Posts By John Petersik

Before getting to the Reader Redesign goods, we have a quick Burger-related story. Yesterday was a very scary day for us. Burger was sitting on Sherry’s lap and Clara and I came home and Burger was so excited to see us that he jumped off her lap (as he’s done a million times before) and somehow lost his balance and flipped in the air and landed on the floor on his back and neck. He yelped and Sherry scooped him up to see if he was ok but he shook his head and acted fine. So we put him on the floor but he couldn’t walk. He had no balance and walked into the walls

Just as we finished our big kitchen adventure, Amanda and her handy husband were finishing theirs. Except she and her husband Ben completely gutted theirs and have literally rebuilt it by hand (yup, they even DIYed new cabinets). And although we’ve been sharing quite a run of kitchen-related Reader Redesigns lately, we couldn’t resist sharing this one too. So here’s her letter: I wanted to send you a link to our recently finished kitchen. The room started out as a 90’s oak and almond appliance box: We tore everything out to start from scratch: My hubby and I did all of the work, no contractors involved. He tore down a wall, built custom cabinets, laid

We figured during the week of our big kitchen reveal it was only fitting to share a reader’s kitchen makeover as well. And this kitchen redesign comes from a male blogger who goes by “Beard” (he has a female sidekick in the form of “Pigtails” – the daughter that he’s a single dad to). Beard’s blogging style is quite entertaining, and the kitchen makeover, well, it’s awesome. Here’s his letter: I recently gutted and rebooted the kitchen on my 1950’s brick ranch (using inexpensive materials like Ikea cabinetry and reclaimed wood for a bench and table setup). Goals for the reboot: Be smart with the available 100 square feet. Kill clutter and chop it down

When you see the pictures in this post, you’ll agree that Meghan and her husband can churn out a huge transformation. But what we also loved about Meghan’s email was the story behind how their before became a stop-you-in-your-tracks after. So if ever you were to not scroll right to the pictures and just read as you go, this might be a good time. “Like the two of you, my husband and I bought a house that needed work, though in our case we couldn’t reuse much thanks to some frugal prior owners. We decided to gut our kitchen, family room, dining room, and bathroom down to the studs/subfloor when our first child was 12