The End Of This Young House
Yup, you read the title right. This Young House is going the way of the dodo and the dinosaur. And although it certainly wasn’t our idea (let’s just say lawyers were involved) it sure has added some excitement to our little blogging lives.
The good news is that we’re already whipping up lemonade from the sour lemons hurled in our general direction. We’ve got a brand-spanking-new name and URL, but the site remains exactly the same otherwise. Unless you count all the fun new features, tutorials and before & afters that we’ll be adding in the coming weeks. So remember to visit younghouselove.com from this day forth (and to update you reader, bookmarks and even your blogroll if you link out to us) to make it easy to keep up with our adventures- and misadventures- in home improvement.
Ok, so here’s the full scoop. On July 7th, as many of you know, we were busy celebrating our two year wedding anniversary. But on July 8th we got a nice little present in the form of a cease and desist letter from a prominent home improvement magazine/TV show which bears a few similarities to our old site’s name (you guys can figure it out, right?). Don’t they know the two year anniversary present is cotton, not paper? Anyway, they basically ordered that we immediately surrender the use of our old name and URL because they believed consumers were getting confused and may think that Young House Love was in some way related to their brand. Picture us scratching our heads. In almost two years of blogging under that moniker not one person has ever asked if we were related to that company.
That started a rollercoaster ride of emotions. First came fear and sadness – were we really going to get sued or be forced to hand over nearly two years of hard work? Then came confusion and anger – why was the same pub that contacted us last year to compliment our work and offer us a free magazine subscription suddenly sending lawyers after us? Not to mention the fact that our site and our logo looked nothing like theirs, our names were essentially opposites, our projects are on a completely different scale, and we’re clearly just two young people with a personal blog (not a corporation with deep pockets and an army of lifelong experts). But we eventually unclenched our fists and faced reality. Even though we completely disagreed with every single point they made, what two-person blog wants to go up against such a wealthy industry powerhouse? Can you just imagine that? In this corner we have a million dollar company. And in this corner… John, Sherry and a feisty chihuahua. No thanks.
So after many hours spent huddling with our attorney we decided the best way to move forward (and spare ourselves a potentially long and expensive legal battle) would be to turn the other cheek and change our name and URL. After all, just as the-magazine-that-shall-not-be-named doesn’t want to be accidentally associated with us, we certainly share that sentiment. Now more than ever.
And a funny thing happened after we made the decision to move on to bigger and better things. We got fired up. Not throw-something-I’m-mad fired up, but this-could-be-an-amazing-opportunity fired up. Our excitement grew as we chatted breathlessly until two in the morning about what a great thing this seemingly stressful anniversary incident could become. We felt almost like we did when we moved into our house in the very beginning. There was raw potential for miles and we couldn’t wait to forge ahead with our paint brushes in our pockets and smiles on our faces.
Then came the search for the perfect new name. We tossed out a few odd but applicable ones first (involving our infamous love of white paint, ceramic animals and charming chihuahuas) but we still felt like Youngsters at heart. So we decided to bridge the gap between our old name and the thing that our last URL had always been missing: the can’t-deny-it crush we have on our humble home. We secured our new website addy on Bluehost for $4 with a coupon (you know we like to sniff out a good deal) and our new blog baby: Young House Love was born. It instantly felt like a place we could call home, and we really like referencing the idea of falling in “house love” (that unmistakable type of youthful puppy love that we all feel for the casa we’re tenderly fixing up). After all, we’re just two young people falling in love with our first house.
And here we are less than a week later, welcoming you to our new virtual abode. We’re still unpacking a bit, so bear with us as we transition everything and add bigger and better features as we go. We know it may take some time for you guys to get comfortable with our new name and URL, but just as our old blog was once our baby, this one is our “youngest child” which means we’re gonna coddle it and spoil our lovely readers even more than we did before. Weekly giveaways (starting back up tomorrow!), before & after eye candy, step by step tutorials- we’ll serve it all up on a white lacquered platter.
In the order of housekeeping, we would also love to remind you to change your bookmarks, Google Reader (click that link or add “www.younghouselove.com/feed” to find the right feed), and even your blogroll and the outgoing links (old and new) on your blog if you’ve linked over to us (links to specific posts can easily be redirected to the right place by replacing “thisyounghouse” with “younghouselove” in the URL and leaving the rest of the address as-is). Now that we’re legally bound to go by Young House Love from this day forward, replacing those old links and switching any old copy that says “This Young House” to “Young House Love” will really help our new blog grow and prosper (and make our day to boot).
