Oh sweet victory — our long-debated office art project is finished, and here’s a clear, upbeat account of how it all came together. We previously shared a detailed play-by-play about how Sherry and I finally settled on a gallery-style postcard ledge arrangement inspired by a feature we saw in Richmond magazine. Once we committed to … Read more

Back on this hosta post I hinted that we were planning to add fresh grass here. The mock-up looked okay, but getting real grass in the ground took some time — and now it’s finally mostly photo-ready. Let’s rewind to the beginning, before the patch pictured above looked like anything at all. At the start … Read more

We figured it was time to refresh our to-do list (first shared here) now that we’ve lived in the house for five months. We’ve crossed off quite a few items and added plenty more — the usual when you move into a place. To stay organized we keep one master list. We circle smaller tasks … Read more

Why start a project before leaving town? Because sometimes we like a little chaos. Beginning our cork floor installation before heading off to Portland and Hawaii turned out to be a smart, oddly satisfying choice. It may sound strange, but coming home to a partially finished floor felt like progress. We had already snapped several … Read more

Here’s a simple trick we used to hang curtain rods quickly and evenly in our duplex rental. We had 16 curtain rods to install in one afternoon, so we developed a free, low-effort method to minimize measuring while keeping everything level and evenly spaced. This approach removes much of the hassle from hanging new curtains, … Read more

Booyah: these are the show notes for Episode #7 of Young House Love Has A Podcast. This week we explore whether there’s a particular age when a home starts to feel more grown-up by looking at what three well-known design sites recommend (and advise against) having in your house when you turn 30. We also … Read more

Now that we’ve shared some pre-wedding details, here’s a look at our ten-day honeymoon in Alaska. Our aim was to offer a glimpse of America’s largest state through our eyes — and perhaps also to showcase the quirky ways we Petersiks like to entertain ourselves while traveling (case in point: this ring photo we snapped … Read more

This week would have been my Aunt Kay’s birthday, and it felt a little bittersweet because she passed away last year. She lived with us while I was growing up and was like a second mother to me. Aunt Kay was full of life and color — she loved to paint and draw, and it … Read more

We’re catching a flight back from Boston (thankfully not canceled despite the snowy weather), so this post is up a bit early. Your comments might not appear right away, but I wanted to share the update on our hall bathroom paint decision. Ever since we moved in we’ve debated colors: deep blue, dark, light, colorful, … Read more

Let’s talk about something that was simply too small — but this time we’re taking the story outside to the carport. Remember that tiny lantern hanging from the ceiling? Yeah… she wasn’t looking great. Rust? Check. Cracked glass? Check. Dollhouse-sized scale? Double check. Since moving in back in late 2010 we’d kept an eye out … Read more