As we mark another exciting milestone – our second blogiversary – it’s a perfect moment to pause, reflect on the incredible journey of the past year, and cast our sights forward as we venture into our third year of blogging. Last year, we bravely declared a set of ambitious goals, choosing to share them publicly to hold ourselves accountable. The transparency, we found, was a powerful motivator, truly igniting a fire beneath us to turn our aspirations into reality. Looking back, we’re genuinely thrilled with how much we accomplished, proving that a little public pressure can go a long way!
You might spot a detail or two in this initial snapshot that reflects our candid and personal approach to sharing our lives and home improvement adventures with you. It’s this authentic, sometimes quirky spirit that fuels our desire to connect on a deeper level. We’ve always believed that blogging should feel less like a monologue and more like a vibrant, ongoing conversation. By publishing our goals, we invite you, our wonderful community, into our journey, making every success, learning curve, and challenge a shared experience. This past year, the results of this collaborative spirit have been nothing short of inspiring, and we’re eager to share our progress.
Reflecting on Our Second Year: A Look Back at Our Goals and Achievements
The past twelve months have been a whirlwind of creativity, renovation, and connection. As a leading home decor blog, our focus consistently remains on providing valuable content and fostering a thriving community. Here’s an honest and detailed look at the resolutions we made and how we fared:
Goal 1: Foster Deeper Reader Engagement with Interactive Content
Last Year’s Aspiration: We aimed to produce more engaging and interactive posts, much like our popular “If This Were Your Bookcase” feature, which consistently resulted in inspiring reader submissions like the “Top Shelf” showcase. Our vision was to transform our blog into a dynamic two-way street, where your ideas, opinions, and creativity played a central role in shaping our content and community discussions.
Our Progress Report: We consider this goal a resounding success and a cornerstone of our blogging journey! We quickly discovered the immense joy and value in soliciting your opinions and ideas directly. This realization prompted a significant shift: we began integrating open-ended questions into nearly every post, sparking incredibly lively and thoughtful discussions in the comments section. Beyond simple questions, we launched immersive, interactive series such as “Let’s Tackle It Together” projects, where we invited you to virtually collaborate on real-life home improvement challenges, offering your collective wisdom. Our recurring “Burning Question posts” also became a beloved staple, tackling everything from design dilemmas to practical DIY tips. The vibrant dialogue created through these initiatives has been incredibly enriching, making blogging feel less like a one-sided presentation and more like a genuine conversation among friends and fellow DIY enthusiasts. Your consistent willingness to weigh in, offer advice, share your experiences, and inspire others has truly made our community stronger and our content more vibrant and diverse. Thank you for making our blog a truly interactive and collaborative space for home improvement inspiration!
Goal 2: Diversify Our On-Screen Presence: John Steps Into the Spotlight
Last Year’s Aspiration: My personal goal was to transition out of the primary “video guy” role, allowing John to step in front of the camera more frequently for our video tours and project updates. The idea was to bring a fresh face, a new voice, and a different perspective to our video content, moving beyond my “overexposed mug” and showcasing more of John’s hands-on presence and insightful commentary, thereby enriching our video offerings for our audience.
Our Progress Report: This goal was achieved with flying colors, much to the delight of our community! John, with his characteristic good humor, practical know-how, and selflessness, enthusiastically embraced his new role wholeheartedly. He has graced an abundance of our videos, bringing his unique charm and hands-on expertise to a variety of engaging topics. His appearances have ranged from tackling challenging garage cleaning projects and assembling whimsical rhino decor with surprising ease, to documenting adventurous road trips and demonstrating precise stripe painting techniques with expert tips. John is truly no longer just the talented individual behind the camera; his increased visibility has added a wonderful and dynamic dimension to our video content, offering fresh perspectives and strengthening our personal connection with you, our audience. It’s been fantastic to see him share more of his personality and practical skills directly with everyone, making our home improvement journey even more relatable and enjoyable.
Goal 3: Curate Content Based on Reader Feedback: Features You Love and Value
Last Year’s Aspiration: We heard your requests loud and clear, and we listened intently! Our community expressed a strong and consistent desire for regular features that focused on affordability and practical value, specifically “$0 room makeovers” and dedicated “deal of the week” write-ups. Our unwavering commitment was to tune into your preferences and deliver more of the content you truly wanted to see over the next twelve months, making our home decor blog even more relevant, valuable, and indispensable for budget-conscious readers.
