We’ve shared a few behind the scenes posts about how we take on side gigs, like this one about how our lighting collection came together, and this one and this one about our experiences with writing a book. So we thought it would be interesting to share a side gig that didn’t work out, despite putting lots of behind-the-scenes hours into it. You know we like to share the good, the bad, and the ugly – so why hide something that ended up being a big ol’ bust when we can tell you guys about it?
Without naming names, a very nice company that makes wool/cotton rugs approached us and said “Let’s do a Young House Love rug collection!” It was right about the time that we had started working on our lighting collection, so it felt like a natural extension to that project. Part of the reason we jumped at the lighting opportunity was that Shades of Light shared our vision for affordability. They liked the idea of working with us to create lights that were priced at $99 and under, which made the process more challenging (some nice-but-too-expensive designs got canned along the way) but keeping to our budget-minded roots meant that the whole project felt right for us. We were essentially designing things that we, as a customer, would buy (and did buy!).
We were also excited by the prospect of getting to design some cool yet affordable rugs made from nice natural materials (like cotton and wool, which we prefer in our own home) and the rug company was on board with that vision too. So across many months of emails, calls, and even through shipping samples back and forth, we collaborated with their designers and manufacturers to turn ideas into renderings… and eventually into real rugs! Check out how little Clara was during that initial part of the sampling process. There’s a nice arm tatt going on here, too.
We were really excited about how they were coming together. After establishing initial patterns, most of our work was in tweaking the color schemes and adjusting the scale. And the manufacturer was doing a great job of turning them into high quality, flatweave cotton rugs that we’d love to have in our own home. But the one thing that we were having trouble seeing eye-to-eye on was the price.
You know we’re always looking for a deal (some may even call us cheap… okay, we call ourselves cheap) so finding a good score on a rug is in our blood. In fact, we realized during this process that we’re not sure we’ve ever paid full price for a rug. So as the pricing on our designs started to come back significantly higher than we expected, it was like a metaphorical record scratch. If I could beatbox I’d make the noise and put it right here in the post. Oh heck, let’s just give it the ol’ college try. Yeerrrrrreeeeech. How was that?
The point is, we just kept asking ourselves how we could possibly ask people to pay a price that we wouldn’t consider ourselves. So after a couple of stressful phone calls and restless nights, we and the company came to the agreement that it wasn’t a good fit. There wasn’t much wiggle room in the prices, without compromising quality (nothing either of us wanted to do), and we just felt that it would be disingenuous to put our names on something that was outside of our own price range.
The good news is that the company was still able to move forward with producing and selling the rugs for the price they wanted, so the designs weren’t wasted (although I’m not sure if they’ve hit market yet or not). And it wasn’t a waste for us either. We learned a lot from the design process and we came out the other end with a clearer sense of the most important things for us to iron out whenever we collaborate (namely, quality and price point) – things that we’ll know to pin down a lot earlier in the process next time.
I think one obvious thing we’ve learned from this blogging journey of ours is how hard you’re driven to work when you work for yourself (the amount of effort that you put in can directly correlate with how much money you make for groceries that month) but we’ve also had to learn not to ever let the prospect of money talk louder than our gut instincts. If it feels wrong, we just have to gracefully bow out – even if it means we put in months of work and won’t make a dime if we walk away. It sure is a better option than putting our names on something that just doesn’t seem to fit (and feeling like big ol’ rug phonies).
So that’s the story of one side gig that never saw the light of day. Have you guys ever worked on something for a while and then realized it just didn’t mesh up with your initial intention of the project? How did it all go down?
JenWoodhouse.com says
You guys are a class act.