Plus, if you’ve been following us on Twitter or Facebook (btw, we had lots of fun reading everyone’s guesses about our big news all weekend) please take a moment to switch over to our new Young House Love Twitter and Young House Love Facebook pages. They’re a little bare at the moment, but rest assured they’ll be the only place for bonus content, breaking sale news, and what-we’re-doing details from this point forward. Our old accounts will just turn into periodic annoying reminders to make the move so it’s best to abandon ship and jump aboard our new ones asap (note: please unfollow or unfan the old YHL pages after your switch to help us clean ‘em out).
Oh and of course, we’d be forever grateful it you’d tell your friends / family / blog readers / coworkers / dog / gourd lamp about our new address. We would hate to lose a single one of you in the switch. We even made a handy little 120 x 120 button for any fellow bloggers out there who wouldn’t mind adding it to their sidebar with a link back to younghouselove.com (click HERE to grab it), which will really make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Thanks so much for your support. You guys put the love in Young House Love, so smooches all around.
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Comments
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SSM- Good question! Even though we have filed taxes with our old name for almost two years it’s still something we would have to go to court to defend- and we all know how much time that would have taken away from our home improvement projects! As for how the change effects our business products, changing the site over was really the extent of things- after all our shop and our design services are offered right here so everything’s thankfully in one place (and now it’s all under the new moniker). It was a bit of work to get everything switched over but we feel so good. It’s like a fresh start!
SamiJ- Nope, we’re not selling that old URL to them since we’d basically be giving them traffic that should be coming to us. We worked for two long years to build up our page rank and become the #1 entry on google when you search things like “how to paint furniture” and to hand that over would make us die a little inside. Hope you understand!
Letty- So glad to hear another trademark attorney agree that their claims are unfounded and that you think we would have been victorious in the end. We initially were so insulted and hurt that we wanted to defend ourselves but after a few hours of thought we came to the conclusion that we just wanted to break free and do something even better without any chance of them coming after us again. And now Young House Love feels so much more like home!
Kathleen- Thanks for the heads up about the space between the header and the first post. Would you happen to know what browser and what version you’re viewing it from so we can take a look and hopefully fix it? Thanks a million!
Meredith- We’re baffled about the “suspended” thing and it’s the first time we’ve heard about it. The only thing we can think of is that last night the site crashed due to a ton of people coming over here all at once for our big reveal so maybe it’s just a cache thing (ie: later in the day or tomorrow it should “refresh” and see that we’re no longer down like we were last night so it won’t do the “suspended” thing anymore- perhaps you’ll need to re-enter the info then and it’ll work)? Please let us know if you’re still having that problem after tomorrow so we can get to the bottom of it if it hasn’t updated by then!
And once again to EVERY LAST ONE OF OUR AMAZING READERS: We love you. You make our day every day. Thanks for sticking by us and making a tough situation feel that much easier (and even a little exciting!).
xoxo,
Sherry & John
I love you guys and am glad you “took the high road” so you could spend your energy on your first love — your house!
When I use your new url, my Google Chrome tab still shows TYH. I don’t know how that gets changed, but just thought I’d report.
My reaction:
“What? Weird. Whew!”
Now I’m off to change my reader feed, and to remind myself never to buy the publication-which-shall-not-be-mentioned ever again. They just lost a customer with these shenanigans.
Yuck. I hate to say it, but two years ago when I saw your blog title I thought you would have to change it if you ever got popular. That’s just the way the legal system (gag) works, unfortunately.
Oh, and rest assured–if they took the trouble to send lawyers, you two are fast on your way to greatness. :) They wouldn’t bother with you otherwise.
Next time I expect a baby announcement. :) :)
Apparently this fiasco has made its way to the TOH wikipedia page – under the show’s “History”
I have a feeling this is going to have negative publicity for them and doubt that it will detract from your readership!
What a bunch of BS!! I did recognize the allusion to TOH when I first came across your blog, but would never confuse the two. I doubt there’s anyone else who really would either. I just hate that some huge corporation can do this to you – it’s so silly and such a waste of time.
But anyway, good for you that you turned this into a new beginning! Finding inspiration, motivation and success in seemingly lost-cause situations are obviously what you guys do best.
I also did a double take when I first began reading – “nooooooo! Where are they going??!!” was actually spoken aloud. But I guess a crazy reader who recently dreamt I visited you guys to help you with a new renovation would have that reaction to thinking you were actually putting down your paintbrushes and closing up shop :)
Congrats on your new name and this new beginning!