Our Progress Report: We’re incredibly proud of our enthusiastic performance in this area, which truly highlights our dedication to reader-centric content! We eagerly embraced your feedback, dedicating ourselves to creating content that directly resonates with your interests in affordable home improvement and smart shopping. We regularly shared our favorite steals and deals, meticulously highlighting fantastic finds like this amazing paint brush that offers professional results, a stylish yet practical soap dispenser that elevates any kitchen, and this highly-rated vacuum that makes cleaning a breeze. Furthermore, we successfully executed and meticulously documented the inspiring zero-dollar same-day room makeover, proving conclusively that dramatic, impactful transformations don’t require a huge financial investment. We also continued to proudly showcase a multitude of super affordable “Reader Redesigns,” celebrating the ingenious and creative budget-friendly solutions from our diverse community. We feel a strong sense of accomplishment in delivering on these promises, and even more exciting, we have a robust pipeline full of even more affordable and innovative ideas planned for our upcoming third year, ensuring we continue to deliver the valuable and inspiring content you love and appreciate.
Goal 4: Embrace Sustainable Living: Our Eco-Friendly Journey Continues
Last Year’s Aspiration: We made a solemn vow to deepen our commitment to eco-friendly products and sustainable practices within our home and to actively seek out and share guidance and insights from our community along the way. Your insightful comments and shared experiences on topics like reducing household toxins were incredibly motivating and absolutely crucial to informing and shaping our efforts towards a greener lifestyle.
Our Progress Report: We are truly delighted with the significant strides we’ve made in this important and ever-evolving area of eco-friendly living. Our home has become noticeably greener, thanks to a thoughtful range of DIY projects and more conscious product choices. We proudly documented the construction of a homemade backyard compost container, established a thriving and productive edible garden that provides fresh produce, and successfully constructed a functional DIY rain barrel to conserve precious water resources. Beyond our personal projects, we eagerly shared our experiences upgrading to healthier and more sustainable options, such as eco-friendly pans for cooking and investing in an organic mattress for a healthier sleep environment, aiming to inspire our readers towards making similar conscious choices. We also delved into natural solutions for everyday household challenges, from effectively getting rid of ants without harsh chemicals to creatively dying Easter eggs with natural ingredients. A particular highlight was teaming up with Envirosax to offer a fantastic collection of chic reusable shopping bags, which became “one of our favorite fab freebies” to date, actively promoting sustainable habits within our expansive community. This year has truly solidified our commitment to responsible, green living and sharing practical tips for an eco-friendly home.
Goal 5: Create Kid-Friendly Spaces: A Children’s Room Makeover Dream
Last Year’s Aspiration: We harbored a strong desire to undertake a swift, same-day children’s room makeover for a delightful and deserving kid. Our inspiration stemmed from our previous successful transformation of Carrie’s Philly apartment, and we aimed to bring that same magic and efficiency to a child’s space. We urged our readers to “stick around” for this heartwarming project in the coming months, anticipating a joyful reveal.
Our Progress Report: While we haven’t yet executed a complete same-day children’s room makeover, our commitment to creating inspiring and functional spaces for kids remains unwavering. We did, however, complete another fantastic affordable same-day makeover for Carrie, pictured below, showcasing once again how much can be achieved with a limited budget and a burst of focused energy. More importantly, we’ve been absolutely thrilled to feature some truly wonderful reader-submitted kids’ rooms, offering a wealth of diverse inspiration, creative ideas, and practical solutions to our community. A significant and heartfelt accomplishment was helping John’s older sister transform an extra bedroom into a beautiful and serene nursery over the course of a few weeks, all while adhering to a serious budget. This project underscored our belief in thoughtful, accessible, and budget-friendly design for families at every stage. We’re incredibly excited for the final nursery reveal, which will be coming soon to the blog, along with the much-anticipated arrival of the baby! Stay tuned for more family-friendly home design inspiration.
Goal 6: Expand Our Shop Offerings: Curated Home Accessories and Beyond
Last Year’s Aspiration: Our dream was to significantly broaden our existing shop, moving beyond digital prints and portraits to eventually offer a curated selection of tangible home accessories and accents. The ultimate aim was to empower our readers to “swankify” their world, one beautifully designed room at a time, with products that embodied the distinctive Young House Love aesthetic and our commitment to accessible style.
