Young House Love

DIY Home Decorating Projects, Tutorials, & Shenanigans

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A Little Wooden Playhouse In The Woods

Yup, we’re following the blogger trend that seems to be sweeping the internets: our kiddos officially have a playhouse. It was actually a gift from my mom for their joint birthdays back in the spring (yes, our 7-year-old and 3-year-old both agreed on precisely one thing, and it was that they wanted a little outdoor house to call their own). “No grown-ups allowed” was actually uttered during the request. So we looked around for one we thought they’d both like that wouldn’t break Nonna’s budget. We came across this cute playhouse that was made of solid cedar, was the right price, and even had little flower pot holders out front. So we sent my mom the link, enjoyed

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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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Our Patriotic Front Porch + Front Yard Planning

Just dropping in with a quick little patriotic update out front and some future yard plans. We’re no strangers to decorating in reds, whites, and blues outside, and the good news is that the back of our house isn’t having all the fun anymore. That’s right, the purchase of a $25 flag has me grinning every time we come home to it (and it only took us two tries to get it right – ha!). The funny thing is that when we moved into our house there was an old flag holder in a similar spot… but we were about to repaint everything from cream to white so we removed it. And then, well, the house

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Easy Makeover: A Hardworking Homework Room

Remember how I’m slowly slinking around my BFF’s house and eating all of the food in her fridge making over rooms for her? (You’ve seen her living room upgrade here). Well, I’m back with a sweet and simple homework room that we pulled together for her kids….juuuuust in time for school to be over for the year. #FlawlessTiming Thankfully they’ve already found that it’s pretty useful year round. Our goal was just to create a space that’s functional, not too spendy, and something that can grow with them (the kids are 2, 6, and 7). And since it’s right off the foyer, we wanted it to look nice since it’s one of the first things

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The Affordable, Compact Pressure Washer That Revived Our Outdoor Furniture

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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A Vintage Pink Stove For The Beach House

Oh snap, our “new” stove for the beach house is older than we are. In fact, it’s from 1959! And it’s pink! And I’m ridiculously excited about it. John’s current stove mood might best be described as “cautiously optimistic” – but we’ll get to that in a second. The cost? $195 at a secondhand shop. It’s a place called Class & Trash that’s around 30 mins from our house. When they posted the pink stove to their Facebook page (they share new items that come in each week) not only did some people tag me, but I noticed it in my own feed and my eyeballs did a happy dance. It was like the universe put blinking lights around this stove

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Two Easy Kids Birthday Parties: Into The Woods & Under The Sea

We’ve had so much fun putting together kids birthday parties with random themes like worms and dragons (complete with a fire-breathing kid photo session). Shortly after our last party post back in 2014 (remember the “Pink & Gold Everything Party“?), we took a step back from the blog for a full year, and in that time we were both curious: would our enthusiasm for going “all out” wane in the absence of an active blog? I mean, “all out” is probably a relative term. It wasn’t My Super Sweet Sixteen and there wasn’t a petting zoo, but we did our fair share of decorating and having fun with a theme and cupcake toppers and favors and all that

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Two Things I Bought (And A Whole Lotta Weekend Sales)

Happy Friday, guys! Just wanted to stop in with a public service sale announcement because as usual there are TONS of home items that are discounted for Memorial Day and since I’m now shopping for our house and the beach house (DANGER!) I’m on high alert for deals. I learned the hard way that it’s smart to hold out for this weekend when buying home stuff a few years ago (I ordered something like two days before all the sales hit without thinking: “duh, wait for Memorial Day and everything goes way on sale”). This year I actually had my act together not only to 1) remember that tip and buy two things I’ve been watching

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Installing A Subway Tile Backsplash For $200

One regret Sherry and I have about our first house is not doing a tiled backsplash as part of our kitchen makeover. Best I can remember, we wanted an easily changeable “pop of color” in the form of good ol’ fashioned paint instead (and we spent a lot on that makeover, so it was a cost saving measure as well). If only we had known how cheap and easy a backsplash could be if you install it yourself! Now having several tiling projects under our belts – including the backsplashes in our current kitchen and our last kitchen – it feels like a no-brainer. We even added a backsplash to our laundry room (here’s how, and here’s the full room

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A Custom Kids Portrait That Gets Me All Choked Up

Ok, so this post is WELLLL overdue. Every time someone asks about the art in our foyer whenever they catch a glimpse of it on Facebook or Instagram (like in this pic or this pic) I say something like “A good friend of mine made that portrait of our kids! I’ve been meaning to write a post about that – soon I hope!” Whelp, that day has finally come. Hold on tight, it’s gonna be a wild ride. I actually got the painting over a year ago! It’s a pastel drawing done by our friend and neighbor Robin Olivier and she is SUCH A TALENT! It’s based on one of my favorite photos of the kids ever taken. Just a casual iPhone

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That Time We Thought The Bedroom Would Simmer For A While, And Then Bam.

We mentioned some recent master bedroom movin’ & shakin’ on this week’s podcast, so we thought a post full of photos was in order for anyone wondering how it’s looking these days. Pretty much everything in our bedroom was purchased while we were living in our second house, so after moving here in 2013 stuff just kinda landed where it landed and whoop, there it was. We painted. We hung frames. We made a few sporadic dresser swaps, and then we repainted. But the anchor pieces like the rug, the bed, the armchair, and most of the other furnishings pretty much remained the same. More recently we got a super on-sale chandelier and swapped beds with the guest room and it felt like

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