For nearly three years, a project has quietly been unfolding behind the scenes, a journey of creativity, collaboration, and countless design iterations. Today, with immense excitement and a touch of disbelief, we are thrilled to finally pull back the curtain on what has been our longest and most ambitious side-gig to date. We’ve poured our hearts into designing a unique collection of home organization and decor products, and the moment has arrived: many of these pieces are now being sold exclusively at Target! Yes, you read that right – Target! It feels like a dream realized, a true testament to the power of passion and perseverance. Imagine the sound of a thousand cats sprinting out of a thousand bags; that’s precisely how we feel right now, bursting with pride and a profound sense of accomplishment.
This incredible venture saw us design a vast array of concepts, with three to four dozen initial pieces meticulously crafted before the final, curated mix was selected. The resulting collection, a thoughtful assortment of stylish wall storage solutions and versatile hooks, is more than just functional – it’s an extension of our creative spirit and our passion for approachable home design. These pieces are **available right now for purchase at Target.com**, allowing you to explore and shop from the comfort of your home, with convenient delivery straight to your door. For those who prefer to see and feel the products in person, they will be prominently featured on **endcaps in most US Target stores starting March 31st**. You’ll discover them nestled within the Home Improvement section, where they’ll make their home for an exciting 14-week run. We’re still pinching ourselves, feeling as giddy as our daughter Clara next to a beloved furry mascot she “just wants to hug and squeeze.” This is truly an unbelievable milestone for our brand and our journey, marking a significant step from our blog to national retail shelves.
To declare that we never imagined such an opportunity would come our way feels like the biggest understatement of our entire blogging careers. From the humble beginnings of sharing DIY projects and home renovations online, offering practical tips and inspiration, to collaborating with a retail giant like Target, it’s a trajectory we could only have dreamed of. This journey, which began with sharing our own home improvement projects, has now led us to create products that can inspire and assist countless others in their own decorating endeavors. Even when this intricate process first began to unfold, way back in July of 2011, there was no inkling, no remote expectation, that it would culminate in an exclusive product line available nationwide. This partnership represents a monumental leap for us, validating years of hard work, creative exploration, and a deep, authentic connection with our vibrant community of home enthusiasts. It underscores our belief that good design and smart organization should be accessible to everyone.
Discovering the Unique Charm of Our Target Home Collection
As you delve into the Young House Love collection at Target, you’ll immediately recognize our signature aesthetic and a deep appreciation for meaningful details. We’ve thoughtfully adapted a variety of elements that resonate deeply with us, transforming them into functional and beautiful pieces for your home. From the whimsical charm of buzzing bees and the timeless allure of old skeleton keys to the undeniable personality of a certain ridiculously handsome chihuahua (a loving nod to our beloved dog, Burger), each design tells a unique story and brings a touch of personality to your living spaces. These inspirations are not random; they reflect the eclectic and personal style that has defined our blog for years, now translated into tangible items. What makes this collection even more accessible and appealing is its pricing strategy: every single item is thoughtfully priced at $14.99 or less, ensuring that stylish, durable, and personalized home organization is truly within reach for everyone. We firmly believe that great design shouldn’t come with a hefty price tag, and this collection perfectly embodies that philosophy, offering exceptional value, unique character, and a practical solution for everyday needs.
One of the most exciting and innovative aspects of our collection is the integration of a do-it-yourself (DIY) customization element, empowering you to infuse your personal style directly into these functional pieces. We’ve introduced versatile raw wood hook rails, available in two practical styles: one featuring a convenient picture ledge on top – perfect for displaying small frames, art, or knick-knacks – and another sleek, minimalist option without a ledge. These unfinished wooden rails serve as a literal blank canvas, inviting you to unleash your creativity and personalize them with your choice of paint, wood stain, wallpaper, decoupage, or any other creative medium you have on hand. The possibilities for tailoring these pieces to perfectly match your home’s unique decor, color scheme, or desired aesthetic are truly endless. Once your base is customized, you can further enhance the look and functionality by selecting from four distinct hardware styles, available in either a classic, rich oil-rubbed bronze or a crisp, clean white finish. These can be easily screwed into the predrilled holes on the rails, allowing for a seamless, satisfying, and quick customization experience. This thoughtful blend of ready-made, quality design and personalized touch truly makes the collection unique, offering both style and the joy of creation.
