We’ve been thinking a lot about how life will change over the coming weeks, months, and years with the arrival of the newest Petersik. A big part of that has been figuring out how to keep this blog active while we adjust to the huge responsibility of caring for a baby. After some brainstorming, we developed a few strategies to balance our priorities: family time, the baby, the blog, and of course our main man Burger.
We remain committed to sharing our home improvement journey. Turning this passion into Sherry’s full-time work has been an incredible privilege, and we’re so grateful for your ongoing encouragement. Thank you for supporting and following along every day.
With a newborn on the way, we’re realistic about the time and energy required. Baby P will demand a lot, and we knew that keeping up our two-posts-a-day pace, managing weekly giveaways, and tackling frequent DIY projects would be a stretch. After careful thought and some number crunching, we made a major decision: Young House Love will keep moving forward at full force, and we’ll be bringing on a second full-time “employee” to help with baby and blog duties. Any guesses who it might be?
Some of you may be hoping it’s Burger — he’s certainly hardworking and lovable — but the new full-time hire is actually me. Once Baby P arrives I’ll be stepping away from my 8-to-6 advertising job to focus on full-time fatherhood and blogging. I’m incredibly grateful for this opportunity, and for your support that helped make it possible. I’ve already spent 20+ extra hours a week on the blog in addition to my day job, and being home during the day will give us newfound flexibility to juggle baby care, the blog, and our daily lives. We have big plans for YHL when I transition to full time, so expect more content and projects in the months ahead.
My role as a full-time father and blogger means I’ll be available to tag-team baby care and blogging with Sherry, seven days a week. That will help us nurture our family and this blog together. It also means one major project is moving to the top of our list: creating a true two-person home office in our house.
So far my nights and weekends have been spent working at the dining room table while Sherry uses a nook in the den. Since I’ll be home during the day, we need a permanent workspace so we can reclaim the dining table and cut down on room-to-room shouting. A designated office will help define work and play zones, which is vital for maintaining work/life balance as we adapt to life with a newborn.
The new office will take over our current guest bedroom. Since the nursery already occupies our other guest room, this space must remain guest-friendly — meaning it still needs to sleep at least two people. At the same time, it must accommodate two working bloggers, our baby, and our playful nine-pound pup, plus storage for paperwork without feeling too corporate when guests visit. We’ll be balancing function and hospitality in a compact 10′ x 10.5′ room, squeezing as much utility as we can from the layout.
We’d also like the room to double as a play area for Baby P, since she’ll likely spend time there while we work. So the plan is to convert this guest room into a multi-functional space for work, play, and overnight guests. That means clever storage, flexible furniture, and design choices that serve multiple purposes without feeling cluttered.
We’re excited for the challenge and can’t wait to share the process. If you have tips for designing a home office, staying sane while working from home, or creating a room with two or three distinct functions, please share your ideas. We appreciate any advice and look forward to showing you how this space comes together.