Congrats on your new site, John and Sherry! It’s sad that a company would come after a blog like yours that is so positive, fresh, creative, and so totally not trying to feed off of that other site. As a friend pointed out, could they possibly have rights to every “This _______ House” name?? But, regardless, you have made the best of it and moved on to bigger and better things. I’m just glad I’ll still have your blog to enjoy! May your new site be even more successful and awesome than your last! :)
Wow! Can I just say that I am so proud of the way that you both handled this situation… I fell in love with your blog a few weeks ago when I discovered it from the “stinkers” – nicest term I could think of, that attempted to bring your incredible and inspiring blog down… All I can really say is WHY ON EARTH WOULD THEY NOT WANT TO ASSOCIATE WITH YOU BOTH??? I learn more from you then I have ever learned from them!! Thanks so much for showing everyone that there are still great people in the world with AMAZING taste and AWESOME advice!!!!!!
Much love!!!
Caity
I noticed that icons no longer appear in the comments nor the highlighting for when y’all post. Does this have to do with your new host?
Oh – and I have the same header image issue that Kathleen posted at work. We use IE 6 (but it looks fine at home on IE7).
gotta love wikipedia…S&J are mentioned:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Old_House
btw, not to go into a political tangent….what really burns me is that TOH was started on the TAXPAYER dime….then they went to ‘for profit’
so yep…we paid for it…they were a ‘start-up’ on the taxpayer dime…
kudos to REAL entrepreneurs Sherry and John! you guys rock..i agree with a previous poster…you’ve arrived
:)
Oh, and PS… How about a cute little line of YHL T-shirts to celebrate the new site?? :)
What’s in a name? It’s your wonderful content that always keeps me coming back. Congrats on your positive and can-do spirit as always!
Hey Heather S,
Yeah, we’re working on getting gravitars and hightlighted comments back up (as well as on other images and things that are being a little glitchy). As we say so often around here… stay tuned! And please pipe up if you guys notice anything else attached to TYH or other links/bookmarks/changes that aren’t working so we can get ‘em up and running as soon as possible!
xo,
s
ROCK ON you guys! Your new name is awesome and I love it. Thanks for everything you offer to us!!!
I thought your original name suited you well and was spot on to who you are and the content you offered. So glad to hear that you were able to make lemonaide from the lemons thrown your way.
Continued Success!
Love your website. So proud of you both for turning this into a positive experience that benefits you and all of us who constantly log on to your site! Thanks!
As they say…when one door closes, another opens! I’m sure this new blog will be just the ticket! I look forward to following your adventures here, at your new home! :)
Just sharing…he, he
July 13, 2009
This Old House Magazine/Online/Television
135 West 50th St, 10th floor
New York, NY 10020
Dear Sir or Madam:
I am writing to let you know how disappointed I am that you sicced your legal dogs on that sweet young couple from the “This Young House” (TYH) blog.
Since you are completely clueless about how your legal move may negatively affect your company’s image, let me give you some food for thought.
Point A – This couple specializes in small projects like painting furniture and interior decorating. Since your guys don’t really “do décor” and are more into grand, historic renovations, you had nothing to fear from TYH blog…which leads to point B below.
Point B – Did it ever dawn on you that folks consulted with your website too? Get over yourself; the internet is big enough for both you and TYH.
Point C – Instead of sending a cease and desist, you might have sought to partner with TYH. It could have been the best of both worlds: young and old.
Point D – Have you ever even read the TYH blog? More than anything, the blog chronicles two people in love with each other and their little house. Somehow I just don’t see Kevin O’Connor and Tom Silva sharing tender moments together on This Old House.
In the future, I would suggest that you consider unintended consequences that may cause you to lose fans. A company who can’t appreciate TYH’s story has bigger problems than whether their blog name confuses readers. You should be ashamed.
Sincerely,
“A This Old House fan who didn’t know you were such a bully”
The crusty old publication that gave TYH the boot would have been better off giving you an offer of a print and online column and blog rather (adding interest and readership) than pursuing their present course.
I give this magazine to a friend every year for Christmas. I’ll be finding a new gift this year.
I’m sorry to hear the reasons that led to your name change (jerks!) but so happy to be enjoying some of the resulting lemonade. :) Not only will I gladly continue to follow you, but I’ll also link to you from my own blog to send some new readers your way.
