For our first blogiversary we announced a few of our goals going into year two and we’re back to see how we did and set some new ones as we move towards year three.
Check out my calves. Anyway, last year we decided to publicly declare our goals because while writing them down in a notepad could work, we figured publishing them for all to see would really light a fire under our rumps (what can we say, we work best under pressure). Miraculously, we did pretty well….
Last Year’s Goal: Get Your Read – We wanna write more fun and interactive posts like this (which resulted in this). How We Did: Not bad. We realized how fun it was to ask for your opinions and ideas, so from ending almost every post in a question to starting interactive “Let’s Tackle It Together” projects and reoccurring Burning Question posts, we regularly ask for your thoughts. It’s just more fun to blog when it feels like a conversation (what fun is talking if nobody talks back?) so thanks for taking the time to weight in!
Last Year’s Goal: Change The Scenery- I’ll take over John’s role as “video guy” so he can grace you with his presence in one of our upcoming video tours (as opposed to my overexposed mug). How We Did: Pretty good. John has selflessly decided to grace us with his presence in an abundance of videos, so from garage cleaning and rhino assembling to road tripping and stripe painting, he’s not just the man behind the camera anymore.
Last Year’s Goal: Listen Up- We’re hearing that you guys would love regular features like $0 room makeovers and a deal of the week write-up so stay tuned for more of what you want in the next 12 months. How We Did: From writing about our favorite steals and deals (like this paint brush, this soap dispenser, and this vacuum) to whipping up the zero dollar same-day room makeover below (and sharing tons of super affordable Reader Redesigns) we’re feeling pretty good. And we have even more affordable ideas in the pipeline for year three.
Last Year’s Goal: Seriously Detox- We vow to further embrace eco-friendly products and practices- and solicit lots of help along the way (we’re loving all the comments you guys left us here). How We Did: Not too shabby. We’re psyched to have greened up our home with everything from a homemade backyard compost container and an edible garden to a DIY rain barrel. And we even shared how we upgraded to eco friendly pans and an organic mattress. We also learned about natural ways to do everything from getting rid of ants to dying Easter eggs… and teaming up with Envirosax to offer up a slew of chic little reusable shopping bags was one of our favorite fab freebies to date.
Last Year’s Goal: Kid Around- We’re dying to do a quickie same-day children’s room makeover (like we did to Carrie’s Philly apartment except for a delightful & deserving kid) so stick around for that in the coming months. How We Did: Well, we haven’t done a same-day kids room makeover (although we did do another affordable same-day makeover for Carrie, pictured below) but we’re super excited to not only have shared some pretty great reader submitted kids’ rooms, but also to have helped John’s older sister transform an extra bedroom into a nursery over the course of a few weeks (and on a serious budget). Stay tuned for the final nursery reveal coming soon… along with the baby!
Last Year’s Goal: Get The Goods- We’d love to expand our shop offerings beyond prints and portraits and hope to someday supply home accessories and accents to swankify the world one room at a time. How We Did: Here’s where we fell short. We did look into offering up some pretty amazing decor stuff, but with blogging our little hearts out and all the other makeover projects that we take on we just haven’t found the time to research buying in bulk and shipping those objects safely enough to jump in with both feet. Yet. But we’re suuuuper excited to introduce YHL tees as a wearable addition to our shop, and we’re overjoyed at the warm reception you guys have given them (we already had to have more made to keep up with your orders!).
Last Year’s Goal: Tech Things Up- Young House Love in 3-D? Smell-o-vision? Ok maybe not, but we’d love to become more technologically savvy so nothing stands in our way when it comes to bringing you fresh and fabulous content in the coming year. How We Did: We feel pretty good on this front. We’ve shared weekly videos for the past few months and have even started a video page to keep everything in one spot (you know we’re suckers for a little organization).
Last Year’s Goal: Be More Social- We’d love to make better use of Twitter, Facebook, and all that other fun social media that we’re already using (but not as well as we could). How We Did: Done and done. We have been actively using Twitter and Facebook to share breaking news and tell everyone what we’re up to (from mundane daily life tidbits to major makeover-related sneak peeks). We’ve even used them to share some video outtakes and bloopers and leak exclusive clues leading up to this big reveal in December (and no, I wasn’t pregnant).
