Thank you to everyone who has told us to “go rest” or to take a breather after this showhouse marathon before the baby arrives. We really appreciate the encouragement. We are still at the house every day, photographing each remaining room for after photos and source lists, and we hope to record a video tour soon. That said, we fully intend to sit down and breathe for a moment as soon as we finish documenting everything.
Amid the final hectic week of showhouse prep, another exciting thing happened that we had to share: seeing our line of hooks and rails in the real world. It has been surreal and incredibly rewarding to spot them on Target shelves, in your hands, on your walls, and even next to your dogs and babies.
We’d been living in a bit of a bubble with the launch, so it felt amazing to see Instagrams, tweets, and Facebook photos from many of you. We can’t let another day go by without saying thank you for being part of this latest adventure of ours — we are so grateful for every message and photo.
The collection began appearing in Target stores last week and will be carried in most U.S. locations for a limited time. Many of you sent photos of the store end cap before we ever saw it in person, which was wild—and when we finally saw it ourselves, our brains kind of exploded.
The home improvement department at Target also picked up a few other DIY items, like paint and removable wallpaper. For the first time they are stocking our book in an exclusive paperback edition in stores, which was an exciting milestone for us.
One surprising and fun part of the process was packaging design. We had been so focused on how the products would look that when the design agency asked for our input on packaging we were pleasantly caught off guard. The graphic designers took inspiration from the colors and themes that frequently appear on our blog and offered smart, subtle ideas.
Together we made small but meaningful adjustments. For instance, we ditched a version of our blog backdrop—the small gray heart pattern—behind the products in favor of a cleaner solid gray, which made the items read as less busy on the shelf. We loved the suggestion to add a wood-grain detail to the sides of the packaging for a tactile, homey feel.
Funny story: the wood grain on the box is actually a photo of our real kitchen table. What began as a plan to use a generic texture from a stock library turned into a genuine snapshot of the table we used during product photography last November. Since that surface had already become the de facto backdrop for a lot of our photos, it made sense to use it on the packaging. So yes—our real kitchen table appears on the side of each box.
We also helped choose the photos for the back of the package and wrote the copy that explains the inspiration behind each item. That gave us a chance to share little personal touches—like an octopus painting by Clara next to a ceramic octopus that Sherry received a few years ago, or Burger, our four-legged muse, making a cameo. That same packaging copy is what appears in the product overview area online for each item.
Now that we can use the hooks freely without spoiling anything, we’ve installed them around the showhouse, which has been the primary focus of our attention lately. In the girl’s bedroom we installed a wood hook rail after painting the walls a deep blue and added a mix of oil-rubbed bronze hooks. This version of the rail includes a ledge, which provides handy extra storage.
For the boy’s room we used a no-ledge rail and painted a diagonal stripe of yellow across the bottom using painter’s tape, leaving the top in natural wood for contrast. In the master bedroom closet we installed a trio of doorknob hooks—two larger beaded knobs flanking a smaller hex knob. We still need to shoot that room, but we’re working to capture more after photos and hope to share them soon.
We’re still kind of reeling that these products are out in the world after nearly three years of development, and we are incredibly thankful to everyone who supported us along the way. On a personal note, if everything goes as planned and our son arrives on Wednesday the 16th (Sherry’s scheduled date), that would make this the last Wednesday we spend as parents of one—an exciting and slightly mind-blowing milestone for our little family. Happy Wednesday, everyone.
Update — We frequently get questions about blogging—how we started, how we grew our audience, and how we turned it into a full-time endeavor—so we put together a post that outlines the details of how we began blogging, increased traffic, and built a business from it for anyone interested in learning more.