The Genesis of a Dream: Partnering with Liberty Hardware
Let’s rewind the clock back to July of 2011, the very beginning of this incredible saga. At that time, a respected company named Liberty Hardware was a valued sidebar blog sponsor of ours, known for their quality home products. They reached out with an intriguing request: to interview us as part of a comprehensive research initiative they were conducting on the burgeoning do-it-yourself trend. Given our extensive experience in the DIY sphere, we readily agreed, sharing insights from our personal projects, our community’s engagement, and our perspectives on the future of home improvement. A few months after this initial conversation, that research remarkably evolved into a thrilling invitation – an unprecedented opportunity to explore the possibility of designing a line of products in collaboration with them. When we enthusiastically said yes, there wasn’t a single fiber in our being that ever envisioned these potential products eventually gracing the shelves of a major national retailer like Target. Our aspirations were modest; simply having a hand in designing something tangible, something that reflected our aesthetic and practical approach to home living, was a dream in itself. The journey from that initial interview, born from a casual sponsorship, to a full-fledged Target collection, is a testament to unforeseen opportunities, the power of collaborative vision, and the unexpected paths a blogging career can take.
The subsequent two years were a whirlwind of activity, marked by an exciting, yet at times intense, process of design and development. This immersive experience profoundly deepened our appreciation for the intricate, often unseen, work that goes into crafting the seemingly simple, everyday products we encounter on store shelves. It provided a completely new perspective on the manufacturing and retail industry. We were primarily tasked with spearheading the creative direction, a role that encompassed a wide spectrum of responsibilities. This involved providing everything from rudimentary rough sketches and detailed conceptual drawings to precise input on color palettes, material finishes, and ergonomic considerations. Throughout every single stage of the design process, we were deeply involved in offering design tweaks, constructive criticism, and continuous feedback, ensuring our vision was meticulously brought to life, piece by piece. Liberty Hardware’s dedicated team proved to be an exceptional partner, expertly handling the more technical and logistical aspects, such as manufacturing feasibility, robust engineering, material sourcing, and crucial sales analysis. Their comprehensive expertise was an absolute necessity, serving as the critical bridge between our initial ideas on paper (and the vivid visions in our heads) and transforming them into tangible, real-life objects ready for mass production. This synergistic collaboration, where our creative concepts met their technical prowess, was truly the engine behind the collection’s success, resulting in products that are both beautiful and functional.
The Meticulous Journey from Concept to Creation
The product development process was, without exaggeration, one of the most fascinating and educational experiences of our lives, unlike anything we had ever witnessed before. It was a rigorous, multi-stage journey that began with the creative spark, transforming abstract ideas into concrete forms. From the initial drawings, inspiration images, and detailed specifications that we meticulously provided, the talented Liberty Hardware design team would then skillfully illustrate various options. These illustrations brought our concepts to life in two dimensions, allowing for initial refinements and discussions. The most promising of these designs would then progress to the next critical stage, being meticulously modeled – sometimes digitally using advanced computer software to ensure precision and scalability, and other times painstakingly by hand in clay, capturing the organic feel of the design, or even a sophisticated combination of both methods. This allowed us to visualize the physical form, proportions, and tactile feel of each product. These three-dimensional models were then transformed into 3D printed prototypes, offering a tangible, early representation of the design that could be held and evaluated. These 3D prints could then be cast, paving the way for the creation of real production prototypes made from the intended materials. Each prototype underwent rigorous evaluation, leading to further feedback, minute tweaking, and, on occasion, even a few “back to the drawing board” moments, ensuring every detail was perfect, from the curve of a hook to the finish of a rail. At every juncture of this complex process, critical questions were continuously asked and answered: considerations of scale, symmetry, functionality, desired finish, production cost, and overall market price were paramount. Furthermore, we consistently evaluated how each individual piece would harmoniously fit together to form a cohesive and appealing collection, ensuring a unified aesthetic. In a testament to their thoroughness, there was even a dedicated focus group held at one point to gather invaluable consumer insights and feedback from potential buyers, helping to fine-tune the appeal of the collection. All things considered, we likely designed and refined an astonishing forty or fifty pieces before the final selection was meticulously narrowed down to the current, exceptional mix available today. This comprehensive and iterative approach ensured that only the very best, most functional, and aesthetically pleasing designs made it into the Young House Love for Target collection, ready to be loved in your home.
