Blog Hop

Hi guys. I took last week off from posting to enjoy our annual vacation in Bethany Beach, DE. You can see pictures from our past two trips to Bethany HERE and HERE. I love this little beach town and it felt good to unplug a bit...at least more than I usually do :)

Last week I was also tagged by my friend, Julia, from Cuckoo for Design in the blog hop you may have seen running around online. I got to hang out with Julia in person twice this summer and she is funny, kind, and, well, kind of a big deal these days, as she was just named one of Domino Magazine's Top DIY Blogs. So that's pretty awesome. As is she, and I'm so proud of her!

The blog hop is a chance for you all to get a little bit more of an inside view of the process behind a blog as participating bloggers answer four questions. Ready for mine? Here we go.

Why do you write?

Somehow this seems like a complicated question, even though it's really not. Or maybe I just have a complicated answer. I started writing this blog because I'd gotten really into home improvements around our first house, and as I started to come across more and more DIY and decorating blogs in the process of researching house projects I started thinking, "Huh. Maybe I have something to share too." I loved that bloggers like Ana White were demystifying building plans and empowering people (like me) to be DIYers around their homes. I also loved to cook and sort of pictured myself as a 1/3 food blogger, 1/3 DIY blogger, and a 1/3 decorating blogger. And that's still sort of where I am now.

Why I continue to write, being perfectly honest, is because I've realized it might be possible for me to actually do this as a job. I like writing, I like taking pictures, I like making things and teaching others how to do the same, I like sharing sources and products that I've found, and I love feedback from readers. To potentially be able to take all these things I love and roll them together into a business venture is kind of amazing. Maybe it will work and maybe it won't. I'm still figuring out a lot of the back end pieces that make that possible and I'm working very hard to piece it together. I hope it does, but I'm so far in, it's harder at this point to imagine not writing anymore than it is to keep moving with it.

What are you working on?

Ummm...right now?...my tan ;)

But when I get home my first order of business is a reupholstery project for a client, and I'll be showing you how to reupholster a wingback chair in the process. I'll also be making cobalt blue tie-dyed pillows and some beautiful coral linen pillows with pom pom trim for the same client - tutorials on those to come as well :)

And for myself, the big project looming is finally painting my kitchen cabinets white. Finally!

How does your blog differ from others in its genre?

I found this question hard to answer too - most things that came to mind wound up sounding sort of arrogant. Like, "This is why I'm so much better than everyone else, ah-ha-ha-ha!" But I am a DIYer in every sense of the word - the blog design, social media, every part of every project (concept, building, finishing touches), photography, writing - all this girl. So this sets me apart from a lot of other bloggers in the genre. Also, I'm awesome. Ah-ha-ha-ha!

Style is also such a personal thing, that my own particular style naturally sets me apart. I'm a traditionalist at heart but love color and contemporary patterns too, so I'd call my style Colorful Contemporary-Traditional.

Everyone's style is so uniquely their own, so this is something that sets any one person apart from everyone else. Unless you're just copying a page in a catalog. Don't do that.

What is your writing process?

I do most of my writing at night, though I'd like to change that. Doing it at night, after my daughters are in bed, leaves me almost no decompress time at the end of the day, and that gets hard day after day after day. After day.

I have an editorial calendar where I keep track of post ideas, plans, scheduling, etc. and always look to that to get started. I usually write pretty stream of consciousness and then proofread and edit after. Tutorials are different of course, and follow a step-by-step process.

Basically, my writing process is pretty informal :)

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Now for the next two ladies joining in on the blog hop next week!
First up is Sarah from Sarah M. Dorsey Designs, who has been a friend for awhile now. If you already know her blog then you know there is pretty much nothing NOT to love. She's super sweet, a fantastic photographer and stylist, and her DIY projects make my mouth drop open regularly. She also inadvertently makes me feel clumsy and inadequate, but I just can't quit her. And I don't really want to!

Next up is Kristen from Bliss at Home. Kristen and I have also been blog friends for awhile now and had the chance to hang out together a few times in person this summer. Kristen was my roommate for the Haven Conference and, if possible, she is even kinder and more lovely in person than on her blog. She's also got enviable style and I love seeing the latest glamorous project she's cooked up!