Tag: blogging

Oops. I Meant to Do That.

I just got back from a weekend away in San Francisco with an inspiring group of fellow bloggers. While at dinner, a few of us were talking frankly about living with so much of our lives online. “Is it difficult to know where to draw the line?” someone asked us. “To know what’s suitable for sharing?”

The other women (whom I know and admire, and whose blogs I love reading) both answered immediately. Yes. It’s hard. There has to be a balance of being aspirational and approachable. They talked about consciously adding in a few ‘oops’ moments to some of their posts, to counter the possible air of perfection. And they get it — I get it. Nobody wants to read the blog that makes someone feel bad about themselves, and nobody wants to be the person causing those feelings.

“I probably include too many ‘oops’ moments,” I joked. “Maybe I’m not aspirational enough!” I mean, that rug? I don’t know about it. I’m having second thoughts, which is probably annoying to you guys. It’s annoying to myself. But I do something, I get excited, and I share. The layout of the library? It’s tricky. Incorporating all of our home’s oak and fir? I’m doing my best to do it justice. Sometimes I know exactly where I’m going with the design of this house and sometimes I’m figuring it out along the way, and perhaps I share it too soon before I’ve got it all sorted. But that’s what’s fun about having this space. That’s what I love writing about, and that’s what keeps me happy day after day and excited about blogging here.

For a long time, I thought I was doing it wrong. I watched people grow their businesses by taking on contributors and assistants, by posting more frequently, by analyzing results. More. Bigger. Better. I thought I needed to follow suit, and I learned that it wasn’t for me. There are so many rules and tricks to blogging with the intent to grow, often as quickly as possible (it is literally my job to teach them). Remain relatable. Include photos of yourself X% of the time. Work Pinterest with tutorials and the right image formats. And you know, the formulas work! But they also lead to burnout (and I do include that caveat in class as well, lest I lead my twenty-year-olds astray). Other bloggers do what’s right for them and I love to watch and learn, but ultimately I need to do what works for me even if it isn’t ‘the right way’ to do things. This blog is dear to me and incredibly important to our family as it’s our income, but I want it to succeed in a way that feels true.

I think about spaces. I think about our home, and the fictional fifteen other homes I would decorate if time and money and locations were unlimited. I think about style and the easy reinvention of a wardrobe that comes with a great new pair of shoes or a killer dress. I think about turning out amazing meals and mixing the perfect drink and having children that will eat quinoa as easily as they will Coco Wheats. I have an idea of where I’m going but I make mistakes and I share as I go because that’s life, not a business strategy. I’m so appreciative of having people alongside me, even as I waffle, rethink, redo, and correct. That’s life, and that’s part of the fun.

Photo taken over the weekend at the beautiful Stable Café in San Francisco. Note the burned out light bulb. ‘Oops.’

April 27, 2015
2013 Making it Lovely Reader Survey
Thank you, everyone, for taking my 2013 reader survey recently. Below are the results. I would have had this information to share with you much sooner had I not insisted on attempting to make the charts and graphs pretty. (Silly me, trying to make it lovely.)

Survey Results

I asked several questions about posting frequency, blog reading habits, and about your feelings on sponsored posts. I’m glad to see that so many of you are supportive, long-time readers — I really appreciate that.
- “I love your style , pretty and feminine- but somehow there’s an edge to it. Also I enjoy your writing style- its smart and to the point- with a healthy dose of sarcasm. Your level of transparency seems perfectly balanced to me, I know enough about you to understand your point of view- yet you are not living your entire life on your blog. I am also a young(ish) mother of two perfect darlings that rock my world and I just wanted to say from one momma to another that I think you do a really wonderful job of acknowledging and honoring motherhood, while still making plenty of thoughtful conversation about other things. I feel as though so many blogs are JUST about mothering or they’re about interior design exclusively and their children are just another prop to style. You are a rare gem, indeed. Cheers to your anniversary, dear! “
- “I like your aesthetic, but also feel like yours is a more “grounded” blog — sometimes when I read a lot of blogs I get the feeling that I need to buy all of the things. I generally don’t have that feeling from reading yours — I get ideas, inspiration, etc. but don’t feel like if I only changed everything in my home/wardrobe I would be better. Hope that makes sense. “
- “I’m inspired by your decorating posts. Whether or not we have the same style doesn’t really matter. I like to see the things you put together and try to think about how I might do something similar in my own home, with my own twist. That’s why I like “Making it Yours” so much. Of all the design blogs I follow, you’re the only one doing that. I love seeing how the same item can seem so different when accessories are switched. “
- “I love your tone and the pictures you take are great. I also like that you seem down to earth and honest. You have a realistic price point for most of the stuff you share and you are able to mix the high with the low in such a fabulous manner. Your kids are adorable and it is fun to see them growing up plus you are from the Midwest, where I am originally from. “
- “You grabbed me with the pink living room, held on tight with the Madeline Wienrib rug, and cinched the deal with the refreshing quirky personality. I return again and again to read your words and to be inspired that smart is cool and individuality is cooler, and that anyone can have a beautiful home that expresses their passions. (And not just the designers, though I do love them too :) “
Young House Love