Behind the Scenes: Meetings, Travels, and Keeping a Big Secret
While a significant portion of the design collaboration and development work was efficiently conducted virtually through numerous email exchanges and essential conference calls, the personal touch remained vital. These digital communications were invaluable for quick updates and sharing ideas, but nothing replaces face-to-face interaction for critical design reviews and strategic planning. The dedicated Liberty Hardware team, primarily headquartered about 3.5 hours from us in Winston-Salem, NC, made several important trips to Richmond to meet in person. These face-to-face interactions were crucial for brainstorming sessions, reviewing prototypes physically, and making critical decisions together, allowing for immediate feedback and creative synergy. Similarly, we often found ourselves traveling to visit them in North Carolina, immersing ourselves in their design studio environment and witnessing their expertise firsthand. Our journey also took us to meet with members of their broader design team in Chicago, where Adam, pictured bringing our initial ideas to life from day one of the project, consistently impressed us with his talent and dedication. The culmination of these travels included a truly momentous trip to the Target headquarters in Minneapolis at one point – a peak moment in the project. This specific meeting, which occurred in late April of last year, was particularly memorable, not just for its immense significance to our brand, but also because we inexplicably managed to catch a major snowstorm! We’re still not entirely sure how you Minnesotans navigate those conditions with such grace and efficiency, but it certainly added an unexpected twist to our visit.
That particular trip to Minneapolis was imbued with an especially surreal quality. It occurred just a few short months after we had previously been there for our book tour, an experience where we had openly shared every detail of our travels, meetings, and discoveries on Instagram and across our blog. The contrast was stark and, frankly, quite bizarre. It felt incredibly strange to be covertly traveling for this secret project, adhering to strict non-disclosure agreements, especially after having so freely documented our previous public appearances. The cloak-and-dagger nature of it all became even more intense when we were actually recognized a couple of times while standing discreetly outside the Target offices – a true moment of panic! We were genuinely freaked out, convinced our cover had been blown, fearing we might accidentally reveal our exciting secret prematurely! (To the wonderful folks who said hello to us during that time, recognizing us from Young House Love, we can now sincerely apologize for being SO INSANELY AWKWARD – maintaining that level of secrecy for such a significant project was an immense challenge!) Sharing exciting news is rarely fun when it has to be a secret, and keeping such an exhilarating project under wraps for so long was both exhilarating and, at times, utterly exhausting, but entirely worth it for this grand reveal.
Bringing the Collection to Life: Photography & Packaging
The visual presentation of our collection was just as crucial as the design itself. High-quality, authentic imagery was paramount to showcasing the products’ appeal and functionality. We undertook the task of shooting all the images you see prominently displayed in this very post, as well as those that grace the product packaging, right within the familiar confines of our own home last November. This intimate, in-house photography session felt remarkably similar to our previous book shoots, presenting its own set of unique challenges. Our goal was to create a diverse and appealing mix of backdrops that truly highlighted the versatility of the products, despite living in a house with a surprisingly limited number of freshly painted walls. This necessitated a significant amount of creative problem-solving and ingenuity, pushing us to think outside the box. As you can observe in this revealing behind-the-scenes photo, we ingeniously utilized a remnant piece of beautiful grasscloth wallpaper to add visual texture and depth, effectively spicing things up behind our charming “Burger” hook, demonstrating how even small details can make a big impact. We also had the immense pleasure of keeping this aspect of the project entirely within the family, as all the professional shooting was expertly handled by our talented brother-in-law, Todd, who is a seasoned professional photographer. There’s truly nothing quite like collaborating with family to bring a vision to life, adding an extra layer of personal connection and authenticity to every image produced for the collection and its packaging.
Such is the magic of expert photography and careful cropping; once the images were finalized and expertly edited, you would never suspect the presence of painters tape or vibrant blue trim lurking just out of frame. The final shots perfectly captured the essence of each product, presenting them in an aspirational yet authentic home environment, showcasing their potential within your own living spaces and illustrating how seamlessly they can integrate into various interior design styles. This meticulous attention to detail ensures that what you see on the packaging and online is a true, beautiful representation of the product you’ll receive.
