You asked, and we answered. By popular demand we rounded up our favorite home, life, travel, beauty, and everyday purchases from the past year. Every item below was bought with our own money in 2025 and ended up feeling like a small but meaningful upgrade — things that made daily life easier, prettier, more organized, … Read more

Our bathroom renovation is finally finished (you can find the full reveal and cost breakdown on the original post). After living through the project and sharing most of it step by step, we wanted to highlight a few of the smaller problems we ran into. Renovations always come with surprises, and these five minor speedbumps … Read more

Our readers have done it again: Better Homes & Gardens’ Kitchen + Bath Makeovers magazine featured another project from our community. Like Lindsay and Jessica before her, Christina’s budget-friendly kitchen makeover—originally shared here on YHL as a Reader Redesign in February—appeared in the magazine’s “Do It For Less” section. We’re celebrating right along with them. … Read more

I’ve mentioned monograms and personalized initials before, but this time they made their way into our home. Aside from a makeshift monogram above our bed and a few scattered P’s, we hadn’t really introduced our first initials into Chez Petersik—until now. To celebrate our refreshed black-and-white bathroom, we added a few personalized accessories. Meet our … Read more

Ah, the “alley.” That odd little gap between the original part of our house on the left and the later addition on the right. We’re glad the builders left that space so we didn’t lose those windows, but it’s undeniably awkward. Right now it holds a very short, very worn balcony that looks over a … Read more

Updated February 2022. During a recent snowstorm we woke to a freezing 58-degree house—our heating oil had run out and, because of the storm, no delivery was available for at least 48 hours. Cold inside and snow outside, our biggest concern became protecting the plumbing from freezing and bursting. Since that experience we learned practical … Read more

You already know our playroom has been looking a bit rough lately, thanks to the recent whole-house update. It’s been full of clutter and half-finished projects, so once we clear it out we realized it could work better for our family if we rethink its purpose. We don’t need a conventional playroom right now because … Read more

One thing we were eager to do differently in this house compared with our last one was to actually have a working TV in the master bedroom. We did briefly own a TV in our previous master, but we never connected it to a DVD player or bothered with a second cable box. To be … Read more

Last month I wrote about the smart technology we love most in our home, and I promised a deeper dive into our motorized blinds. They’ve become one of my favorite smart-home upgrades, so here’s where we got them, why we chose them, how they’re powered, the pros and cons, and how much they cost. Note: … Read more

***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries*** If you avoid grocery shopping as much as I do, this giveaway will feel like it was made for you. I enjoy cooking, but the planning—making a list, spending too much at the store, then coming home to realize you forgot a key spice—often pushes us toward takeout. … Read more