Every year when our blogiversary arrives, we take a moment to set fresh goals. So here are three clear objectives we plan to focus on over the next 12 months. A public commitment helps keep us accountable, so without further ado, here are the big priorities we’ll be working toward (and yes, speaking of big, check out my ridiculous calves).
Goal Numero Uno: Move On — As we recently shared, we’re preparing to leave our beloved house. It’s a bittersweet transition, but we’re excited to find a new space to make our own and to document the entire process for readers and our family. This goal is about tackling more projects and sharing both small, inexpensive makeovers and larger renovations. We want to show the full story: befores, durings, afters, setbacks and do-overs—everything that comes with real-life DIY. Many of you have asked for more insight into the how and why, not just the finished photos, so we’ll share a lot more of the decision-making: selecting a whole-house paint palette, organizing a pantry (if we’re lucky enough to have one), dealing with dated wallpaper or wood paneling, and other everyday challenges and victories. Expect practical tutorials, honest reflections on what worked and what didn’t, and plenty of hands-on project coverage as we refresh a new home.
Goal Numero Dos: Loosen Up — Lately our posting schedule has felt very regimented, and we want to get back to a looser, more spontaneous approach. Instead of maintaining a large queue of scheduled posts and always aiming for two per day or a reveal on a specific weekday, we want the freedom to share things as they happen. That might mean fewer posts some weeks, but it also means surprise updates on weekends, impromptu quick posts early in the morning, or a big reveal on an unexpected day. We miss the thrill of writing something one day and sharing it the next.
We’d also like to balance long, in-depth posts with shorter, more frequent updates. Not everything needs to be 2,000 words; sometimes short and sweet is more useful and more fun. Moving toward this more flexible, real-time rhythm will let us be more authentic and let you follow along more naturally. Especially with selling our current house and touring potential new homes, there will be many small updates—from packing and staging to appointments and house-hunting notes. Some weeks will be jam-packed, others quieter, but our aim is to reflect real life: the wins, the setbacks, and the everyday moments that make the process relatable.
Goal Numero Tres: Get Real — Television renovations often compress weeks of work into tidy half-hour before-and-after segments. One of the strengths of blogging is the ability to show everything in between. In the early days of this site, we posted updates as events happened. If our cabinets arrived one day, we wrote about it that day. If a store sold our washer and dryer by mistake, we shared the mishap. We didn’t wait until the entire kitchen was finished—we documented each step, each lesson, and every small victory.
Recently we fell into a pattern of waiting until projects were perfectly wrapped up before writing. That polished approach has its place, but it loses the texture of the process. Going forward, we want to bring back that makeover-diary approach. If a project flops, we’ll be honest and laugh about it. If we’re up at dawn at the hardware store for baseboards, we’ll tell you. If something looks less than ideal for a while, we’ll show it. If we’re excited about a new find, we’ll gush. Those ordinary, in-progress moments are valuable and often more helpful than a single final photo.
We realize these off-the-cuff changes might not be everyone’s cup of tea—some readers may prefer tightly produced content while others will enjoy the candid updates. After years of blogging we’ve learned you can’t please everyone all the time, so we’ll follow our instincts and let the blog evolve. Our goal is to continue sharing the projects we love, the decisions we wrestle with, and the everyday reality of renovating, decorating, and living in a home. The blog will serve as a chronicle of our hands-on life, and our virtual door remains open to anyone who wants to drop by and see what we’re up to.
Psst — the first image used in an earlier post inspired one of our photos, and another image informed a different post; we added our own edits to personalize them.