The Journey Continues: Future Collections & Heartfelt Gratitude
After all those months of dedicated effort, countless trips and pivotal meetings, the continuous cycle of designing and redesigning, and the extensive work involved in shooting and writing for the product packaging, it still feels profoundly surreal that this extensive project is finally out in the world. The culmination of years of hard work, creative energy, and collaborative spirit is now tangible, accessible, and ready to enhance homes across the country. It’s a feeling that truly validates every long hour and every challenging decision. And the excitement doesn’t stop here; we are even more thrilled about the prospect of potentially rolling out additional products as the year progresses. Yes, we are actively pitching new designs that expand beyond our initial offerings of wall hooks and storage solutions. Target’s preference for “tight collections” encourages us to develop distinct, cohesive themes, so we are diligently working on various home and DIY themes that could be seamlessly switched out seasonally, offering fresh and inspiring decor options throughout the year. This iterative and strategic approach allows us to continuously innovate and bring new ideas to life, keeping our offerings dynamic, relevant, and perfectly aligned with your evolving home decor and organization needs.
We owe an immeasurable debt of gratitude to every single person who played a part in bringing this ambitious vision to fruition. Our heartfelt thanks extend especially to those who patiently endured our silly questions, meticulously addressed our nit-picky changes, and tirelessly refined every detail, demonstrating incredible patience and professionalism. So, a massive virtual hug goes out to the entire Liberty Hardware team – from the designers and engineers to the sales and marketing professionals – to Target’s incredible buyers and design coordinators, to our talented photographer Todd, and to everyone else who saw something truly special in our ideas and dedicated their expertise to help us bring them so beautifully to life. This collection is not just our creation; it is a testament to what can be achieved through unwavering dedication, shared belief in creative potential, and a collaborative spirit that overcomes every hurdle.
And of course, we have an insane amount of love and appreciation for all of you, our amazing readers and community, for sharing this crazy, unpredictable journey with us. Your unwavering support, enthusiasm, and patience in putting up with our “secret project” for such an extended period – we truly wished we could have told you, oh, about 32 months ago! – means the world to us. Your comments, engagement, and shared passion for home have been the bedrock of Young House Love. Never in our wildest dreams did we ever imagine that our very first blog post way back in 2007, sharing a simple DIY renovation, would eventually lead us to this incredible, landmark moment: a national product launch. Oops, it sounds like the orchestra is playing me off now, signaling my time is up, but picture me exuberantly waving my adorable chihuahua hook in the air while Sherry, in her typical charming fashion, gracefully trips over her gown on the way down the steps. She’s the J. Law to my J. Leto (I just need to work on cultivating my own flowing man-mane to complete the look!). Your continued engagement fuels our passion, and we’re so grateful to have you along for every twist and turn of this adventure, big or small.
Shop the Exclusive Young House Love Target Collection Today!
Don’t wait to transform your living spaces with our thoughtfully designed and customizable home organization and decor solutions. This exclusive collection offers both practical utility and charming aesthetics, perfect for adding character to any room. You can easily browse and purchase every unique piece from our collection right now on Target.com, enjoying the convenience of online shopping and home delivery. For those who prefer to shop in person and experience the products firsthand, remember that the collection will be available in most physical Target stores, prominently displayed on endcaps, beginning March 31st. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that the sheer excitement of seeing our products on Target shelves doesn’t send Sherry into labor (a lighthearted jest, of course!). We can’t wait for you to experience the quality, style, and functionality of our long-awaited collection, and we hope these pieces bring as much joy to your home as they did to us creating them.
Update – We often receive numerous inquiries regarding the intricacies of professional blogging – covering topics such as how we established and scaled our website, effective strategies for growing our dedicated following and engaged community, and our proven methods for generating income through our passion. To address these frequently asked questions comprehensively and transparently, we’ve compiled and shared all the essential details about how we successfully started a blog, significantly grew our traffic, and ultimately transformed it into a fulfilling full-time career. This valuable resource is designed to provide aspiring bloggers and curious readers with transparent insights into our journey and the practical, actionable steps we took to achieve our goals, offering a roadmap for your own blogging success.