Lessons From Young House Love: What Renting Can Teach You

Young House Love is a popular blog that follows the design and do-it-yourself adventures of two young home owners, Sherry and John Petersik. We wondered: What did these former renters-turned-homeowners learn from their time as renters? One of the biggest lessons: How to make a small space seem larger.

RentedSpaces:You went from apartment life to house life. What was the biggest transition going from renting to owning?

Young House Love: The idea that we owned everything! The walls were ours to paint -- heck, they were ours to knock down if we wanted! It really was a shift in thinking -- to go from working around strict renting rules to grasping the idea that we could change the entire floor plan and function of the house without answering to anyone. It's freeing, but it's also sort of paralyzing in the beginning. This is always why we recommend living in a house for a bit -- to see how you really use each room before making major changes that may not be as functional as you thought (if you didn't spend time living in the space first to suss out what you really need your house to do).