Last Year’s Goal: Get Around- We’d really like to house crash more homes outside the bounds of our delightful hometown. So cross your fingers that we wiggle our way into abodes far and wide for the inside scoop on how people live from coast to coast. How We Did: Oh happy day. We were fortunate enough to house crash people beyond state lines, like the two amazing homes seen below (here’s one, here’s the other). We also shared our insane 40 hour road trip, crashed a wedding in Texas, and have even more travel-related content planned for this year.
Last Year’s Goal: Enjoy The Ride- Sure blogging is a lot of typing, uploading, editing, and photoshopping, but we love every minute of it (well, almost every minute). So when we’re having one of those days when our server is taunting us or our latest post somehow deleted itself, we want to remember how lucky we are to do what we love every single day. How We Did: We survived! While running Young House Love is definitely not the easiest job we’ve ever had, it’s truly our passion and we love what we do. Sure we’re still working nights, weekends and even vacations, but we’re still quick to remind ourselves that the best things in life don’t just fall into your lap but are things that you work hard to accomplish.
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So that’s the rundown of last year’s goals. Here’s hoping we do as well this year with these:
Hit The Road- We’d love to travel more and house crash even more amazing homes around the country (and beyond?).
Get Cracking At Home- We’ve slowly been saving our pennies and planning our attack when it comes to finishing our basement and completely gutting our bathroom. And we’re psyched to announce that we’re pretty close to picking up our sledgehammers and paint brushes. This year’s definitely the year for both of these projects and then some…
Share The Process- Many people have requested info far beyond the step by step process of painting a brick fireplace or making bedside built-ins. They want the pre-planning breakdown and all the dirty details about why we choose what we choose (from colors to materials and even room layouts and beyond). So when it comes to our impending basement and bathroom projects, we won’t only share the before and afters, but we’ll detail the planning process to better demonstrate how we evaluate a space and determine which functions and materials are a priority to us- and why.
Do More With Less Moolah- From totally free easy upgrades to super cheap ways to spiff up a room, we’re obsessed with sharing more tips for living large on less.
Put Faces To Screen Names- We want to get out in the community (and even motor around the country) to meet you guys in the flesh. We’d love to arrange anything from a casual local gathering to on-the-road meet ups, so stay tuned. And how much fun would it be to shop together? Anyone up for meeting at Targets, Ikeas and TJ Maxx stores around the country? Sounds like a good time to us.
Sling The Swag- We’d love to keep giving you guys cool stuff every single week, and even up the ante with bigger and better prizes whenever possible. Last year we vowed to do our best to sniff out some great freebies (after countless requests from you guys on last year’s survey) and 365 days later we’re thrilled that we’ve kept that ball rolling and hosted over 40 super fun giveaways to date (where we doled out over $6000 worth of stuff!).
Expand The Clan?- This coming year just miiiight be the year of the baby. We’re definitely not making any promises, but we’ll see how things go and may actually end up with a nursery makeover at the end of year three (or the beginning of year four- kids do take a while to bake…).
So that’s what we have in mind for the future of Young House Love. And of course we’re still tabulating your feedback from Tuesday’s reader questionnaire so we’ll see if any other ideas float to the surface. In the meantime, what about you guys? Any goals for the next 365 days that you wanna share with the world? It really does seem to help get ‘er done when you declare them on the internet for all to see. So do tell.
Slightly altered image found here.
Sounds like a good plan! Good luck with the baby baking! ;)
Sherry,
My hotel discount offer is still available when you guys decide to head to Charleston (or anywhere in the US for that matter)
Fe
Thanks Fe! We can’t wait to plan another road trip!
xo,
s
Goal for 2010: Turn our horrible, bland, battle-ship gray “Nimitz” 1968 bi-level house into a home that real people can actually live in.
Send help.
Great goals for the next year! I’m FIRST in line to watch your blow-by-blow planning process for your basement job! My 1950’s basement is in DIRE need of some help, so I’ll stay tuned!
Oh my goodness! I can’t believe you’re putting a tentative time plan together for Baby YHL (at least publicly, now)! I’m soooooo super excited.