Kim says
Only seems fair to be compensated in some way for all the work that you guys put into the project even if it didn’t make it to fruition with the YHL stamp. Maybe something like one of those rugs you designed…
Lori Moore says
Yeah, if I hadn’t nailed down that you two were alright from the long time I’ve spent reading this blog, to the book I devoured in an evening and pull out to recommend to all my design-challenged friends and family, to getting a little thrill from an answered question or comment (Are you OUR Oprah?!) to watching a TWENTY MINUTE video and laughing and grinning my fool head off even though I lack the attention span to watch all the way to the end of the Hump Day commercial, I would have realized it when you refused to make me covet YHL rugs that would make my wallet cry sad clown tears. You guys pretty much rock.
Any chance you at least got to keep samples?
YoungHouseLove says
Sadly those went back to them after every round of feedback, but we have pictures to remember them by!
xo
s
Julia says
I’m so bummed to hear you list cost as a primary factor in deciding what goods you’re willing to put your names on, rather than whether or not the humans making the goods are treated, well, like humans. The fact that the rugs you designed were to be made in India and India also includes some rug manufacturers with basic labor standards (I think asking suppliers to not use child or slave/forced/prison labor is so little as to not deserve applause) is NOT any indication that the rugs that would bear your names would be made in similar conditions, let alone under good and safe working conditions.
I get that it’s difficult to source ethical/green options. I’m a designer and that has often been an issue for me. Sometimes I work through it by not going to production with an item. Other times I pick a more expensive option and let my customers know the reason. Often I also use it to try to raise questions about how we can be both ethical individuals and happy consumers.
I tend to be far more of a tightwad than you guys, but I don’t do it on the backs of workers. My deals usually come from a bit more leg/brain/handy work, rather than by finding deals from the country with the weakest labor standards and laxest environmental laws. I hope you reconsider the order in which you hold your values. I’m all for being thrifty, but not when it just means that someone else with less power than me is paying the price.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Julia! I agree with you and that is important to us. Our rugs were going to be made by the same manufacturer that West Elm uses, which comforts us since they have a lot of fair trade standards and anti-child-labor standards. We definitely don’t value compromising ethics or lowering moral standards in the name of cheap. In fact our book was printed right here in the US (even though China printing is cheaper) and our lighting line is made locally.
xo
s
Kasia says
This is yet another example of why I want to be you guys when I grow up. Or maybe right now, whichever.
You guys rock. The end.
xo, Kasia
Talya says
Hi guys!
Question…what size is the rug you had in your living room and is now in Clara’s room? I am needing a large rug but can’t seem to find anything larger than 8×10. Yours seems bigger?
Thanks!
Talya
YoungHouseLove says
That baby’s 10 x 14″! We have the best luck finding those at local places (rug stores, decorating outlets, etc) although sometimes sites like Pottery Barn (or the PB Outlet) will have a sale and those sizes are there too.
xo
s
Marie says
You say in the post that “After establishing initial patterns, most of our work was in tweaking the color schemes and adjusting the scale.” It’s worded a little confusingly, can you elaborate on what that means? Does it mean that someone else “established the pattern” and you just picked the color? Or did you design the pattern as well?
YoungHouseLove says
The process was a lot like our lighting line, so we showed inspiration (sketches, images, patterns on other items like fabric and pillows that we thought we could alter in some way to make them our own, etc) and their designers (who know what’s possible and what’s not and how to create something new from inspiration so it’s not just copying something else) create photoshop renderings (tons of them!) and we sort through them (they’re numbered) and pick the ones we like and then choose colorways (using a Pantone deck we’ll say “this blue with this navy for the first pattern” or “this platinum with white and charcoal for the second pattern.” Then they get them made in small samples (like 18″ x 18″) and send those over and we see how the colors/patterns look in real life and make adjustments from there (we might say “the whole pattern should be 20% bigger because it looks a little busy” or “that color doesn’t really translate to cotton and looks washed out so let’s try this one.” It was a really interesting process. There’s lots of tweaking and remaking until they all look like something we’d buy/lovingly pet.
xo
s
Marie says
Thanks so much for the response! I have no idea how to do anything artistic or creative (the only thing I’ve ever “designed” was a photobook where I basically just dropped in photos… hah) so the follow-up description was great.