I’m a US Navy wife living on the other side of the world in Guam, with a husband deploying to Iraq and your site gives me a little piece of “home” every time I read it. I don’t know if you know how very valuable that is! You also inspired me to make some lemonade out of my base-housing decorating lemons. We have cement bunker-style houses here, so that has been quite the adventure, but I couldn’t have done it without you guys.
Enough of my tangent! Love the new site and am really proud of you two, er, three. :)
I only just discovered your fantastic blog on Friday (which I have been devouring like a fine meal) and my first thought was “NOOOOOOOO I’ve only just found you, you can’t leave me!!” Imagine my relief when I read you were continuing with a fresh new approach :) Good on ya both. You have accomplished some wonderful things and your blog is a wonderful source of inspiration and personality. My only sadness lies in the fact that I’m in the UK and I can’t purchase all the lovely things you have online. However, it has inspired me to really seek out some fab things across the pond to recreate the clean, homely and stylish look you both do so incredibly well. xxx
I just came upon your blog a couple of weeks ago and it truly is a wonderful blog full of great ideas and you two are just the cutest pair ever (reminds me of me and my hubby) before our 7 kiddos came along! We bought a fixer upper as our first house as well back in 1992 and we fell in love with it too. A cute charming little frame house. Fond memories of them days, even when we added a dog and 2 kids, sill fun. I miss that house. I am so sorry that happened to yall, they must have been real scared of yall to go through all that. I never really liked that show, even back when we were with our fixer upper. I agree with the others, it will not affect your readership, most folks don’t care for the big bullies pushing around the little ones. I am glad to see yall are pushing forward and I look forward to the blog everyday….take care!
My stomach totally dropped when I read your first paragraph. So relieved you’re not going away!
I’m totally disgusted with TOH. I never once confused your blog with their enterprise. Do they think they own every phrase that begins with This and ends with House? This Cute House, This Ancient House, This Stupid House? I do agree with a commenter before me who said this only means that you’re getting more popular (as if you didn’t know!). Still, the smart thing for them to do would be to partner with you. Because I’ll sure as hell think twice before giving them my money again. What jerks!
Ditto, ditto, ditto. TOH just lost another reader due to their bullying. The web is big enough for you both.
Change is good…love it…love this site no matter what it’s called! I do love the new name, especially the little heart.
Congratulations on taking this momentous step – what a testament to a great attitude and a great future. This Oldster just recently found you. I’ve been impressed and look forward to reading your blog. How intuitive of me to let my TOH subscription lapse this last month and to unsubscribe from their email last week! Best wishes.
Sorry to hear about the bum news, but I still love your site! I think that This Old House made a poor choice, and I have a feeling the backlash from their decision will affect them. Either way, good for you for stepping up and taking the high road! Fighting over a name isn’t worth your time or energy. Your fans will follow you wherever you go in the online world. ;)
I tried to post last night, but I think things were still a little glitchy!
Don’t worry – I know your readership will follow you all what ever your name is – We love Young House Love!
I always considered myself of fan of the other entity – but now that it seems like a big and scary corporation with skeevy underhanded dealings, well I dont know if I care so much for it anymore!
good luck and happy posting!
Congratulations on a fresh start! I just remembered that I actually had a dream about your mystery announcement last night. How funny! I don’t really remember what happened, but it involved hanging out with you and trying to guess.
Whatever the name or url, this young house/young house love will always be at the top of my favorites list :] you have brightened my boring desk job and givin me something to look forward to when i turn on my computer each morning. not to mention helped me spruce up my new home with some framed art collages and white ceramic details :]
Hi John, Sherry and Burger,
What jerks! I have been watching “that show” with my dad since the 80s but I can promise you that I will NOOOO longer watch them! They should be ashamed of themselves, and should have considered the fact that you may have brought them a whole new generation of readers or subscribers IF by some chance anyone would confuse the two websites, which they WOULD NOT since you are NOTHING ALIKE.
It sounds to me like they are just full of themselves, and it also sounds to me like they will be losing any young fans they did have since everyone seems to be as outraged as I am by all this. I know I am just repeating everyone else, but good for you for taking the high road. And I agree, you DO NOT want to be associated in any way with a company like that! Shame on them! Yay Young House Love!
And on a seperate note, a while ago I ordered two dog silhouette pictures from your site, the chihuahua and the daschund, and I LOVE THEM! I get tons of compliments and recommend you to all my dog owner friends.
Keep doing what you do, and as for THEM, what goes around is going to come around when they lose fans! So there!
You guys are like a case study in positive attitude! Love how you took a savy approach to launching the change. And how you got it all done so fast – the 8th was only a few days ago! Such go-getters.