A Cup of Jo

Little Green Notebook

Smitten Kitchen

Style by Emily Henderson

Door Sixteen

House Tweaking

Bower Power

Oh Joy

Design Mom
Topics

Looks like you love seeing photos of my home, makeovers for readers, and DIY projects, and you’d like to see those topics more often.
- “I love hearing about products, services, apps, screen savers (I still have that flip clock screensaver on my iMac), etc. that you’re using. I know it’s hard to walk the line between a casual ‘I’m loving this’ post and an endorsement, but I really love hearing about the things you’re loving, using, crushing over, etc. And I miss your font crush posts!”
- “I live in Chicago, close to Oak Park and I’d love to see more posted on neighborhood. I think it’s charming.”
- “More before and afters. Remind us of your space, keep us in the loop about what has changed. Show the evolution of your style. Take more photos yourself (fewer mood boards and things pulled from the net).”
- “I like posts that give me the feeling of going shopping with you– explaining how you select different items, why you reject others, how you think they work together. That can be accomplished with actual make-overs/purchases/projects (in either fashion or home stuff) but also with mood boards.”
- “I’d love to see periodic photography tips and tricks. I know you say you’re still learning, but we can learn with you.”
Demographics

The average reader is a married woman between the ages of 25-34, a homeowner, well-educated, with young children.
- “I’d just like to say that, a while back you wrote how you’ve decided to remain the only writer/contributor to your blog & I LOVE that! I meant to comment that on that post but I never did. I don’t know why I don’t comment. Perhaps it’s because I think there’s no possible way you read them all? Do you? If you do, I’m sorry I haven’t been commenting & encouraging you in that way. I super love your blog & think you’re an inspiring lady!”
- “I follow way too many blogs. I need to clear out my reader. However, I think – without cheating – you are a former bookstore employee? I think you love books. Anyway, our daughters are similar in age and I think it would be a cool feature for you and Eleanor to review a children’s book every week/month. Maybe? Random thought.”
- “I love reading your blog for many reasons. I certainly love looking at pictures/projects of your home, as I feel my style is similar. There are things I would love to do in my own house. I also really like your writing. I always find it positive and encouraging. You are a person who I would spend time with in life! Down-to-earth. I find you inspiring, and look forward to reading new posts every day. I find myself at a point in life where I can’t decide what I need to do next. I come to Making-it-Lovely because it makes me feel happy. A lot of your personal posts make me feel like I tackle things calmly. In my job I do some online work already, and I’d love to take it a bit further. I read your posts and feel better about taking on challenges. Anyway, I really love this blog. THANK YOU FOR WRITING IT.”
- “You do a great job, and have a unique style. I hope the feedback doesn’t make you change things too much. Hats off to you for being able to support your family from this!”
- “Keep up the good work. I’m proud of the decisions you’ve made and appreciate your candidness, and your ability to not pontificate on your life. Your blog isn’t so much ME! ME! ME! as so many are prone to be. It’s thought provoking and minimal, as if you trust your readers’ ability to think and form their own opinions. You give us something to think about without shoving it down our throats. Thank you. “
February 25, 2013
What I’ve Learned From Blogging
Summed up in 3 images…

sources: 1, 2, 3

…and 5 sentences.
1. You have to hustle.
2. Push yourself.
3. You can’t please everyone.
4. Ask for what you want.
5. Do it for love, but know your worth.
January 30, 2013
How My Blog Went From a Hobby to a Job

As I mentioned yesterday, there are several topics to not discuss in polite company: money, politics, and your stance on wood finishes. Since I have already, at various points, touched on the other two, why not go three for three and talk about finances?

I’ve held a job, self-employed or otherwise, since I was sixteen. I have been an amusement park ride-operator, a handy(wo)man, a telephone surveyor, a face painter, a babysitter, a record store clerk, a muralist, a bookseller, a web designer, a stationer, and a blogger. Most of those overlapped. For instance, I worked at the bookstore while also face painting for the village events in Oak Park, the combination of which somehow led to my being awarded Employee of the Year for Downtown Oak Park! I didn’t even know that was a possibility, but I gave a brief, awkward acceptance speech at the end of a TIF meeting, and was presented with a plaque. (It used to hang in our apartment bathroom, because that’s a pretty funny thing to see when you visit the loo.)

I’m sure you can tell from my résumé of odd jobs (literally) that I have been raking it in!

Brandon and I were married in 2004. I started my stationery shop in 2005, and I began offering web design in 2006. Making it Lovely began in 2007, and I had intended for it to be a complement to the shop and design business, but mostly just a fun place to chronicle what we were doing as we moved into our first house together. Over time, the blog became successful, and I was able to earn some advertising revenue. Each year, the balance of our finances changed a little (2008 took a hit from doing the National Stationery Show — ouch), but Brandon’s job was always the anchor.