YoungHouseLove says
Sure! It was a really fun process! And so interesting to see how colors came out on textiles like rugs (they really did change a lot sometimes!).
xo
s
MicheleLouise says
I hope down the road you can maybe find a company to work with on something like this. Stylish rugs of good quality with a reasonable price are had to find. And my idea of reasonable price is actually on the higher end of yours, $1000-1400 for a 8×10 or better yet a 10×14 would be totally reasonable to me.
That could be a really interesting post/poll to do. A survey of what price ranges your readers feel are reasonable for things like
Art
Rugs
Furniture
Lamps
Light fixtures
Window coverings
YoungHouseLove says
Yes! Someone else commented about that with a different slant (how much your “cap” is for items like that now, vs if you cap would change as your income grows – or would you just never pay more than $100 on a pillow even if you’re a millionaire someday). So interesting!
xo
s
Kathryn says
Love Integrity! Stay true to yourselves. What a lesson to teach Clara, good parenting.
Olivia says
Nice rugs are very expensive to produce, even machine-loomed rugs. The quality of the wool or cotton is a factor, as is the sheer amount of fabric fiber in a rug. Cheap rugs are either made with man-made materials (derived from petroleum) or are used. All Persian rugs, the real ones, available in the US are used. For a handmade rug from the Silk Road, these are the steps involved: grow the sheep, shear the sheep, card the wool, spin the wool into yarn, dye the yarn, set up the loom, weave the rug, tie in the woof yarns as you go along, cut the finished rug off the loom, shave the woof yarns to an even height, knot the fringe, walk on the rug in bare feet to condition the wool (really!), maybe leave it in the sun and rain to give it a patina of age, sell it to one of the many middlemen who sell it on until it gets to the US. Once here, an affluent person will buy it for full price ($1000 – $10,000, depending on size, and of course more for very large carpets), who will pass it on to their children or sell it at an estate sale when they die. Some end up in antique shops, some end up in oriental rug shops, some end up at Greenfront. There are also large carpet manufacturing businesses in Pakistan, India, and China that produce very inexpensive reproductions, and these are the ones that we consider affordable, but they aren’t as pretty, in my opinion. Anyway, the prices that your rugs would have sold for seem quite fair to me.
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Olivia! Our rugs were going to be cotton flatweaves, so there wasn’t going to be any wool or thickness going on. And because so many other sources sold those types of rugs for under 1K (many highly-rated flatweaves are around $799 from places like West Elm) we were worried it felt like a few “levels” higher than what other stores (where we and our readers already shop) were selling them for. We even learned they were being made by the same fair-trade manufacturer in India that West Elm uses, so we thought the prices should at least be comparable if the quality was exactly the same.
xo,
s
karen @ paperfancy.com says
HI Sherry,
Just wondering if you choose your rugs first and then plan the room around it.
~karen
YoungHouseLove says
It really can go either way! We’ve gotten them towards the end of a room’s evolution or closer to the start, so you can’t really go wrong either way!
xo
s
Nicole B. says
So sweet. Your parents must be so dang proud of you both. You seem so grounded and wise for making choices like this (and the whole no swag policy). As a reader, I really appreciate it & look up to you guys. If I had a super successful blog, it would be difficult to say no to such perks! Ya’ll rock.
<3 Nicole B.
Paige says
Thank you for your honesty and integrity. This is why I’m a reader and a fan.
Amanda says
Way to be true to you. It is why you are such a success.
Kahley says
Ohhhh MAN!!! I was SOOOOO SO SO SO excited as I started reading because I love area rugs too of course, and the thought of affordable area rugs online made me GIDDY TO THE CORE!!! As I read on I was totally disappointed about the no rug deal – BUT really appreciate why it fell through. You guys are great:) Still wish I coulda got my hands on some inexpensive Young House Love designed rugs though – cause we all know they would have been FANTASTIC!
Gwen, The Makerista says
This says so much about you all. Way to stick to your character and stay grounded in this amazing journey you have been given and worked hard to maintain. I really admire you!
