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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Our Favorite Shops, Restaurants, and Activities In Richmond Virginia

Exactly eight years ago today, Sherry and I picked up and moved from NYC to Richmond, VA together. Apart from the towns that we grew up in, neither of us have ever lived any place longer – and it’s the only hometown that Clara has ever known. So we thought it would be fun to commemorate this date – and this city that we love. Especially since you guys ask us plenty of “when in Rome Richmond” questions – the biggest one being “what thrift/discount stores should I hit up when I pass through?”   Three years ago we celebrated our 5th anniversary by sharing a quick post about our “Five Richmond Top Fives” –

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How To Wrap An Ikea Expedit Bookcase With Wood

One more thing can be crossed off the ol’ nursery to-do list! Changing table? Check! I remember before Clara was born a co-worker told me that changing tables were unnecessary since you usually end up changing the kid wherever is most convenient – like on the floor or the nearest piece of furniture – rather than going through the formality of walking all the way to the nursery. This was after we had already bought & refinished Clara’s changing table/dresser so the comment stuck with me, thinking I’d fallen into some first-time parent booby trap. Surprisingly enough, we used Clara’s changing table religiously. Maybe because our house was small or because it was all one level.

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Selecting Colors, Rugs, And Furniture

The Homearama Showhouse train continues to careen towards our deadline (you can read more about it here, here, here, and here). The show opens May 1 – although we have a baby who’s due a few weeks before that – so we’re scurrying to get things done and holding on for the ride. It simultaneously feels like we have a million things to tell you, yet no tidy way to share the news, so this post may feel a bit scatter-brained as I attempt to update you on everything swirling around the project these days. First up, thanks for all of your input on the front door color. We can’t believe 38,000 votes came in

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What To Do If You’re Second Guessing A DIY

Question: Are there any projects that you wish you hadn’t DIY-ed? I’m in the middle of one that’s not going smoothly and I’m second-guessing my decision not to hire it out. – Holly Answer: This question comes up fairly frequently – it even popped up during the Q&A portion of our talk at the Richmond Home & Garden Show earlier this month. The truth is that we both have trouble recalling a project that we got to the end of and said “man, I wish we hadn’t DIYed that one.” Maybe it’s that post project rush of victory, the relief of completion, or the joy of saving money? Or maybe it’s like childbirth and you

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Fab Freebie: A Good Impression

Wanna see my impression of someone who might win $3,000 to spend on hardwood floors this weekend? Go look in a mirror. Get it? Because it’s you. Okay, terrible segue aside – Impressions Hardwood Collection is giving someone three grand this week, so now might be your shot to upgrade your floors. They’ve got options ranging from wide hand-scraped varieties to traditional 3 1/4″ planks, with a variety of color options, all backed by a lifetime warranty. Oh, and through March you can get $250 off any order of 750 square feet or more from their Classic Series with the code YoungHouse. Please use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter (it might take a second

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How To Organize A Pantry

Let the pantry party commence! I never thought organizing a space that sat behind a closed door 90% of the time could be so cathartic, but working on this pantry with Sherry has made us both feel like the whole kitchen – nay, the whole house – is more functional. Clearly it has even made us more prone to hyperbole. First we got an outlet added, switched up some shelves, and moved the microwave in. Next we moved the trash out. Then it was time for a few fresh coats of primer and paint. Sherry and I briefly debated choosing a happy or bold color in there (either on the walls or the shelves or

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How To Install A Pull Out Trash Can

Thanks for all of your thoughts and suggestions on the beginnings of our pantry project on Tuesday. We’re kind of swimming in ideas for what to do, but for starters we knew we wanted to take everything out (even the door off its hinges) to begin the process of priming and painting. And, thanks to the conversation between Sherry and I that Tuesday’s post sparked, one thing that won’t be going back into the pantry is our trash can. Instead, it’s gonna go into this cabinet right here. This the cabinet on the end of our peninsula, facing in towards the prep area (as opposed to the eating area). Just ignore all of the pantry

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Adding Extra Shelves And A Microwave To The Pantry

There’s a party in my pantry. And everyone’s invited. Although, it’s not really a party. And the pantry is far too small to host any sort of gathering. Hmmm. This invitation is going over just about as smoothly as Brick Tambland’s. But back to the pantry. See it there, hiding in the back of the kitchen by the fridge? This is the only “before” I could find of it with the door open. By all the wallpaper and brown trim I could’ve sworn this was from before we moved in, but something about it being stocked with our mess of food tells me this is post-move. #sherlocking Regardless of when the photo was snapped, you

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Fab Freebie: Cupid’s Bar

Valentine’s Day is Friday and since we can’t take you all out to a romantic dinner for two, we’re giving away $500 worth of jewelry courtesy of BaubleBar. Their site is well stocked with an ever-updating array of necklaces, rings, bracelets, earrings, and even some handy storage items. You can shop by what’s trending, what’s new, and even by what’s on tap from their notable “guest bartenders.” Please use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter. It might take a second to load, but it should eventually pop up below this paragraph. And there’s a chance to win another $500 over on Style Me Pretty today, too. This giveaway is open to residents of the United States

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How To Make An Annual Family Photo Book

This week has already been pretty word-heavy with two big construction tutorials and a laundry saga, so we thought some lighter fare was in order – especially since a bunch of you have been asking if we made a family photo book again this year, and if so, when we’d share the details. Well, in the ever esteemed words of Madame Britney, “oops, we did it again.” In fact, the newest edition of the Petersik Family Yearbook landed on our doorstep this weekend. I have to say that we’re still so stunned at how thin-yet-picture-packed these books are. That picture above shows how five years of photos (over 2,400 of them!) can be stored in

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How To Build A Bookshelf

Today we’re going to show you how we built the bookshelves in our son’s room. It’s an easy project that we’ve since used to create custom shelving everywhere from our living room to our beach house pantry. But these bedroom shelves were our very first attempt at them and we absolutely loved how they turned out. This tutorial specifically focuses on building the actual shelves, aka the top portion of these built-ins. You can separately read about how we first built-in the cabinet bases (it’s an Ikea hack!) and later finished them off with crown molding. But since not every bookshelf needs those features, we’re talking just about the shelving today. You also can take

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Fab Freebie: Seeing Red

A few years ago, our cousins took us into a fun home shop during a visit with them in Old Town Alexandria, VA called Red Barn Mercantile. The store had such a collected feeling of rustic weathered wares mixed with modern, often quirky, accessories and gifts – including a great selection of Dash & Albert rugs, which we’re always drawn to. So when they recently approached us to offer up a $500 gift card to anyone in the world, we couldn’t say yes fast enough. And they’re also giving 20% off to everyone with the code HOUSELOVE at checkout. Please use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter (it might take a second to load, but

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