As we embark on a new year, the tradition of setting ambitious goals and openly sharing our aspirations with our vibrant community continues. While we typically frame these as resolutions, we prefer to think of them as commitments – promises to ourselves and to you, our cherished readers, that guide our journey for the months ahead. This annual practice isn’t just about setting targets; it’s a powerful way to ignite our motivation and hold ourselves accountable, fostering a sense of shared purpose within the Young House Love family. We invite you to reflect on our past commitments – from last year’s endeavors, to our 2011 goals, and even a look back at our 2010 vision – as we prepare to unveil what promises to be our most exciting and transformative year yet. Get ready to dive into five core principles that will shape our home, our work, and our lives.
#1. Hold On: Embracing a Year of Transformative DIY Projects
For those who might wonder if our well of creative energy for home transformations, room makeovers, or exciting DIY projects could ever run dry, rest assured: this year is poised to be our most dynamic and project-packed yet. We’re brimming with an abundance of fresh, inspiring undertakings that promise to push our skills and ignite our passion for home improvement. While we’re currently keeping some exciting secrets close to our chests – think of them as significant revelations waiting for the perfect moment to be shared – the anticipation of unveiling these “big cats” is almost unbearable. Beyond the myriad of untouched spaces within our current home that eagerly await our attention, such as Clara’s much-anticipated big girl room, a revitalized front porch, a functional carport overhaul, and a charming guest bathroom renovation, our ambitions extend far beyond these immediate projects. We’re on the cusp of embarking on several other major initiatives, each designed to bring unique value and inspiration to our community. Our commitment is to meticulously document and “over-share” every detail, every challenge, and every triumph with you, providing comprehensive guides and real-time updates. And just to put any specific maternal worries to rest, no, Mom, I’m not pregnant – just bursting with creative project ideas!
#2. Chat Things Up: Fostering a Thriving Community Hub
It’s an undeniable truth: our incredible readers are the very heart and soul of Young House Love. You infuse our blog with vitality, making it more than just a DIY diary but a living, breathing community. As we’ve highlighted previously, integrating “you” – your voices, your projects, your insights – more deeply into our content remains a top priority. We’ve received an overwhelming response from many of you expressing a strong desire for dedicated forums on our site. Imagined as a friendly, supportive, and incredibly helpful space, these forums would serve as an ideal platform for sharing project photos, exchanging invaluable advice, brainstorming innovative ideas, and drawing inspiration from one another’s creative journeys. Recognizing this immense potential, we’ve been diligently exploring the technicalities and practicalities of implementing such a robust community feature. Our primary focus is on finding a solution that not only offers seamless functionality but also ensures the stability of our site and minimizes the extensive daily maintenance typically associated with forums. Our heartfelt goal is to launch this exciting new platform by spring, once the intensive schedule of our book tour concludes. We genuinely believe this will transform Young House Love into an even richer collaborative experience, and we kindly ask for your positive energy – perhaps a quiet chant of “no crashies, no crashies, no crashies” – as we work to bring this vision to life.
#3. Be Realistic: Embracing Our Authentic, Grassroots Identity
While a part of us often wishes to quell blog “stage fright” by imagining we’re simply conversing with a handful of close friends, the reality is far more expansive. Young House Love welcomes millions of visitors each month, a scale of engagement typically managed by a dedicated team of coders, writers, and administrative staff. In stark contrast, our operation is fueled by just two individuals – a husband and wife navigating the joyous chaos of parenthood with a lively toddler, all while orchestrating intricate DIY projects, crafting engaging blog posts, managing a demanding book tour, handling site coding, and secretly nurturing a pipeline of future content. This resolution serves as a vital reminder: we are, fundamentally, only two people. Two individuals utterly passionate about what we do, deeply committed to our craft, but nonetheless, two people who cannot realistically shoulder the workload designed for ten, regardless of our relentless dedication. This year, we are resolute in shedding the burden of self-imposed pressure and unrealistic expectations.
Our unwavering commitment to a grassroots approach defines us. We intentionally choose not to expand our team with external hires for comment moderation, post authorship, or site programming. This philosophy is central to the authentic voice and personal touch that defines Young House Love. Consequently, this resolution mandates that we operate with maximum efficiency, embrace realistic limitations, and consciously alleviate internal pressure. We are not a vast media conglomerate like HGTV or Better Homes & Gardens; we are simply John and Sherry, sharing our real-life home adventures and design insights. What’s truly remarkable is that you, our audience, consistently tell us this genuine, unpretentious approach is precisely why you connect with YHL. It’s time we fully embrace this cherished identity, celebrating the unique perspective and personal connection that only two dedicated DIY enthusiasts can offer.