Lori Moore says
D’oh! If I had read through all the comments, I would have known that, and you wouldn’t have to answer the same question 25 times. My bad!
YoungHouseLove says
No worries at all!
xo
s
Betsy says
I’m on of your “exceptional” readers – over 60. My husband of 35 years and I have started referring to Old House Love. It gets (even) better!
YoungHouseLove says
Exceptional = the perfect description. I love it!
xo
s
Carolyn says
Rugs under the rugs! Really loved the article and the picture of that baby :)
andrea says
The one Clara is riding totally looks up my alley -grayish Moroccan geometric design? Yes please!
Also, I will always be terribly impressed at how gracious you are to some of the sanctimonious tw*ts who comment on your posts. Seriously, you guys are too good.
Lauren H says
Last year I spent a VERY long time working on a mock trial unit for one of my middle school classes–to go along with a book I was teaching. I put it all together and carefully designed the order of instruction when I realized that there just wasn’t time in the year to do it.
It was sad to walk away from the long unit, but I was able to put it up on a teacher-generated resource site and every now and then someone buys it for a few dollars, so it wasn’t a complete waste.
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, that was so nice to put it on a site for others!
xo
s
Sally says
I think you guys have made your style accessible to all- and this doesn’t mean you can’t take on big projects (like designing the HH house or doing a collection) but it’s impressive that you can walk away from projects even when the rugs were probably really awesome. Rugs for the people!
Barb Hochstein says
Love this! I’m a high school personal finance teacher and I’m sharing this with my students – because you stuck to your values – you looked at the opportunity costs and the trade-off and didn’t compromise on what you valued most. Awesome lesson learned and one to share!
Johanna says
YHL, I love reading your blog, but while cheap goods may be good for you, it is TERRIBLE for the rest of the world and in particular, CHILDREN. May I suggest taking a look at this organization and consider supporting them. http://www.goodweave.org/home.php They are called GoodWeave and their mission is “to end child labor in the carpet industry and to offer educational opportunities to children in Nepal, India and Afghanistan.” I too have a daughter and she’s about the same age as Clara. Had she been born elsewhere, this could have been her fate. CHEAP is not always GOOD.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Johanna! I agree with you and that is important to us as well – will check out that link you shared right now! Our rugs were going to be made by the same manufacturer that West Elm uses, which comforts us since they have a lot of fair trade standards and anti-child-labor standards. We definitely don’t value compromising ethics or lowering moral standards in the name of cheap. In fact our book was printed right here in the US (even though China printing is cheaper) and our lighting line is made locally.
xo
s
Emmie says
As so many have said – this is why I love you guys! Your integrity shines through with each and every post! What’s it all worth if you can’t sleep at night – right?!
I’ve run into you around town and always say hi and you guys are always so great. Thanks for keeping it real!
Jodi says
Hi…just answering my own question from this post. Any other Aussies looking for ‘on trend’ big rugs at budget prices go checkout fishpond.com Just found two PERFECT rugs for my lounge and family rooms for less than $400 for both with FREE SHIPPING.
OMG i’m so excited.
I haven’t checked out just yet, need the hubster to come home and OK my selections before I put in the credit card details. But i’ve gone all the way to checkout without any “sorry, we don’t ship to this address” heartbreakers (aussie online shoppers, can you feel me?) popping up so i’m pretty sure it’ll be all good.
YoungHouseLove says
That’s awesome Jodi!
xo
s
Kathy S says
I hear you about rugs — I only buy them on sale with as many concessions as I can get! My problem is I have very expensive taste (apparently) — there was a rug store going out of business and we popped by to check it out (their ads claimed up to 50% off!) and I fell in love with a beautiful cream and blue rug. It had some problems though — it was gigantic and, even after the discount, was $82000! :o
YoungHouseLove says
WOAH!
xo
s
Michelle says
This is exactly why I love you guys as well! So happy that you guys are humble enough to admit things that don’t work. :) Thx!