We’ve once again solicited questions from you guys on Facebook for our blogiversary extravaganza (of the personal, not decorating, variety). And just like we did in 2009 and 2010, we had fun answering a bunch of ’em. We crammed as many responses as we could into 20 minutes, so unfortunately not every one of the 80+ questions got answered, but we figured 20 minutes was already pushing the bounds of an acceptable YouTube video length. Haha. Here are a few things that we cover: Our favorite and least favorite qualities in each other What our neighbors think about the blog If the former owners of our house read the blog Our weirdest fan interaction Who
Archives for September 2011
Blogiversary IV: A Few Fun (& Crazy) Blog Stats
As if this morning’s pie charts weren’t enough, we’re back to get all numerical and statistical on you. Each year we like to break down what YHL looks like by the numbers. Some are crazy. Some are surprising. Some are serious. Some are, well, just for fun. We’ve included some of last year’s numbers just for comparison’s sake, but you can also look back at our past by-the-numbers posts for our last three blogiversaries to see how things have changed: 2010, 2009 and 2008. 2,014 – The number of published posts to date on Young House Love (Last year: 1,527) 16 – The number of published posts to date on Young House Life (clearly someone’s
How Do Bloggers Make Money?
Like previous blogiversaries, we’re gonna use this week as an excuse to take a look at the business side of blogging (at least as we know it). As you’ve probably gathered by now, we never intended to start a business when we wrote our first post back in Sept 2007, nor did we ever construct a formal business plan. So this whole adventure has been a learn as we go / roll with the punches / adjust along the way / insert more cliches here kind of deal. And just like we don’t claim to be DIY experts or trained interior designers (we’re just two people with a chihuahua and a baby), we’re not about
Fab Freebie: West In Show (Continued)
***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries – see who won below!*** Well, after a blog-busting (literally) 18,018 entries across two posts (the first one got overloaded after reaching 10,680 entries so we had to start a second one) we finally have one lucky winner in what has become our biggest giveaway to date. In case anyone was worried about how this would all be tallied, we used random.org to generate a random number between 1 and 18,018 and located the comment that correlated with that number across both posts (although you guys can no longer access the comments on the first post, they’re all visible to us in our WordPress dashboard, so we were
Fab Freebie: West In Show
***Uh oh – looks like we like we hit capacity on this post with over 10,000 comments! But this giveaway is closed anyways, so I guess it’s okay.*** It’s no secret that we love West Elm (we own two daybeds and a desk among other things from their store). So let’s just say that we’ll be mighty jealous of the person who wins this week’s FIVE HUNDRED DOLLAR gift card there (four year blogiversaries are for big prizes, after all). And not that you asked, but if you need any help picking out what to buy – might we suggest some of these lurvely items below (Sherry had trouble picking just six things, so we
A Day In The Life Of A Home Blogger
As we mentioned yesterday, it’s Blogiversary Week, baby (still can’t believe it’s been four whole years). And since we shared a day in the life during our last annual celebration (and about a year before that too) it’s time for this year’s breakdown (similarities: no day is ever the same, differences: now we have a toddler running around and a 260+ page book we’re writing on the side). This year we had fun recording a full day from both of our perspectives so you can see what each of us (and even Clara and Burger) may be doing at any given time. Woop, here it is: 7:30 am – 8:00 am JOHN: Clara’s awake early
Celebrating Our Blogging Anniversary
It’s kind of unbelievable to us that it was four whole years ago that we started this little ol’ blog (just for friends and family members to drop in on our first home’s kitchen makeover). In the words of Gwen Stefani, that shhhh is bananas. So much has happened since then. And since we’re nothing but creatures of habit, we’re psyched to celebrate a week of blogiversary madness and behind the scenes hullabaloo as usual. Starting right now. Well tomorrow (Monday) to be exact. So raise the roof, y’all. It’s about to get festive up in here. These are a few of the things that we have on the agenda for this week: a day
Missoni At Target – What We Got
We get asked pretty frequently about where we find inspiration. The short answer: everywhere. Other blogs, design mags, real life, family and friends, clothing, nature, even reality TV. Yup, I’ll admit it. Who takes pictures of the TV for inspiration slash fun? This girl (points to self with thumbs). And then they get uploaded with all of our other photos and John dumps them into an iPhoto folder that’s aptly named “TV pics.” And every once in a while I come across them and click through and say “oh yeah that was Law & Order, I loved that ceiling” or “that headboard makes me all clammy, in a good way” or “poor actors slash reality
Restocking Our Fridge For Less
As many of you know, hurricane Irene was a total jerk to our neck of the woods. Not only did it knock trees into nearby homes, cars, poles, and roads, it also took the power out for a nice long time. Three days for us. But that was nothing compared to some other areas of our neighborhood (where it was out for over seven days), and other parts of Richmond (which didn’t get it back for close to two weeks). There was even a contest for the last person to get their power back on a local website. So yes, three power-less days were annoying, but it could have been waaay worse. The only thing
The House My Parents Downsized To
I don’t usually write these House Crashing posts, but this home in particular is very special to me. Well, at least it will be over time – it’s my parents’ new house here in Richmond. Since we literally crashed their pad for a few days post-Hurricane Irene (when our house had no power) and have spent many an evening hanging out over there, we figured it was high time we snapped some pics to share with you guys. That’s Dad and Mom right after moving day back in May (they’ve since painted the lavender door bright red). I’ve mentioned before how they sold their house of 32 years in Northern Virginia (aka, my childhood home)
Our Chihuahua’s First Teeth Cleaning
Burger had his first dentist appointment today. We had to leave him there all day since the “procedure” required putting him under. I guess it’s easier to clean a dog’s teeth when they’re not biting you every five seconds. Go figure. Although Burger just turns into a big puddle of wimp at the vet. Here he is whining at the door as we waited for the technician to take him away. We were sad all around. But healthy teeth = healthy dog. And we want Burger around for a nice long time. Happily, the cleaning was a success. We learned that chihuahuas have notoriously bad teeth, but Burger seems to be an exception. It was
Upgrading An Old Chandelier With Paint & A New Shade
Alternate punny post title: The Updated Light Fixture Blues. That’s right, we’ve got the blues, but we’re far from sad about our “new” light fixture in the office. We just opted for indigo blue spray paint and added a giant drum shade to our old brass friend. Hence the blues joke. But you’ll get a closer look in a minute. Patience, grasshopper. As a refresher, here’s what was there before (remember to ignore the lack of height due to the too-small frames leaning against the wall instead of proper hanging art and those we-probably-won’t-keep-them lamps on either side of our new desk). Our office was originally our house’s formal dining room, hence the whole formal