Our Progress Report: This is one area where we admittedly fell a little short of our grand ambitions and learned a valuable lesson about prioritizing time. We did invest considerable time and effort into exploring the possibility of offering a range of pretty amazing decor items. However, balancing the intense demands of our passionate blogging efforts, managing numerous ongoing makeover projects, and delving into the complex logistics of bulk purchasing, stringent quality control, inventory management, and ensuring safe shipping proved to be a formidable challenge. We simply haven’t yet found the dedicated bandwidth or time to jump into this venture with both feet, as deeply as we desire to. Yet. Despite this, we are absolutely thrilled to have successfully introduced YHL tees as a fantastic new wearable addition to our shop. The overwhelmingly warm reception and enthusiastic response from our incredible community have been incredibly validating and motivating; we’ve already had to order more to keep up with your wonderful support and demand! This success, even in a different product category, has fueled our excitement for future shop expansions, reaffirming our desire to bring you more curated goods and unique Young House Love merchandise.
Goal 7: Enhance Our Technological Savvy: Delivering Fresh and Engaging Content
Last Year’s Aspiration: We aspired to become more technologically proficient and sophisticated, ensuring that no technical barrier would ever hinder our ability to bring you the freshest, most fabulous, and most easily accessible content in the coming year. While ambitious concepts like 3-D tours or Smell-o-vision might still be a stretch for a home decor blog, our core desire was to continuously optimize our technical capabilities for a seamless and enriched content delivery experience for our valued readers.
Our Progress Report: We feel very positive and accomplished about our achievements on the technology front this past year. We’ve made significant strides in both video content creation and its organized presentation. For several months, we’ve consistently shared weekly videos, enriching our blog with dynamic visual storytelling, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and practical DIY tutorials. To further enhance your user experience and make our diverse video library more discoverable, we even launched a dedicated video page, centralizing all our video content in one easily accessible and neatly organized location. You know how much we appreciate a little organization, and this new feature has been a game-changer for both us and our audience, making it simpler than ever to discover and enjoy our diverse range of video projects, home tours, and personal updates. This commitment to leveraging technology has enabled us to deliver content that is not only fresh and timely but also more engaging, visually appealing, and user-friendly, solidifying our position as a dynamic online resource for home improvement inspiration.
Goal 8: Boost Our Social Media Presence: Connecting Beyond the Blog Posts
Last Year’s Aspiration: Our goal was to significantly improve our utilization of key social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. While we were already present on these channels, we recognized the immense potential to engage more effectively, share more timely updates, and connect with our community in more dynamic, personal, and interactive ways, truly extending the Young House Love experience beyond our blog posts.
Our Progress Report: This goal is unequivocally “done and done,” and we’ve seen incredible growth in our social media engagement! We’ve completely transformed our approach to social media, actively using Twitter and Facebook to foster real-time connections and share snippets of our daily lives. These platforms have become invaluable for sharing breaking news, providing candid glimpses into our everyday routines—from mundane daily tidbits to exhilarating makeover sneak peeks—and offering exclusive behind-the-scenes content that you won’t find anywhere else. We’ve creatively leveraged them to share hilarious video outtakes and bloopers, adding a touch of humor and authentic personality to our online presence. Furthermore, we even used social media to strategically leak exclusive clues leading up to our big December reveal (and no, for the record, I was not pregnant!). Our enhanced and consistent social media strategy has allowed us to extend the conversation beyond our blog, creating a more integrated, immediate, and engaging community experience for everyone, making it easier than ever to connect with us and each other.
Goal 9: Broaden Our Horizons: House Crashing and Exciting Travel Adventures
Last Year’s Aspiration: We truly yearned to expand our signature “house crashing” adventures beyond the familiar confines of our delightful hometown and state. Our hope was to venture far and wide, exploring diverse abodes across the country – and perhaps even internationally – to bring our readers an intimate inside scoop on various lifestyles, unique design aesthetics, and innovative home solutions from coast to coast and beyond. We asked you to cross your fingers for us, and your positive energy clearly worked!
Our Progress Report: Oh, what a happy, successful, and adventurous year this turned out to be for our travel and house-crashing endeavors! We were incredibly fortunate to successfully house crash several inspiring homes located far beyond our state lines, bringing you fresh perspectives and design inspiration. We proudly featured two absolutely amazing residences, each showcasing unique styles, heartwarming homeowner stories, and ingenious decor solutions: delve into this brilliant bungalow and marvel at this titanic transformation. Our travel adventures didn’t stop there; we meticulously documented our insane yet unforgettable 40-hour road trip, which brought us to new regions, unique finds, and unexpected experiences. We even famously crashed a wedding in Texas, adding a dash of unexpected fun, personal insight, and memorable stories to our content. This significant expansion into more varied travel and diverse home features has been deeply rewarding for us and incredibly inspiring for our readers. We’re excited to announce that we have even more ambitious travel-related content and house-crashing expeditions planned for our upcoming year, promising to bring you even more diverse inspiration from across the globe!
