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

We put together this quick and easy holiday decorating video before our tree was completely finished (we shared the tree last week), but since we like to keep things in order, we thought it made more sense to publish this follow-up decorating video after the first tree installment. Good things come to those who wait, … Read more

It’s a hectic—but delightful—day here at Casa Petersik. A photography crew from Better Homes & Gardens is on site to shoot our newly transformed nursery and our recently renovated bathroom for Kitchen + Bath Makeovers and Do It Yourself magazine. We’re thrilled to have them and can’t wait to see the final images. It’s been … Read more

What began as a simple sink replacement in the beach house en-suite turned into a much bigger project: a hole in the wall and an unexpected spray of water. The cause was something we’d never encountered before. Here we explain what happened, how we fixed it, and why we’re still postponing a full upstairs bathroom … Read more

For years, one of our favorite places to find great fabric on a budget has been a local shop called U-Fab, run by a young married couple. We’ve used their fabrics for everything from a headboard and dining room curtains to the backdrop for a recent pregnancy announcement. Now that they’ve launched an online shop, … Read more

How do we learn here? By doing — and occasionally by panicking. So when someone called to say they wanted to see our house in an hour, we had a brief moment of panic. It lasted five to ten minutes. After that, we spent the remaining time on a focused, practical tidy-up to make the … Read more

Sherry has picked up a new side gig that I’m intentionally avoiding, and — spoiler — it’s already provided a perfect excuse for a shopping trip. We also missed our goal of spending a night at the beach house by the start of summer, thanks to an unexpected delay we couldn’t have planned for. In … Read more

The built-in bookcases in the nursery are finally filled with board books, toys, stuffed animals, framed prints, and a few whimsical bits that I hope our little guy will enjoy looking at (and maybe chewing on). We even staged a simple paper-mâché craft on the bottom left shelf. Can you spot him? Meet Norman the … Read more