P.S. Pleeeeeaaaaaase come house crash at my place ~ or at least a nearby Target. Haha! Love you guys!
Your goals for year three sound fantastic!! Can’t wait to come along for the ride. And let me know when you’re in the Minneapolis area! Target is headquartered in MN you know… :)
WOW, I am impressed. Congrats and I can’t wait for the next year. I am especially excited for the basement…Good Luck.
Keighley @ TheBellaLife
YES to the baby baking :)
Greetings from england!
OMG…….*the* soap dispenser had a mention–woohoo!
I am so psyched that you plan on renovating the basement……….can not wait to see that.
Excited to see a shopping trip w/you guys and readers from any store whatsoever.
Great plans!! Fun times!!
How about green cleaning? I love all your green posts and product info. I would love to see more about how you clean green. I’ve been purchasing my eco-friendly laundry detergent and cleaners but hope to take a stab at making my own. I’d be very curious what YHL does.
Keep up the great (and entertaining) work!
Hey Liz,
That’s such a good one that we forgot! It’s definitely on the agenda and we’ve already started to dabble!
xo,
s
What great goals. We will hopefully be baking a baby this year too. ;-) I would love to meet up with you guys in Long Island’s IKEA or Target or any other store. Cool idea. Best wishes to you and John for another great year ahead of you both. Can’t wait to see what you guys have instore for all of us to be inspired with. ;-)
Count me in. I’m hooked for another year. A side note… I’m alright with you not ‘sharing the process’ of ‘expanding the clan’. Hehe.
I’m brand new to your blog – found you through DIY magazine – and quickly became hooked. And just to let you know, I’m no newbie to home ownership; we’re on our fourth house, and after spending many hours DIY-ing it at all of them, I STILL learn a lot from you guys! Congratulations on your blogiversary!
I’m so excited for your basement planning! I’m researching ways to waterproof and improve my sad and dark basement (circa 1890!), it would be great to leverage off your experience a bit. I’m still a newbie when it comes to home improvement and I’m doing most of this solo, hoo boy. I
f you roadtrip up to Connecticut I’m there!
Just reading about your daily to-do lists makes me tired–and I own a business, work 40+ hours a week, am in grad school, and am finishing up the remodel on my cutsie ranch, so needless to say, it takes a lot to top that!
You two impress me! I wish the husband and I weren’t so far away (Kansas) because you guys are right up our friendly alley. If you want to come to Kansas, you’re welcome any time! Or if you venture this way for a trip to IKEA and want to pick us up on the way, we’re down for that, too!!! I’ve never been to IKEA, but I’ve dreamed of it’s fantasticness!!
Keep up the amazing work, you two!
P.S. I have 82-year-old neighbors who are building a pergola for their back porch by themselves (we’ve offered to help, but all they’ll take is help holding the ladder and a tool or two from our garage)! I think this will probably be the likes of you two in 50-60 years :)
I can not wait for the basement renovation! I have a huge basement – most of it is a finished basement, but I have one room that needs to be a craft/storage area. I think I will be working on that within the next 6 mo. I am also thinking IKEA will be my main inspiration.
Great list for YHL year 3! I am looking forward to your trips and master bath re-do. Our master bath is in serious need of gutting, unfortunately is not in the cards for 2010. I’m hoping to learn a lot from yours though.
Our next year includes setting up a nursery our first baby – due Jan. 25! (Happy to hear you guys might possibly, maybe, be joining parenting ranks soon.) We also hope to finish our TV room. Maybe I’ll have some before and afters to share if either comes out well.
Another post/topic idea for you: How do you keep your house clean with Burger? No dog smell? We have a lab puppy and I feel like we have constantly scrub & vacuum to keep the house from smelling like our pooch.
I’m so glad I found your blog this year, and it helped to inspire me to re-boot my own blog this summer. Congrats on all the accomplishments, and I look forward to seeing what you have in store over the next 356!
You should *definitely* road trip to Iowa. Although we don’t actually HAVE an IKEA within 4 hours (sadly, the closest one is Minneapolis), Target abounds! (I live a block away from one, which is awesome…and dangerous…awesomely dangerous? Dangerously awesome?) Very excited to read all of the projects you have coming down the pipe in year 3. :)
Let the good times roll! Looking forward to the upcoming year!
