kokokara

DIY Home Decorating Projects, Tutorials, & Shenanigans

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Nerding It Up In The Nasty ‘Nati

Sorry to take so long writing this post for you guys! We know lots of you were asking about it ever since we got back this weekend, but in true Petersik fashion we took way too many pics and had to figure out which ones to use and then felt like over-sharing about the whole thing… and thus this giant full-o-pics-and-words post was born. Anyway, the first tour stop for our book in Cincinnati this weekend was, well, kind of nuts. But the good kind of nuts. The kind where it’s like a whirlwind of awesome and can’t-believe-this-is-happening experiences all jammed packed into about 36 hours. We promise we won’t pour over the details of

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Site devlopment www.progressive.ua

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Fab Freebie: She’s Not Jenny From The Block

*** This giveaway is now closed –  see who won below!*** It was fun hearing all of your rap names, guys. That and seeing how many people entered “C.LO” instead of “L.CO.” That does roll of the tongue a bit more easily… Anyways, our random winner is… Rebecca (or should we say “Rebizzle” since that’s her high school nickname, which has stuck around for 15 years). Congrats! When Sherry and I were looking for some big, bold paintings to add some oomph to a few book photos back in January we turned to a local painter (and friend!) named Lindsay Cowles. And when she arrived at our house to loan us some gorgeous canvasses for

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Adding Some Basement Workshop Organization

Now that we’ve cleared out our backyard’s weed & liriope convention, let’s move on to another area that has been sorely lacking our attention. Yes, let’s spend some time in our basement, shall we? Oh wait – that sounds like an invitation to get murdered or something. Um, let’s just talk about our basement. You may recall that it recently went from a shameful deck-debris-filled no man’s land… …to a slightly more presentable space thanks to our Bagster rental a few weeks ago. Well, that Bagster purge and our recent yard sale were the kick in the butt that I’ve needed to finally put some energy into this room. Because honestly, we’ve put ZERO effort

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One Guy’s Take On… Fabric

Quick note: We’ll be in Cincinnati tomorrow at the Books By The Banks festival at the Duke Energy Convention Center where we’ll be giving a talk at 11am and then signing books (advanced copies will be available for sale there!) and most likely being fantastically awkward (more details here). Hope to see some of you there!  And now for a fabric-fest. I know not all husbands enjoy being as involved in decorating decisions as I do, but I’d be willing to guess that many guys are more interested than you’d expect. We’re opinionated creatures. Heck, even I fall into that I’m-pretending-not-to-care-about-that-lampshade-as-much-as-I-really-do trap sometimes (and then later I end up disputing its purchase to a shocked

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Reader Redesign: When It Rains…

It’s not often that a before photo actually makes me laugh out loud. But I did so I’ll cop to it right now. Just check out the shower tile in Erin’s main bathroom for yourself. Thankfully the incredible overhaul that she and her husband did means that old tile is nothing but a (somewhat hilarious) memory. Here’s her letter: Hi John & Sherry, we’ve been working on remodeling our foreclosure mess for just over a year now, and so far we’ve completed three bathroom remodels! I’m still doing a happy dance from how this last one turned out. This room started out as bad as it could get with dirty white tile & brown grout,

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Fab Freebie: It’s The Tiny Things

***This giveaway is now closed – see who won below!*** Now that the Christmas countdown clock has ticked to 67 days left, how ’bout we announced who random.org selected for this prize? That lucky person is… Janaya McKeon (who is “crazy excited for my husband and I to share our very first Christmas together as a married couple, and dreading the inevitable weight gain that accompanies me.”) Congrats Janaya! There are 70 days ’til Christmas, y’all. Yup. It just got real up in here. So if you’re looking to help keep the holiday hysteria at bay, we’ve got a great way to check one thing off your list: cards. Tiny Prints is gonna hook one of

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How To Host A Low-Key Yard Sale

When Sherry and I hosted our first yard sale over four years ago, we remember feeling rushed to get everything outside and set up, being stressed about how to price everything, and constantly obsessing over how much money we had made as the day went on. It’s like we were both so excited to sell stuff that we didn’t like (so we could go buy more stuff that we did like) that it became a bigger deal than we initially expected. Fast forward a few years (we also had a moving sale back in 2010) and we found ourselves hosting another clear-things-out yard sale now that it’s 2012 (I guess our pattern is every two

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Spookin’ Up Some Appreciation

**Psst- We know most Fridays we just post once, but every month on sponsor shout out day we double up. So we’ll be back in a few hours with a yard-sale related post. For October’s public shout out of thanks to our sponsors (the people who make the other 30+ posts possible each month) we’re “embracing the spooky” and highlighting some items that have a darker side… or just make us crave candy. And there’s a hint about Monday’s giveaway hidden in here too. As always, the items haven’t been given to us (time for the obligatory no-swag policy link) and you can browse some ghoulish discounts at the bottom too. Okay, there’s actually nothing ghoulish

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Reader Redesign: Owen’s Room

Nancy’s room for her son Owen is a great example of how a nursery or kids room can be cool and sophisticated while still being playful and fun. Which is pretty awesome, especially when the price tag is a mere three hundred beans. And since we get a bunch of folks asking for kids rooms, we couldn’t wait to spill the pics along with Nancy’s note below: Hey guys! I have been living in my home for four years now, and I finally decided it was time to decorate it. I started with my two year old son’s room, and now I am questioning why I didn’t start with my room first. I may just

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Fab Freebie: Richmond Or Bust!

***THIS GIVEAWAY HAS REACHED ITS 10,000 ENTRY CAP AND IS NOW CLOSED – SEE WHO WON BELOW!*** And our VERY lucky winner this week is… Hallie (who knows that Belle Isle was once a fishing village for the Powhatan Indians – something even we hadn’t heard). Congrats – and see you in a few weeks! We’re spending today with the family for the holiday, but we had to drop in with our big giveaway for you guys. See, when we found out we’d be speaking at this year’s R.Home for the Holidays event on November 8th (which we’ve gone to for the past four years for fun, so it’s really crazy to think that we’ll

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Our Adventures In Renting A Bagster Dumpster

So. My basement workshop. I owned up to how messy it was a few months ago. Then building Clara’s dollhouse prompted me to tidy it up a smidge – as in, look you can actually see some of the floor. And then the deck happened and it all went to crap again. A big sawdusty, scrap wood cluttered pile of it. But I made a promise to myself that once the deck was done I was going to take care of this issue once and for all. And I’m happy to report that after many hours, many calls, and some serious scrap-wood-carrying, some major progress has been made. My secret? The Bagster. I walked by

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September Superlatives: Trains & Travels

October is officially here, but before we dive into another month of projects, it always helps us keep the ol’ momentum up to take an appreciative look back on all of our happenings from last month – everything from making over Granny’s bathroom and building a train board to making some tables into ottomans and celebrating our 5th blogging anniversary. And since we love to throw in something never-before-seen, we’re actually revealing the first stop on our book tour below. So here’s everything in our usual weird yearbook-superlative-style that definitely inspires us to keep plugging away ( it makes browsing our archives a lot easier – you can read back through January of 2011 right

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