He and I had dreamed of the day he would be able to quit. Steadily, each year, we grew a little closer. Then, in January 2012, we were pushed over the cliff when he lost his job. We weren’t ready to make that leap, and we scrambled for a while. Slowly though, I began to find my footing with the blog and its potential to support us, and in September 2012, I wrote about our decision for Brandon to stay home and watch the kids while I worked full-time on the blog.

Though our income is now fully funded by Making it Lovely, I have tried to diversify the sources as much as possible. Keep reading for a breakdown of how this blog supported us in 2012.
(more…)

January 16, 2013
Young House Love

The Day John and Sherry Showed Up at My House

I’ve ‘known’ John and Sherry Petersik of Young House Love since 2007. We started our blogs around the same time and we’ve chatted plenty of times via email over the years, but we had never met before. When I read that they were going to be in Chicago for their book tour, I sent them an email hoping to find a little time to meet up. Sherry wrote back and said that they were down for one of their infamous house crashes, and so we set a date.

Do you know how weird it is to meet someone you’ve known for five years by them coming to your house? I mean, it was awesome, but it was also a little surreal to see John and Sherry walking up to my front door.

They came in, we all hugged, and then they house crashed. Brandon and August were home the whole time, and John and Sherry met Eleanor for a few minutes too after Brandon picked her up from preschool. Clara was back at home with her grandma, but we all agreed that she and Eleanor would have been toddler besties.

I drove John and Sherry to their hotel when they were done taking photos of the house, and on the way I tried to point out interesting things around Chicago. “There’s the Sears/Willis Tower, over there is the Trump Tower” and so on. And of course I blurted out “here’s where R. Kelly shot Trapped in the Closet!” I’m not sure if they were into that (but man, “En Vogue… with a new lead singer” had me and Brandon cracking up in the latest installment). Later that night, Sherry and I realized that we (professional bloggers that we are) forgot to take a picture of “Young House Love and Making it Lovely” together with a decent camera. We made sure to get one with the three of us the next day, but of course I only had my phone with me. Behold!

(Pics or it didn’t happen.)

See all those people behind us there? The line for them at their book signing was crazy long, with people wrapped around the store and waiting out in the rain. It was a dedicated (and really sweet) group of people. I’ve worked and attended a lot of book readings, but this was a particularly good one. A few people in the crowd even recognized me and had me sign my page in the book (I contributed project #199), which felt really cool.

John and Sherry are now New York Times best selling authors for their book, Young House Love, and I couldn’t be happier for them. (Congrats, guys, and thanks again for coming over.)

November 27, 2012
Breadwinning

I’m the sole provider for our family now. Officially.

I posted a single political link out of a dozen cute and fluffy links in last Friday’s Honor Roll, and it got people all riled up. One person was so incensed that she tried to insult me personally, calling me out for enjoying my “fancy shopping trips” while Brandon was collecting unemployment. That’s not true, but I hadn’t realized the misconception I may have been fostering by not providing an update sooner. It’s hard stuff to write about and I’d been putting it off, but no longer. Here’s what’s going on with us.

Brandon and I met in 1999, when we each worked full-time at Barbara’s Bookstore in Oak Park (making just over $6/hour in the beginning — go us!). We began dating in 2001, moved in together a while after that, and were married in May of 2004. Just before we were married, Brandon left the bookstore for a job in printing that paid more. He was there until he lost his job in January.

I left the bookstore in late 2004. I had already been working a second job which was to continue for a little longer, and I took a seasonal retail job at the first west elm store. When that was over, I decided to pursue my dream of owning a stationery business and I started Pink Loves Brown. I also took on freelance web design projects as Smart & Lovely while the stationery business took off. I started this blog in 2007, and I realized that the blog would eclipse the stationery shop a couple of years into it. The money I made from advertising was a nice bonus at first, and eventually it became enough to call the blog “a job” with a straight face.

Brandon liked the work that he was doing (managing prepress), but the environment was a bad one. We’d always hoped that he could quit eventually, but it helped support our family and provided health insurance. When he unexpectedly lost his job earlier this year, he was on unemployment for a few months while he looked for work. As I took on more projects though, it became clear that we could make it work if he wanted to be a stay-at-home dad. In July, he stopped collecting unemployment. We got rid of COBRA and bought our own health insurance (which was difficult and expensive). It’s scary to be the sole supporter since I have such a non-traditional job, but it’s working right now. If we need to reevaluate in the future, we will.

I make money in advertising and sponsored posts here on Making it Lovely, and I also write for Babble, Better Homes and Gardens, and Glidden. I’m saying yes to a lot more work than I would have before and I’m working a lot, but we’re doing well. Last year was the first year in which I earned more than my husband. This year I’ve been doing even better, and I hope to eventually be able to replace his lost income.

It wasn’t under ideal circumstances, but it seems I’ve managed to cross another item off of my Lovely Life List. A big one.

Thank you, everybody, for all of your support over the years. Especially recently. We wouldn’t be able to do this without you, and I’m humbled by you and grateful.

September 25, 2012