Toronto, Ontario (and surrounding area) is a lovely place to visit. Just sayin’!
Cheers!
I think it’s hilarious that the YHL papparazzi is so eager for you to make a little Youngster. (young youngster, ha.)
Goals for the coming months: Finish my living room (on a budget, of course), make my tiny hall fabulous, and focus on tiny projects that are rental-friendly. Oh! And attempt to tweak the interior of at least one room enough to feel comfy submitting it to ya’ll as a Reader Redesign. :)
*when I said hilarious I meant in a cute way, not in a mean way. :) fyi.
yay! year three looks to be shaping up nicely! oh, and feel free to stop by cincinnati/indianapolis…I looove a good target shopping spree!
While I am SUPER excited for a possible addition to the YHL clan (LOVE babies!), I’m selfishly most excited for the possible group shopping trips. There’s an IKEA just up the road from you guys (on 95 – ewh) and down from us that I’d LOVE to meet you at! (or, honestly, anywhere else between Richmond and DC) And I’m fairly certain (ah-hem) that I could gather up some other eager readers to bring along.
You know all that anyone heard on that post was BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope I can get up to Richmond soon and I want to meet up with you guys!
Congrats on all your accomplishments this past year – I’m sure this coming year will be even better. I’m looking forward to the basement redo – any ideas what you’ll use it for? Bigger office? Man Cave for John? Cheers to good things for both of you + some if you expand the clan.
My birthday was yesterday and I like to post a yearly birthday to do list – this year it’s 27 things to do before I turn 28: http://sweetsimplebliss.com/?p=281 (totally wish I was tech savvy enough to get that to link) sigh
Sounds like a great plan! Can’t wait for all the new content!
I think you guys did a fab job accomplishing your goals – and I CAN’T WAIT to see what you do with the basement! :)
It’s awesome to see how much you’ve accomplished in a year! I’m exhausted just reading about it. Based on year 3 goals, I’m definitely going to keep tuning in to see what’s up at YHL. Anytime you want to take a brief trip north to south-central PA, let me know! Sadly, there is a void in my life (hometown) where IKEA should go, but we DO have a Christmas Tree Shops, and if you’ve never been there, I definitely recommend a trip there.
glad a baby’s included in this year’s plan! best of luck! :)
I’m so excited for you guys! Love the goals! Year Three is going to be the best YHL ever <3
I am so inspired by the places you shop! West Elm, Target, Ikea, even Walmart. I have found and duplicated many a unique and “never thought of that” ideas from your site, especially the Target vase as a t.p. holder. (My husband still laughs at me for that one.)Also, took a road trip to the nearest Ikea, which is about an hour away, but it paled in comparison to the ones you have visited. Very warehousy with no design to it at all. Guess I’ll have to talk hubby into a stop at their Richmond store when we visit the area- VA is one of our favorite vacation spots. Keep up the never-ending inspiration with many more successful years of blogging- love you guys,you are my DIY heros!
HOT legs, Sherry:)Here’s to another great year!
I’m anxious and excited to see another year be successful for you both!
Great accomplishments and goals! That is so exciting about the “Put Faces To Screen Names” goal. Maybe going around and giving advice to other home renovators and then videotaping it? :)
Today is your blog’s anniversary and also happens to be the one year anniversary of moving into the first home that I helped pick out and that has my name on the mortgage! My husband and I have been tackling a lot of our own house projects and your blog has been a great source of tips and inspiration and fun!
And if you’re ever in PA, (we live about 45 min. from Philly)I’d love to take a shopping trip! I’d love to offer up my home for housecrashing, but I’m not sure it’s there just yet!
Happy happy to everything…you guys rock!
Nice! Taking a page from Eddie Ross, eh? I’d totally meet up with you guys for a run through some of our thrift stores and “antique” malls!!! :)
I also love that you’re going to be going through your PRE-PROJECT step-by-step thought process. I’ve been trying to break down my thoughts and projects more on my own barely read blog, too. I think people like to read how big ideas get broken down into doable details. Looking forward to it reading your mind, ha.