Goal 10: Cherish the Journey: Embracing the Joys and Challenges of Blogging Life
Last Year’s Aspiration: We recognized that while blogging is undoubtedly a labor of love and immense passion, it’s also undeniably demanding—involving countless hours of typing, uploading, meticulous editing, and intensive Photoshopping. Our goal was to consciously remember, especially on those inevitably challenging days when our server acts up or our latest masterpiece mysteriously vanishes, how incredibly fortunate and privileged we are to pursue our passion every single day. It was a commitment to maintaining perspective, fostering gratitude, and cherishing the unique journey of Young House Love.
Our Progress Report: We not only survived but thrived through another year of dedicated blogging, reaffirming our profound passion for what we do! Running Young House Love is undeniably one of the most demanding yet deeply rewarding jobs we’ve ever undertaken. It is truly our calling, and our love for creating, inspiring, and connecting with our community continues to grow exponentially with each passing day. While it often means working late nights, sacrificing weekends, and even dedicating parts of our cherished vacations to content creation and project management, we remain steadfast in reminding ourselves of a fundamental truth: the most fulfilling achievements in life rarely just “fall into your lap.” They are the result of consistent effort, unwavering dedication, hard work, and a deep-seated commitment to making a positive impact. This past year resoundingly reaffirmed that the pure joy of creating, inspiring, and connecting with our incredible community far outweighs any operational challenges or demanding schedules. We cherish every minute of this unique blogging journey, and we’re excited for all the challenges and triumphs that year three will bring.
************************************************************************************************
Looking Forward: Exciting New Goals for Young House Love’s Third Year
Having successfully navigated our second year, we’re invigorated, inspired, and more ready than ever to embark on even grander adventures and more ambitious projects. As a growing home decor blog focused on DIY projects and design inspiration, here’s a sneak peek at the exciting new goals we’re setting for ourselves, and for the entire Young House Love community, as we eagerly step into year three. We’re hoping to achieve even greater things with these ambitious plans, and we invite you to join us every step of the way!
Goal 1: Hit The Road: Expanding Our House Crashing Horizons
Our Vision: Our passion for travel and discovering unique homes, bursting with personality and innovative design, continues to grow exponentially! Building on last year’s successes in house crashing, we are eager to travel even more extensively and house crash an even larger number of inspiring abodes. We dream of exploring incredible homes not just across the United States, showcasing diverse regional styles and DIY approaches, but potentially venturing beyond national borders to bring you international design inspiration. Imagine the diverse decor styles, ingenious DIY solutions, and heartwarming personal stories we can unearth and share with you. Our aim is to offer a comprehensive, global tour of residential creativity, providing endless practical and aesthetic inspiration for your own living spaces, wherever you are. Get ready for more travel, more unique homes, and more design insights!
Goal 2: Get Cracking At Home: Major Renovation Projects on the Horizon
Our Vision: After years of careful planning, diligent saving of our pennies, and meticulous preparation, the time has finally come to tackle two monumental home improvement projects right here in our own house: our basement and our main bathroom. These aren’t just minor updates; we’re talking about a complete gut renovation for the bathroom and a comprehensive finishing of the previously unfinished basement, transforming it into vital living space. The anticipation is palpable, and we’re incredibly excited to announce that we are on the verge of picking up our sledgehammers and paint brushes! This upcoming year is definitively earmarked for these significant and complex home renovations, which promise to be our most detailed, challenging, and ultimately transformative projects yet. Get ready for an in-depth, no-holds-barred deep dive into the world of major home improvement, complete with all the ups, downs, and inspiring transformations!
Goal 3: Share The Process: Unveiling the “Why” Behind Our Design Choices
Our Vision: We’ve received numerous requests from our engaged community for insights that go far beyond the typical step-by-step instructions for projects like painting a brick fireplace or making bedside built-ins. Our readers are hungry for the intricate details of our pre-planning phases, the “dirty details” that explain the underlying rationale for why we make specific choices—from selecting precise color palettes and durable material selections to optimizing room layouts and making overall functional decisions. With our impending basement and bathroom projects, we commit to not only showcasing the dramatic “before and afters” but also meticulously detailing our entire comprehensive planning process. This will provide a transparent, educational look into how we evaluate a space, determine priorities for function, aesthetics, and materials, and ultimately, why we choose what we choose. It’s about empowering you with the knowledge, critical thinking skills, and confidence to make truly informed and personalized design decisions for your own home improvement projects, big or small.
