even after years of saying that (and sharing that I had just one bra for many years on the blog), a whole bunch of people freaked out when they saw the hanging bar in my closet on Instagram recently. I got FLOODED with DMs about my sparse mostly black wardrobe. One person even said that seeing my closet was, and I quote: “the wildest thing they’ve seen on the internet in 2018.” That’s quite the statement considering 2018 also gave us Gritty. To clarify I don’t actually wear the same items of clothing every day

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Exciting Developments At The Duplex

GUYS. GET EXCITED. Lots of major stuff is happening at the duplex. Like extremely thrilling developments that we’ve thought about and planned over the last year and finally… FINALLY!… they’re happening. You last saw the duplex about a month ago when we shared that it was drywalled, and the latest progress has basically put me over the edge. I, Sherry Petersik, am feeling what people refer to as “messy” about these recent developments. It means I’m too excited and it’s not a good look. But you know I can’t contain myself so I’m just gonna share it all anyway. GET READY FOR A CAPS LOCK EXTRAVAGANZA AND LOTS OF PICTURES! That room above is the living

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How To Make Ikea Curtains Look Expensive

You haven’t seen our bedroom in a while (except for small peeks on Instagram) because we owe you a certain curtain-related confession. But first, I get so many questions about our new bed – and why we upgraded from our old Ikea one – that I thought it was time to formally introduce you to this beauty that we got nearly a year ago. Yes, as in last November.  bed / nightstand / bench / similar art / similar rug / duvet / chandelier / faux plant Why a new bed? Well, at first glance, our new bed isn’t wildly different from what was there before (which you last saw last May when we blogged

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House Crashing: A Jaw-Dropping Old House Transformation

It goes without saying that we’ve always been suckers for a good before & after (show me someone who isn’t and I’ll show you someone who hates fun). But thanks to our adventures in 100-year-old-beach-house-renovations over the past few years, we’re especially fond of seeing people bringing old houses back to their glory. Oh the things you’ll find behind the walls! So when Mandy shared photos of her and her husband Joe’s project in nearby Charlottesville, VA, we were basically cooing over them like two pigeons discovering an old pizza crust on a New York City subway platform. Even without furniture (they fixed it up and then sold it before even needing to furnish it)

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Four Tips For The Best Secondhand Finds

I take pride in some very strange things. Being able to cartwheel into a pool for example. Or knowing every single word to old commercial jingles and 90’s rap songs. Or the fact that John and I, two righties, somehow made two lefties, which clearly means they’re brilliant (not sure how I can even take credit for this phenomenon, but I do, as well as the fact that our kids are super tall, which is amazing to me as a 5’2″ lady). But one thing I don’t really think about much is my secondhand furniture hunting mojo. I don’t think I have any magic luck or special searching skills. I would generally describe the key

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Fourth of July Party Recipes & Ideas

Every year on Instagram Stories I share photos from our friend’s insanely over-the-top party for the Fourth of July. And each year we gets tons of requests for a post with all the photos and links to the recipes she uses, so we’re finally giving the people what they want. Our friend Justine has been hosting these backyard soirees for years – and the only way to describe them would be: EXTRA. And we love her for it. She and her husband John basically just throw this huge party every year for all of us to gather and hang out with our kids and each other. It’s such a great time of year to get together

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How Each Side Of The Duplex Will Differ

We showed you our beach house style inspiration while the pink house was barely starting to come back together. And now that the duplex is at that same stage, we wanted to share our “vision” for its design – from materials and color ideas to specific room functions or features we’re thinking about incorporating. It’s never too early to start making the 10,000 decisions that a major house reno like this requires because your brain will practically start to smoke if you attempt to pick everything all at once. So from the moment we offered on the duplex, I’ve been keeping a huge Pinterest board to catalog all of the ideas that have popped up and

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Three Bedroom Makeovers For Three Deserving Kids

John and I had the chance to do the most fun and fulfilling project recently: designing new bedrooms for three amazing local kids who are currently going through cancer treatment. We’ve shared a few sneak peeks on Instagram and our podcast, but here’s our big photo-packed post with details on each of the rooms as promised for you guys! We couldn’t be more excited to share them with you. First, some background on the project. A few weeks ago the team at Biringer Builders reached out to us for help. They’re the custom builder we teamed up with back in 2014 to design a charity showhouse for Richmond Homearama (below are some photos of that

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5 Ways To Transport Big Items That Won’t Fit In Your Car

Updated 2018 If we had a dollar for every time someone asked “Wait, you guys do all this DIY but you don’t own a truck?” – let’s just say we’d be able to afford a big ol’ truck. But we love being a single-car household and for years owned a modestly sized Nissan Altima (we now have a small SUV, a Toyota Highlander). So over the years, we’ve definitely had to get creative when it comes to getting large items home – furniture, lumber, tools, etc. So if you find yourself unable to transport something with the vehicle you drive, here are a few ways that we’ve found a solution. Hauling Tip #1: Ask At

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