Suck to that “other” organization. There system is clearly old fashioned (pun intended) if they have to depend on lawyers to protect their brand from someone who wasn’t even threatening it.
Wow, I can’t believe what happened to y’all! Amazing that said company totally played the Big Bad Wolf part and came after you and John! Incredibly tacky. I have never once associated your blog with that show. Never! I’m glad that you two showed some class and took the higher road. In fact, I love Young House Love soooo much better, I think it is more YOU! Yay for the new additions to the blog, I love it!
Ps- I’ve updated my twitter, bloglovin’, and my blogroll to reflect the new name!
The “unnamed publication” is in fact owned by Time, Inc. which also owns several publications that YHL has been mentioned in….Real Simple, Martha Stewart Living, etc. So, clearly, giving up the offending URL was the smart business decision to make. After all, YHL is also a business and half of John and Sherry’s livelihood comes from the production of this blog. Let’s not forget that sponsorships, endorsements and general interest columns or mentions in large corporate publications generate money for our beloved YHL to keep on going. Plus, the “offending publication” has been published and on television dating back for over 30+ years…..those intellectual property rights are pretty indisputable. I am looking forward to the re-birth of this new blog! Out with the old!
You really had me worried for a moment there! Not that I’m happy you were forced to change your name, but I’m certainly very glad you’re not abandoning your blogging, which had been my first thought.
Your readers all love you and YHL, so we’ll be right here along with you!!
I got the “Suspended” message about 4 times before it would let me publish my comment. It says you’re overrunning your CPU usage with periods of 60 rolling seconds. No wonder why, this new site is buzzing the so many people and comments about your news! o_0
Good for you and your positive attitude!
And thumbs down to that magazine/company for being unpleasantly snotty and having no sense of whimsy or humor.
I subscribed to Cottage Living just before it folded. My subscription was replaced with one of the Magazine That Shall Not Be Named.
And if any corporate honchos from that zine are reading this blog… I won’t be renewing my subscription.
I’ve been lurking, reading and enjoying your site for awhile now and have to finally comment … I’m really impressed with your attitude and the way you have chosen to handle this mess. Good for you! You are an inspiration to us all. The world needs more people like you! Your choices will come full circle back to you and there is no telling what amazing things might come from all of this.
I am so proud of you guys! Your positivity and class are admirable! TOH really missed the mark on this one…sounds like some “kept” lawyer needed something to do to justify his/her bloated paycheck. I wish you much continued success at your new home on the internet!!!
Can we get a baby next though? Or a puppy, at the very least!
John & Sherry, I have been stalking the blog for a few months and finally managed to make my way through the archives and share TYH with everyone I know – needless to say I love the blog!!! Thanks so much for taking the high road, I’m looking forward to many more years from YHL! (and will remind all the aforementioned friends to update their links!) : )
You guys rock. I am also on the bandwagon that the not-to-be-mentioned franchise will not get another dime of my moolah.
I totally agree with everyone here. TOH is going to take a hit in their younger following because YHL is the much hipper, cooler way to go :) I wonder if they have a comment board or something where we could leave our “we are disappointed in you” messages…
I’m glad you guys took the high road. You probably would have won, but that would have been stressful and frustrating. Glad the transition is going well. Good luck! I’ve already changed to new name in my bookmarks.
Keep up the good work and positive attitude.
Interesting, I don’t think I have ever heard of that magazine… just as well, just a few clicks and I will continue to follow your blog, so, see you later guys!
Youngsters: Just thought I would share with you an email I just sent off to the magazine-that-shall-not-be-named:
“I am a subscriber to your magazine but will not be renewing when my subscription expires. The reason? Your giant corporation was petty enough to file a “cease and desist” order against a young couple’s blog whose name was similar to yours. You ordered them to surrender the use of their name and URL because you believed consumers were getting confused and may think that they were in some way related to your brand. Are you kidding me?? Is this what you think of your readers/viewers?? We are not mental midgets but apparently that is what you think of us. Ouch.
Good-bye, I will not miss you.”
love the blog, your creativity, and attitude! as a relatively new reader i’ve been going through the archives so i don’t miss one moment of tyh/yhl…since the moniker switch i haven’t seen the “previous post/next post” option. will that come later or is it gone for good?
thanks for all the inspiration you guys have given me!
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I don’t see anyone else commenting that they are having the same issue, but when I try to subscribe in the Feed Burner, I get the 404 Error. It won’t let me subscribe! Ack! Help!