Goal 4: Do More With Less Moolah: Mastering Budget-Friendly Design and DIY
Our Vision: Our obsession with helping you live large on a small budget is stronger than ever, reflecting our core belief that great design should be accessible to everyone! This year, we’re doubling down on sharing even more innovative tips, clever tricks, and practical strategies for budget-friendly home design and easy, high-impact upgrades. From completely free transformative projects that cost nothing but time and creativity, to incredibly cheap ways to dramatically spiff up any room, our goal is to prove conclusively that stunning home decor and functional improvements don’t have to break the bank. We’ll be exploring creative hacks, smart shopping strategies, ingenious DIYs, and resourceful upcycling ideas that allow you to achieve high-impact results with minimal financial outlay. Get ready to unlock the secrets to stylish, affordable living without the hefty price tag, and truly make your home your own, regardless of your budget.
Goal 5: Put Faces To Screen Names: Connecting with Our Community In-Person
Our Vision: After years of wonderful digital interaction and building an incredible online community, we are incredibly eager to meet you, our amazing and loyal community, in person! We plan to actively get out into various communities across the country, and even embark on a cross-country motor trip, specifically to host informal and organized meet-ups. We envision everything from casual local gatherings where we can chat about DIY, home decor, and blogging, to structured on-the-road events where we can share insights and learn from each other. Imagine the fun and camaraderie of shopping together – anyone up for meeting at Targets, Ikeas, and TJ Maxx stores around the country for a design treasure hunt? It sounds like an absolutely fantastic and enriching time to us, and we literally can’t wait to put faces to the screen names, hear your stories, and share real-life design conversations with you all. Stay tuned for details and locations on how we can make this exciting goal happen!
Goal 6: Sling The Swag: Elevating Our Giveaways and Freebies for You
Our Vision: Our commitment to bringing you exciting giveaways and valuable freebies every single week remains steadfast and grows stronger! This year, we’re aiming to significantly elevate the ante, striving to offer even bigger, better, and more desirable prizes whenever possible, showcasing our profound appreciation for your continuous support, engagement, and loyalty. Last year, in direct response to countless requests from our comprehensive reader survey, we vowed to diligently sniff out and provide incredible freebies. 365 days later, we’re immensely proud to have kept that promise rolling, having hosted over 40 super fun and successful giveaways to date, distributing over $6000 worth of fantastic products, tools, and home decor items! This year, expect even more generosity, more exciting collaborations with top brands, and more chances than ever to win amazing home decor essentials, innovative DIY tools, and unique lifestyle products that will inspire your next project and enhance your home. Your loyalty deserves the best, and we aim to deliver!
Goal 7: Expand The Clan?: A Glimpse into Our Future Family Plans
Our Vision: This coming year might just be the year for a significant and incredibly personal milestone: the pitter-patter of tiny feet in our Young House Love abode! While we’re definitely not making any concrete promises – as these beautiful things often have a charming way of unfolding on their own unique timeline and with their own delightful surprises – we’re openly considering and excited about the possibility, and we’ll see how things progress naturally. Should our family indeed expand, you can certainly anticipate a heartwarming and meticulously planned nursery makeover towards the end of year three or the very beginning of year four. After all, little ones do take a while to “bake,” and we’ll be sure to share every step of that exciting, personal journey with you, from the initial planning and design choices to the final reveal of a new, cherished, and beautifully designed space in our home. It’s a personal goal that will undoubtedly bring a new dimension to our content.
These ambitious and exciting goals outline our comprehensive vision for the thrilling future of Young House Love. Of course, we are still carefully tabulating all your invaluable feedback from Tuesday’s recent reader questionnaire, so we’ll be vigilant for any additional brilliant ideas, suggestions, or passions that may surface and inspire new directions and content for our blog. In the meantime, we turn the question back to you, our cherished and inspiring community: Do you have any personal or home-related goals for the next 365 days that you’d like to bravely share with the world? We’ve found firsthand that publicly declaring your intentions on the internet truly helps to “get ‘er done” and provides an incredible source of motivation and accountability. So, please, do tell us your aspirations and dreams in the comments below – we can’t wait to hear them!
Slightly altered image found here.