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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Planting Blue Hydrangeas

It looked sweet when we finished it last year, especially if you ignored the fact that we had lots of landscaping stuff to attend to behind it. But these days it’s looking more like this: That’s a whole lotta ugly going on. The patio itself still looks great (and is weed free thanks to this step, while our un-polymeric-sanded cobblestone driveway is covered with them), but the “garden” area behind the patio has never looked worse. We even learned from the Katherine (the certified landscape designer who recently came over) that some of the trees were diseased and dying (which we actually heard from the previous owners as well but didn’t want to believe) along with

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How To Plant Succulents

I’m on a greenery kick (both outdoors and apparently indoors as well), so this is the story of four cheap-o succulents that I impulse-bought from Home Depot and then decided to plant in kind of a weird way. The two small ones were $2.98 and the two middle ones were $3.98 a pop. Oh and I used to have a red cactus for years throughout middle school and high school. Seriously, I couldn’t kill that thing if I tried. So that’s why he’s in the mix for nostalgia’s sake. Then I hunted around or some planters or baskets or old boxes to plant them in (Anthrophologie had some great succulents planted in old wooden boxes

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Using A Certified Landscape Designer

Who watches Jersey Shore? Remember when they went camping and Deena stood on that picnic bench and said “the wilderness!”? For some reason it made me laugh. I’m from Jersey though, so it might be a you-had-to-be-there you-have-to-be-from-there thing. Anyway, we mentioned that we had lots of outdoor upgrades on the agenda this spring, so let’s get into it, shall we? Remember how our yard looked like this when we bought the house?   And then we limbed up the magnolia and transplanted/removed a lot of the bushes and painted the front door, to get it looking more like this?   Well, it has definitely come a long way, but it’s still a far (far!)

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The Most Expensive Toilet

Yup, it’s a rare Sunday post- just because we have an exciting bathroom update to share. I know we mentioned that we’ve had great luck with under-$100 American Standard toilets, but we’re eating those words. Why? Because we just discovered the most amazing toilet that we have ever heard of. It’s like the Jake Gyllenhaal of toilets. As in, there is nothing better. Feast your eyes on this sexpot: I mean, who wouldn’t want a toilet with: a heated seat and heated foot blower ambient lighting (right in the bowl!) a motion activated lid and seat (it opens and closes for you) advanced bidet function built in speakers and a remote docking station for playing

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Updating An Old Wooden Highchair

This is such a fun and simple project that is so smile-inducing it’s ridiculous. Remember this old highchair that I got from my mom almost a year ago, which she ate out of when she was a bambina? Well dude, I finally got on that. I had been waiting patiently to give it a little upgrade (it was covered in old paint splatters and smelled musty and smoky from a ton of years in storage) and now that Clara is big enough to sit in it without a lap belt, it was finally time to get ‘er done (after, you guessed it, sticking it in our playroom for at least eight months). I debated a ton

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Who’s The Joss?

Last October we had fun teaming up with Joss & Main to curate a sale event over on their site (which entailed picking favorites from hundreds of items in their database to make a “Young House Love collection”), so when they invited us back for a spring collection – and agreed to an extra special perk for you guys this time around (more on that in a sec) – we were psyched. Side note: I used to think that word was spelled “siked” until freshman year when my BFF laughed ’til she cried and finally clued me in. It’s really funny to hear the title of “curator” used to describe us (except maybe Curator Of

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How To Make A Fabric Covered Bulletin Board

It’s time for a board meeting guys. Nothing official, just an actual meeting of cork boards, like so: Let’s back up. I had this random idea that a hidden bulletin board in my closet would be a fun place to tack up a bunch of pages I’ve torn out of magazines. You know, cute outfits, haircuts, and other various tips/reminders that I rip out (like how to check my freckles for signs of skin cancer – yes I actually do that). That way, instead of shoving them somewhere like a drawer or letting them pile up on my desk, I can see them all at a glance… with the push of a few hangers. See

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The Best Gray Paint Color: Rockport Gray

Yup, our formerly beige-on-beige master bathroom is officially rocking Rockport Gray. And we love it as much as we did when we saw it in this kitchen. Here she blows without the shower curtain hung back up yet (we snapped some pics with it up as well, which we’ll get to in a second): But let’s back up. Before applying two coats of paint to our bathroom (we shared our little mood board for the room yesterday) first we had to remove that unused-shelf-and-towel-bar (read why we didn’t use them here)… …to make way for some art on the only wall that isn’t tiled nearly all the way to the ceiling. So we did (using

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Planning A Quick Bathroom Makeover

Well, I guess we did rehang the shower curtain at ceiling height right after we moved in – but other than that we haven’t really touched this room. In fact, pretty much all three of our bathrooms are uncharted territory for us when it comes to updates. But you’ve gotta start somewhere, so we decided to start in the one we use the most – and probably find the quirkiest. See, it doesn’t have a sink (that’s in our bedroom, actually) so it’s a really small room. We’re talking around 5′ x 6′ total (including a regular sized tub). So yes, the door practically hits the toilet (it just barely misses it). And John can

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Turning 30

A bunch of you have been asking how turning thirty was for me, so I’ll take a break from painting something (yes, there is paint going on a formerly untouched bathroom wall! wahoo!) to admit that Monday was a really nice day. So far thirty is all good. And I don’t feel a day over 29. Hah. My theory is that every birthday sort of feels like not much has changed since I wake up feeling the same way I did the morning before. By comparison, I always feel older when life events happen (graduating college, getting married, having a baby) but for some reason a birthday to me is just a fun day when

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A Video Tour Of Our House

Yup, it really has been seven whole months since our last house tour video. Unacceptable. So here it is. Eight riveting minutes of me walking around the house and babbling about anything and everything with the Flip cam catching all the shaky Blair-Witch-esque action. We just figured it was a nice time to shoot this now that the kitchen is done and we’re gearing up to start some new stuff (some landscaping bidness, upgrading one of the three bathrooms that we haven’t touched, building a big arse deck, etc). So come on in and poke around: A few notes: Am I the only one who still has a scratchy voice two weeks after the flu?

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A Kitchen Makeover With Penny Tile And Open Shelves

Ok, we’re calling it. The kitchen is officially done! Of course that’s a lie and we still have a bunch of little things to complete, like: adding decorative molding to the back of the peninsula adding a message center/chalk board to the side of the pantry adding the last of the transitions/reducers to finish the floors (and that rectangle of fireplace tile) replacing the broken light in the fireplace area – most likely with a spotlight that washes down the fireplace wall adding some sort of window treatment (colorful roman shade?) over the sink And of course we dream of refinishing the surrounding oak floors to match the dark mocha cork in the kitchen so

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