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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Updating A Living Room With A Mood Board

When Ashley excitedly sent along her living room photos after our big mood board makeover we couldn’t wait to share them. Here’s her letter: Well here they are… our AFTER pictures! We love the mood board that you put together for us. It completely helped us in getting the look we wanted. We’re so happy that we replaced most of our hand-me-down furniture with more modern (yet inexpensive) pieces. We (and when I say “we” I really mean my hard-working husband!) repainted, installed new baseboards, had new floors put in, and used your help to bring our 1968 ranch up-to-date! We are excited to share the pictures with you and your readers! Hope you enjoy.

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Budget Blooms: April Greenery

As most of you know, every month we like to enjoy one inexpensive- and sometimes free- bouquet to keep things feeling fresh around here (the idea actually stemmed from a super sweet Christmas present from the hubs a while back). But this month I just had to deviate from the plan when I saw this adorable leafy little guy complete with his own shiny turquoise ceramic pot for- get this- $2.50 from Walmart. Ringing in just as cheap (if not cheaper) than most of our monthly grocery store bouquets, I love that this splash of foliage livens up my desk and even comes with its own vase of sorts (well, planter) that I can use

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Affordable Couches From Custom Sofa Design

We recently saw a write up about designer-lookalike sofas by Custom Sofa Design on Little Green Notebook and were pretty astonished by the offerings and the prices. We’re talking about sofas that are dead ringers for spendy Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn, Room & Board and Anthropologie versions with prices that start around $599 (with many many options under $799). They even offer up chic designer-based upholstered beds at a serious markdown from the original versions. Apparently if you read the comments over on that post, lots of people have had a great experience with the company and rave about Don, the owner. And we were further surprised to learn that everything is manufactured right

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How To Stencil A Pillow Or Curtain Panel

When Dana sent us her super simple and wallet-friendly stencil project we just had to share it. Here’s her letter: I just wanted to pass along a quick and inexpensive project that you inspired! A while back you featured the knot stencil from Sunny’s Goodtime Paints in a mood board and I immediately fell in love with it. My lovely husband gave it to me for Christmas and I recently used it to stencil a pillow cover and laundry curtains (that hide my laundry room water valves and electrical cords) with fabric paint. It was really easy and I’m lovin’ the results. I’m thinking of using it on my foyer wall now that I’ve tackled these smaller stenciling

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How To Hang A Gallery Wall Of Art In The Nursery

Waaaaay back when we mentioned that we’d be converting our third bedroom into a nursery, we admitted that we loved the asymmetrical wall of frames too much to remove it. But we did plan pretty much from the start to switch out some of the randomly framed prints and pictures with more kid-friendly and cheerfully toned art that’s fitting of a little girl’s nursery. So here’s what it looked like before our big art-swap-fest: And here’s the same asymmetrical arrangement of frames after the big switch: Now we’ll zoom out so you can see it in context with the rest of the nursery. Don’t the blues and pinks and greens work nicely with everything from

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A Stunning City House Tour

We’re back with an amazingly gorgeous home to share, and this one is actually located in downtown DC. We had a blast meeting and greeting Adam and Amber, and of course when they showed us around their Capitol Hill rowhouse we couldn’t contain our excitement. Here’s the happy couple now… But back to the whole “couldn’t contain our excitement” thing. Do you see why? This is the view as you step inside. Their home is a modest 1000 square feet but they definitely squeezed all the beauty and function that they could out of it. Everything from the small scale sofa to the mini dining room that they created (the round table can actually accommodate

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How To Organizing Cords, Wires, & Cables

Q: Since I’m an avid reader/adorer of all things YHL, I’ve seen pretty much all the pictures of your home that you’ve managed to cram into the blog. And every time I see these pics, I swoon over how organized and neat your house is- so very unlike my own. One thing in particular annoys me: office clutter! Cords, cables & wires. Lettin’ it all hang out is NOT my idea of organization or attractiveness. How do you guys make your cords/wires/cables more organized and neat? Must I resort to actually having to tie each wire and cord individually? There must be another way! Right? Please? – Erin A: I’m crazy. I’ll just get that

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Painting And Reupholstering A Chair With Ikea Curtains

When Teresa sent us her before and after chair makeover pics, we couldn’t wait to share the goods. Here’s her letter: I just had to pass along the story of our $20 garage sale find. My husband hated the patterned Ikea curtains that I had hanging in our living room so I’m happy to share one of the panel’s reincarnation. My husband and I refinished the chair by sanding it and using Kilz oil-based primer and a can of regular old white high gloss spray paint from Lowe’s. We can’t take credit for the reupholstering though, as we had that professionally done. But here she is in all her glory. This is definitely my new

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Little Eggs Inside Of A Bird’s Nest On Our Porch

This is so eggciting. Yup, I just hit you with an egg pun. Watch out for those this time of year. Anyway, we really were excited (there, I resisted it that time) to discover an adorable and very Easter appropriate display of nature that’s actually been living in one of our former DIY projects. Can you tell what’s going on in this picture? Yes, that’s a nest with two adorable eggs in it. And guess where that nest is located? Why it’s in one of our homemade porch lanterns (learn how we turned cheap bulb covers from Home Depot into sweet candle-lit porch decor right here). Mr and Mrs Bird just built it right on

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Some Super Classy Curb Appeal

We had the best idea for taking our home’s curb appeal to the next level. Ladies and gentlemen, we present to you, the gloriously fabulous front yard fountain of our dreams! We know what you’re thinking. You can’t believe how swanky and high-end that fountain looks. Especially in front of our modest brick ranch. It’ll make our house look like a million bucks! Isn’t that fantastic? Are you guys chomping at the bit to get one of your own? Oh and one more question. Do you remember what day it is? HAPPY APRIL FOOLS! Fountain image found here.

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How We Stay Debt Free & Save Up For Purchases And Projects

Q: You really should consider posting about how you two budget and save for your purchases and DIY. I’m constantly amazed at how you seem to never charge anything and how you consistently mention saving up for things. Now just tell us how you do it!! What about making the decision to replace something that still works? Is that a hard call for you guys? I never know when to live with something, replace it with something semi-cheap for the interim or save up for the big thing I actually want and go right to buying that instead of putting money towards a placeholder while I save. I’d love to know more about how you

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A White Kitchen With Black Counters And Open Shelves

When Totty and Dave sent us their latest room makeover we had to share the goods. After all, everyone loved their amazing bathroom overhaul so much that we knew their kitchen would be a hit too. Here’s their letter: Dave and I have another Reader Redesign for ya. Our kitchen has been undergoing a facelift for the past six months. What started as a simple “let’s move the cabinets around a bit” turned into a full blown kitchen renovation. We relocated all of the upper cabinets, built floating shelves, got new cabinet doors and hardware, new appliances, tiled the backsplash, and discovered hardwood floors hiding under ugly orange tile! Shew- I think I covered it

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