XO,
Jacci
Oh, and although your musckles are indeed nice to look at, Sherry – my own man has some even better soccer legs. Sorry to break it to ya.
Congrats and thanks for being so dedicated to what you do, I know your grateful readers appreciate it!! : )
I’m with Ashley, can’t believe you made public the baby may be in the plans for next year….prepare to get the baby question 4 million times more than previously!! So exciting!!
Our goals for the next year are to move to a new city (Bloomington, IN) once my husband graduates and then hopefully buy our first house!! We’re looking into some fixer-uppers, can’t wait to get our hands dirty with a few DIY projects courtesy of YHL!!!
PS I’m all for a meet up, do you think Target could handle the droves of people that will want to come meet you??! : )
Great list! I’m very excited to see that a baby is in the plan. Have fun with that one! ;)
Yay for baby-making! I know, I read all of that and the baby got me the most excited. But all of the plans for the site sound awesome, too.
Happy anniversary!
Get your butts up to Boston! I’m sure that by the time you get around to this trip, I’ll still be working on my house – perhaps a blogger crossover makeover? It’d be a blast to collaborate with you guys! I can just picture us running around the local Ikea like a bunch of giddy design geeks :)
I would love love love to go shopping with you guys!! Please let me know if you plan another trip to Manhattan to see John’s sister, Sherry’s brother, or just the fabulousity of the outlets at Woodbury Common!
PS — I have been meaning to ask if you guys know about OneKingsLane.com, it is an online home decor outlet with great limited-duration sales on top brands. I am not in any way affiliated with them, I just love to bargain-hunt, and I have gotten some great accent pieces from brands like Atticus and Lunares from them at >50% off. Probably not something you can use for clients in your room re-do’s as everything is limited time and something you suggest could be sold out by the time a client sees the mood board, but a great resource for anyone trying to feather their nest for less.
Hey Lisa,
We do know about OneKingsLane! And you’re right, it’s a great resource for anyone with a penchant for bargains. Thanks so much for bringing it up! Everyone reading this, definitely check it out!
xo,
s
Thanks for sharing your goals, I can’t wait to see all of the things you have cooked up for the next year. Especially the baby baking! Talk about an exciting project!
If you have a reader meet-up in the Philly area, count me in!
Congratulations on reaching this milestone guys. I only found you when you hooked up with Style Me Pretty … but I’ve been hooked on YHL ever since. Ater 12 months in our house, I’m itching to get started on making it over from boring cream box to stylish home and want to thank you for your inspiration and being so generous in your sharing. I’m also inspired as a blogger by your tenacity and success. Hope I’ll be celebrating my first blogaversary next May and still around at the two year mark.
congrats on the blog anniversary! I’m all about putting my goals out there too. I call it my Niner Project, completing 99 goals in 999 days. Good luck on yours!
So, I went back to your FAQ tab to check out your floor plan, and I don’t see access or steps to the basement you plan on redoing. Am I overlooking it? Is it an outside entrance?
Hey Erin,
Yes! It’s a separate entry basement that we primarily use for storage (and collecting spiderwebs apparently). We’ll be sure to include more photos and maybe even a floor plan when we tackle the makeover in the coming months. Stay tuned…
xo,
s
ooohh my goshhh YES PLEASE come shopping with em! HOW FUN WOULD THAT BE?
I LOVE LOVE LOVE TARGET—Home goods…tj maxx….all of it. oh oh oh–crossing my fingers you come towards the philly, west chester, PA area-
yippee!
~Katie
My favorite: Put Faces To Screen Names and Expand the Clan? Whether they happen or not, it’s still exciting to know that you want both of these to happen.
My goals in the next year-ish: make it through college with all of my brain intact (and I don’t mean from excess partying, but from all the “knowledge” I’m cramming into my noggin). I also just want to get out and experience things more, which I am learning to do more of with a tight budget. You both have inspired me so much in the past year since I’ve been following YHL and I can’t wait to see what the next year brings!
I love the idea of green cleaning. Also, it’d be great to see a shopping trip in action. What catches your eye, great uses for things, etc… I know you did this with IKEA earlier and it was a great read. It’s always interesting to see products that catch someone’s eye that I might not catch.