#4. Reclaim Our Lives: Prioritizing Balance and Well-being
This resolution is deeply interconnected with our commitment to realism, as we’ve openly navigated the persistent challenge of finding sustainable work-life balance for several years now. Our previous responses to the ubiquitous question, “How do you do it all?” often involved a wry acknowledgement of chronic sleep deprivation, jokingly deferring rest to “next year.” Well, “next year” has arrived, and the prospect of no longer working until the early hours of 1 AM – completing intricate DIY projects, meticulously writing blog posts, and managing book-related obligations, all while concurrently handling essential household tasks like laundry, cleaning, and grocery shopping – is incredibly appealing. Our initial move from the intense pace of New York City to Virginia in 2005 was precisely an effort to escape a lifestyle dominated by nights, weekends, and even vacations consumed by work. The profound irony of finding ourselves in a similar predicament within our passion-driven career is certainly not lost on us.
While many of you graciously suggested during our blogiversary celebrations that you’d be content with even a single post per day, we aren’t quite ready to scale back our output to that extent. Instead, we’ve made a considered decision to adjust our primary blog’s posting frequency from eight posts per week down to seven. This adjustment will occur alongside our regular two weekly posts on Young House Life. Looking back at our monthly roundups, we’re consistently amazed by the volume of content we produce, and we anticipate this subtle change will have minimal impact on the overall breadth of our coverage. Essentially, it means we’ll slightly spread out specific recurring features such as “Window Shoppings,” “House Crashings,” “Budget Blooms,” or “Reader Redesigns,” reducing the weekly workload by one post that requires conception, photography, editing, proofreading, and subsequent engagement in the comments section.
Our hope is that this strategic shift will be barely perceptible to our valued readers. Our revised schedule envisions posting twice on Monday, once on Tuesday, twice on Wednesday, once on Thursday, and once on Friday, complemented by the two consistent weekly posts on Young House Life. This refined pace is designed to liberate more of our time, enabling us to deeply engage in brainstorming innovative ideas, dedicate concentrated effort to the actual execution of our DIY projects, and most importantly, recharge and connect with our family. These three elements are crucial for cultivating happier bloggers, which, in turn, promises to yield even more thoughtful, meticulously planned projects and an outpouring of fresh creative concepts. Furthermore, this proactive measure significantly reduces the likelihood of burnout, ensuring the long-term sustainability of our blogging journey. We are deeply committed to playing the “long game,” preserving our passion for this unique career we’ve diligently built, especially when operating with a balanced and intelligent approach to managing our small, two-person venture.
#5. Be Free: Embracing Authenticity and Spontaneous Storytelling
Our community consistently delights and surprises us with your incredible responses, particularly to our most unexpected and seemingly “random” posts. Instances like my personal reflection on breastfeeding or John’s candid insights on running garnered hundreds more comments than many of our meticulously crafted DIY-focused articles surrounding them. These moments are powerful reminders that sharing aspects of our lives beyond the tangible processes of painting, sawing, gluing, and sanding is just as enjoyable and resonant for you as it is liberating for us. Consider, for example, a casual Friday post detailing five peculiar things about me, which astonishingly generated over 1,000 comments – comments that remain, without a doubt, among the most hilarious and engaging on our entire platform. We wholeheartedly encourage you to dedicate ten minutes to scrolling through a page or two of that comment section; we guarantee a hearty giggle. This blog is, for us, a genuine “happy place,” and it’s these spontaneous, unscripted posts that keep it vibrant, light, and endlessly fun. We firmly believe that blogs embracing a “stream-of-consciousness” style, valuing authentic expression over hyper-polished perfection, ultimately offer the most enjoyable and relatable reading experiences.
These five resolutions represent our core commitments and guiding principles for the year ahead, openly shared with the intention of fostering accountability and connection. We’re eager to hear about your personal aspirations and what commitments you’re making as you step into this new chapter. Do you have any resolutions, big or small, that resonate with your own journey? On a personal note, I am more determined than ever to radically simplify my surroundings – a goal I’ve touched upon previously, but one I feel particularly compelled to master this year. My home, much like many others, has accumulated an abundance of gadgets, decorative objects, cushions, gift bags, pens, and countless other items that collectively contribute to a pervasive sense of clutter. I am genuinely excited to embark on a decluttering journey, paring down our possessions with the aim of recreating the simpler, more minimalist lifestyle John and I enjoyed during our time in New York City. Back then, living in tiny studios devoid of attics or basements forced us to be intentional about every item we owned, preventing the accumulation of excess. This experience taught us an invaluable lesson: “less truly is more,” a profound truth that extends far beyond physical possessions to encompass mental clarity, time management, and overall well-being. We believe that by embracing simplicity, we can create more space for creativity, joy, and the meaningful experiences that truly enrich our lives.