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 | |

A Weekend In New Orleans With Kids

Since our travel guides to Charleston with kids and Palm Springs with kids have elicited requests for more travel ideas with kids, we’re back with an overdue recap of our 3-night trip to New Orleans. We’d never been to The Big Easy before and were impressed by how family-friendly the city is. It’s not all booze, beads, and Bourbon Street! So here’s a look at where we stayed, what we did, and what we’re excited to do next time we go back – because we will definitely go back! The four of us (well, five if you count our chihuahua!) went to NOLA for 3 nights in November of 2022. At the time, our kids

[ Read More ]

| By | |

9 Easy Low-Light Indoor Plants

I used to think every houseplant needed a sunny corner or bright windowsill to thrive. But it turns out many of our favorite go-to houseplants do just fine in shady corners and low-light locations. So before you write off your house as too dark to sustain plant life, check out this list of the best indoor plants for low light. You might be surprised at how many good options there are! Our upstairs family room is the brightest room we’ve ever owned thanks to big unobstructed windows on all 4 sides. But most of our indoor plants live downstairs, where we get far less natural light. Luckily, that hasn’t stopped us from growing our collection

[ Read More ]

| By | |

Corn Plant – Care Guide

Corn plants (Dracaena fragrans) are popular low-maintenance houseplants you’ve probably seen at the nursery, home improvement store, or doctor’s office. I even had one in my college dorm room! You can recognize them by their spear-shaped leaves and woody, cane-line trunks that can grow up to 6 feet tall indoors. But did you know there are several varieties of corn plants? We didn’t! Heck, we didn’t even realize some of our smaller houseplants were in the same corn plant family! Currently, we own two smaller varieties of corn plants, pictured above. The one on the left is a Dracaena Limelight (Dracaena fragrans ‘Limelight’) and the taller plant is a Draecanea Dorado (Dracaena fragrans ‘Dorado’). We

[ Read More ]

| By | |

Using Solid Stain In Our Outdoor Shower

In all of our years of DIYing, I don’t think we’ve ever used a solid stain before. But we recently had a project that was *perfectly* suited for it and, well, solid stain quickly won us over. It was recommended by a professional house painter to us, specifically because he thought it would be great for our outdoor shower. And we found it easy to apply, it gave us great coverage, and we got an even-better-than-we-expected result (which is always the best kind!). So here’s a post that covers all the pros & cons and hows & whys of solid stain. As you can see, the “canvas” for this staining project was our outdoor shower.

[ Read More ]

| By | |

Star Jasmine – Plant Growing & Care Guide

Star jasmine is a fast-growing and fragrant evergreen vine that offers great coverage & privacy as a climbing or creeping vine. Even better, it bursts into bloom with incredible-smelling white flowers in the spring! The plant is native to Asia, but is incredibly popular in the Southeastern United States and areas of California. In warm environments like these, star jasmine is also super easy to care for and grow. Just another reason we love it! Star jasmine can grow as dense ground cover or container plants, but our favorite use is as a climbing vine. This does require a trellis, pergola, stakes, or some other structure for it to grow up. Those are easy to

[ Read More ]

| By | |

DIY Built-In Bookshelves

This DIY tutorial for adding built-in bookshelves is a lot simpler than it looks. That means getting this classic look of floor-to-ceiling shelving around a doorway is something anyone can do. We planned these bookcases as part of our big kitchen remodel, and they may be my secret favorite part of the whole renovation. This wall did have a bookcase on it originally, as you can see in this before photo. But we demo’d and reframed it to be more open to the kitchen. In addition to the DIY building tutorial, we’ll also share all of the measurements so you can make sure to create the best shelf height and depth for books and decor.

[ Read More ]

| By | |

A Weekend In Palm Springs With Kids

Palm Springs, California may not scream “kid-friendly destination” but we recently had THE BEST vacation there with our family (our kids are 9 and 13). So here’s a quick rundown of our favorite must-see attractions in Palm Springs as well as info about where we stayed, what we ate, and what we’re excited to check out next time. Because we definitely will be back! Did I mention we also brought our nine-pound chihuahua with us? So most of our suggestions are dog-friendly too! Why Vacation With Kids In Palm Springs? We chose Palm Springs for a lot of reasons. First, our East Coast-born kids had never been to California! Of course, there are lots of

[ Read More ]

| By | |

How To Install A Ring Doorbell In 5 Easy Steps

Did you know you can add a Ring Video Doorbell without an electrician or having to fuss with any wires? You don’t even have to have an existing doorbell! We recently added one to our front door and it’s one of the easiest do-it-yourself projects we’ve done in a while. Note: This is not a sponsored post. We paid our own money ($99!) for our doorbell. This is the exact Ring Video Doorbell we bought. Why Add A Video Doorbell? Video doorbells are an increasingly popular home security device, and the Ring Video Doorbell is one of the most popular models out there. With it, we can see and hear what’s going on at our

[ Read More ]

| By | | 645 Comments

How To Install A Stair Runner

It may seem intimidating to install a stair runner yourself, but it’s so darn easy that we’ve done it twice! Thrice if you count demonstrating it on live TV (more on that later). Just follow the steps in our tutorial below, including our trick for making sure your rug is the perfect size for the project. Adding a rug or runner to your stairs isn’t just a stylish decor choice that can add color, personality, or pattern. It’s also a safety feature! We find that adding a stair runner cuts down on slips, falls, and even makes it easier for our dog to traverse them. They also absorb sound, meaning your less likely to hear

[ Read More ]

| By | |

17 DIY Shelf Ideas

Over the years, we’ve added tons of shelves to our homes – from floating shelves and built-in bookcases to decorative display shelves and heavy-duty storage shelves. So in this post, we’re rounding up some of our favorite DIY shelving projects for anyone looking to add smart vertical storage to their space. We’re going to cover: Our Favorite Floating Shelf Projects Floating shelves are a great way to display or store items with a clean, modern, and lightweight look. They can be hung just about anywhere – in a kitchen, above a TV, in a bedroom for books and toys, even in a dining room – and we’ve used both storebought floating shelves as well as

[ Read More ]

| By | | 498 Comments

The Best Accent Tests

Wondering what American accent you have? Here are 3 online quizzes that can diagnose which regional dialect you use based on your pronunciation and vocabulary. We tried a dozen different dialect tests to determine which gave the clearest, most accurate feedback and analysis. One even got us pinned down to the right state! There were definitely some duds in there, too. One thought I was British, and another said my accent was “high-pitched.” Not sure how that’s an American accent or how that’s determined from written answers. So don’t worry, we excluded those. And all of our favorites are fast and easy to take. They don’t require any apps or downloads, and most are free!

[ Read More ]

| By | |

Benjamin Moore Simply White (OC-117) Color Review

White paints can be complicated. And believe me, we’ve tried more than a few over the years. Over a decade ago, we finally landed on Benjamin Moore’s Simply White (OC-117) as our favorite go-to white paint. It’s a warm and bright white that we put everywhere: walls, trim, doors, and cabinetry. Case closed, right? Well, it’s not quite that simple… What makes BM Simply White a popular white? Picking the perfect white paint for your home is hard because a true “simple” white doesn’t exist. And even if it did, you wouldn’t want it on your walls! The best white paints typically have hints of black and subtle colorful undertones like yellow, green, or pink.

[ Read More ]