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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Word To Your Motha Cave

Move over man cave, this post is all about a mom cave. When HomeGoods contacted us to offer us a gift card to create a mom cave in our house, we asked if we could pay it forward instead. And they were game. Oh and then we asked what the heck a mom cave was. It’s actually a little haven for any mom in her own home. The mom’s answer to the man cave if you will. It can just be a small corner of a bedroom with a chair for relaxing and reading or an entire room devoted to crafting, pedicuring, or anything else that your little mom heart desires. So I set out

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We’re Selling Our House

Holy bananas. We just stuck the For Sale sign in front of our house (the one in this post was photoshopped in case you couldn’t tell). Big day. So it’s official. Our house is really on the market. We’re still in the process of doing a ton of things to woo potential buyers both inside and out (stay tuned for those details as we go) and we’re actually trying the for-sale-by-owner route… at least for a little while. Being such big DIYers it seemed odd not to give it a go (especially since my mom and dad have sold nearly every house they’ve ever owned themselves). Although we’re definitely not opposed to turning to a

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Using Gourds To Make Fall Decor

Yes, that was a gourd pun. Although I must admit that my all time favorite post title ever was Oh My Gourd (see that post here). Anyway, in case you couldn’t tell, this post is about gourds. I like injecting a little seasonal interest into our home in a few fun and inexpensive ways (think Halloween decor like this and Thanksgiving decor like this). And given my love of all things white and ceramic I couldn’t help myself when we came across these faux gourds at JoAnn Fabrics for 50% off their $2.99 price tag (so I grabbed all five for $7.45). Then I spray painted the heck out of them with some white glossy

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Blogiversary III: Goal Tending

Every year when our blogiversary rolls around, we like to take a moment to outline our goals. So it’s time to officially state three things that we’re going to work really hard to accomplish over the next 365 days. After all, there’s nothing like a public proclamation to light a fire under the ol’ buns. So enough chit-chat. Here are the three biggest things on our list (speaking of big, check out my ridiculous calves). Goal Numero Uno: Move On- As we recently shared, we’re saying peace out to our lovely and amazing casa. It’s definitely bittersweet, but we can’t wait to get our mitts on something new-to-us and shine it up like a lucky

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Blogiversary III: Our Days Are Numbered

For every blogiversary that rolls around we like to have some mathy fun with numbers to break down some funny (and admittedly horrifying) facts when it comes to all things YHL. 1527- Our number of published posts to date (crazy considering we only had 380 on our first blogiversary) 258,904- The number of comments we’ve amassed from you, our lovely readers 13,039- The number of comment questions that we’ve answered to date (we do our best to answer every single one) 4- Number of people who live in our house (counting Burger, who thinks he’s a person) 3- The number of days we were in the hospital after Clara was born 0- The number of

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Blogiversary III: On The Move

And now for some news that falls in the “big” category: we’re in the market for a new Casa Petersik. That’s right, after tons of thoughtful deliberation we’ve decided that it’s time to sell our current home after four and a half amazing years spent here. Why? Because we love a project and we’re can’t-sleep-excited about the prospect of taking on a new home makeover and sharing every moment with you guys. We know it’s a sickness, but we actually crave remodeling and painting projects, so instead of feeling overwhelmed at the idea of starting all over again we’re actually pretty psyched about it. Of course it’s bittersweet to leave the place that we love

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Behind The Scenes Of Running A Blog

Q: I know this might be a bit on the personal side, but I’ve always wondered what goes on behind the scenes when it comes to running a successful blog. I’m sure a lot of readers just think you write up posts and conquer home improvement projects but from owning my own small business I know all about the “maintenance” (like taxes, health insurance, business licenses, etc). I don’t know if it’s something you’re willing to talk about but I’m sure there are a lot of other aspiring small business owners and bloggers who would like to learn about everything that goes into keeping YHL going. Thanks so much for the daily inspiration and all

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Blogiversary III: It’s On

Woo to the hoo. We’re celebrating three amazing years of sharing our adventures (and misadventures) in home improvement with you guys in this virtual place that we call home. So you know what that means… some blogiversary madness is about to ensue. Year four is sure to be full of projects, both big and small. And we always like to use our blogiversary week to share some inside scoop and kick off the next 365 days right. This week we’re planning lots of fun stuff, from a video with some insanely ugly shots of our house before every single project that we chronicled on the blog (let’s just call the footage “vintage”) and some behind

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Collecting Ceramic Animals

I took home another ceramic animal. Is there a support group for this? (Hi my name is Sherry and I hoard porcelain mammals) I totally understand that they’re not everyone’s cup of tea – not even close – but for some reason they’re like catnip to me. I can’t stay away. And I’ve realized that I’m attracted to certain characteristics when it comes to these fake friends of mine. I don’t like them too cutesy and sweet. In fact I usually like them very hard and prickly looking. For example, my beloved rhino is ruff and tough and armed with horns. Kind of like my no-nonsense iron bull. And my muscular bite-your-face-off ceramic pooch. And

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Mood Board Making: French + Modern = Eclectic

This week’s kitchen mood board is a mix of charming french-inspired accents and clean modern touches for an easy collected over time feeling that’s anything but cookie cutter: 1. The color palette for this imaginary room is all about navy-ish charcoal tones, deep pistachio hues, soft blue grays, and antique whites. We’d love to see the walls get a coat or two of artichoke-chic paint (which you see represented by that large rectangle of green at the top of the board) – try Benjamin Moore’s Sesame 381. The cabinets in the kitch could remain wood or white (either would work with this scheme) but you could also paint them an antique white tone and even

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14 Tips For Saving Money When You Have A Baby

Q: You guys are so good with money I wondered if you’d consider sharing some of the ways you kept from bleeding money once you had Clara. I’ve heard that having a baby and buying all the baby stuff can set you back a few years’ worth of savings and I’m scared! But I’m sure you have figured out a few ways to be frugal without skipping a beat when it comes to providing everything that Clara needs. As you love to say, do tell! – Megan A: The good news is that we actually expected that having a baby (and setting up the house for one) would be a lot pricier than it actually

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How To Spray Paint A Brass Candlestick

I’m back with an easy thrift store upgrade. John and I snagged this seen-better-days brass candlestick at Goodwill for $1.99 after I convinced him that a bright and modern color would complement the traditional shape for a clean and current result in about five minutes flat. So I spray painted that sucker with some glossy yellow paint (Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch Gloss spray paint in Sun Yellow)… … and ended up with a nice new (and super cheap) accessory in a fun and happy color. Here he is accompanied by his three candle friends. Anyone humming Beauty & The Beast yet? Totally reminds us of Lumiere. Simple? Check. Cheap? Check? Anyone can do it? Check. Plus

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