After months of quietly working on a behind-the-scenes blog refresh (seriously, these things take longer than you’d think), we’ve finally launched the new design. The process wasn’t without hiccups—mysterious code issues, a few site crashes (thanks for sticking with us), and even an earthquake and a hurricane made things more interesting. But instead of waiting for perfect conditions, we decided to push it live. It’s not completely finished, and there may still be bugs, but we wanted to share the fresh look now rather than hold it indefinitely.
It feels surprising that we didn’t do this sooner. We’d been using the same blog layout, background, and overall look since spring 2008. Over the years we changed furniture, painted rooms, and even moved houses, yet the site stayed the same. That finally started to feel like wearing an old outfit that no longer fit. While we’re a little sentimental about the old design, we’re excited to present a cleaner, more current look that better reflects where we are today.
Here’s what we aimed to accomplish with the redesign:
- Refresh the visual style—colors, patterns, and typefaces—that match our current taste and the aesthetic of our home
- Make the header broader and more representative of everything we write about (it shouldn’t only hint at the “house” part of our name)
- Lighten the overall palette so the site feels brighter and more inviting
- Improve navigation so readers can discover content more easily
- Give the site a more up-to-date feel—moving from a 2008 vibe to something more current
We designed this ourselves and have been tweaking it over the last few weeks. We love the direction so far, though we’re still polishing a few details. If you’re feeling unsure about the changes at first, think of it like rearranging a room—give it a few days and it’ll likely grow on you.
For the header we photographed a collection of small, meaningful objects on white cardstock outdoors. They’re personal touches that tell a bit of our story. Here’s what each item represents:
- Photostrips—because we’ve always loved them (they even appeared at our wedding)
- Photos of Clara and Burger—they’re as much part of this blog as any DIY project
- A wooden “C” block for Clara and a small bone-shaped treat to represent our dog
- A little wooden skyscraper and taxi cabs to remind us of the NYC days when we first met in 2004
- Seven pennies—our little superstition—and each penny is dated 2007, the year we started the blog
- A Richmond magnet, since we live in and love Richmond
- Paint swatches and fabric samples that reflect our current house palette
- The key to our house (slightly edited in Photoshop for privacy) for sentimental value
- A photo of our current house, so that cheerful yellow door is included
- A white ceramic rhino that’s become a bit of a mascot for us
The background is actually a nod to our old logo: it’s made up of many small heart shapes arranged at different angles to form an abstract pattern. Beyond the look, we also made several functional updates to the site to improve usability and help you find content faster:
- Young House Life: We added a separate sidebar area called Young House Life for everyday snapshots—Clara and Burger pics, behind-the-scenes posts, and short updates that don’t need a full blog post. It has its own feed if you want to subscribe.
- Paint Color Page: A dedicated paint color page now lists the colors we’ve used in this house, linked from the sidebar for easy reference.
- Source List: A complete source list shows where we got nearly everything in the house, and it’s linked on the sidebar for quick access.
- Favorite Posts: A “Fav. Posts” sidebar feature highlights select past posts with thumbnails and links; we’ll update it regularly so readers can explore notable archives.
- Videos Section: A Videos button on the sidebar displays thumbnails and links to our videos, making them easier to find than before.
- Giving Back: We added a Giving Back button to spotlight three charities we support related to homes, children, and animals. We make annual donations and wanted an easy way to share those causes.
- Updated Sidebar Buttons: Many sidebar buttons received refreshed images, type, and colors for a more cohesive look, including a playful rename of the Twitter link.
- Pagination: Inspired by other bloggers, we added robust pagination so you can jump back through our archives more easily—even all the way to the first post if you’re in a browsing mood.
We still have a running blog-to-do list, including a gallery-style update for our Projects page (we’ve done over 500 projects), refreshed headers for Mood Boards and Room Gallery pages, and adding more reader makeovers to the Room Gallery. Those updates will come over time.
For now, we’ll likely switch back to some DIY projects soon—there are a few cabinet updates we want to finish—because there’s nothing like paint under your nails and sawdust in the air. We hope you enjoy the new look. Has anyone else recently refreshed their site or tried a new color scheme? We’d love to hear what’s making you giddy at 2:52 a.m. when you can’t stop tweaking things—purely hypothetical, of course.