About Making it Lovely
Making it Lovely is a design and lifestyle blog about living a stylish life and transforming the so-so.
I’m Nicole Balch (hello), and I started this blog in 2007 as my husband and I were moving into our first home. I intended for our families to be able to see what we were up to; I have a handyman background and a love of decorating, so I knew we’d be working on some fun projects. I was a stationery designer, online shop owner (Pink Loves Brown), and web designer at the time, but the blog grew quickly and soon took on a life of its own. In 2013, we sold our century-old bungalow and moved into an even older Victorian. I still write about my home (as I did in the beginning), but also about decorating and fashion, as well as my life as a wife, mother of three young children, and blogger turned breadwinner.
My Lovely Life List is a great way to get a sense of who I am. Hopes, dreams, and wishing I had the Thriller dance in my repertoire.
My work has been featured in Better Homes & Gardens, HGTV Magazine, The Chicago Tribune Magazine, Time Out Chicago, ReadyMade, Everyday with Rachael Ray, Ladies’ Home Journal, and other publications. Making it Lovely was named one of the top 26 Design Blogs by Domino, one of the 50 World’s Best Design Blogs by the London Times Online, and twice named one of the Top 50 Design Blogs for Moms by Babble.
I hope to one day be able to say that I’ve authored a book (it’s on the list!), but I am proud to have been quoted or featured in the following: Grow Your Handmade Business, by Kari Chapin; Decorate, by Holly Becker and Joanna Copestick; and Young House Love by Sherry and John Petersik.
I have spoken multiple times at Alt Summit and delivered a keynote speech at BlogPodium. I have taught at Columbia College Chicago, as well as several courses online for Alt Summit and Blogging Your Way. I have written for Better Homes & Gardens, My Colortopia, The Interior Collective, and Babble.
This Website
Making it Lovely was designed and coded by me. I was the nerd in high school who programmed her graphing calculator for fun (I wrote functions to create art), and coded her first website back in the days of AOL and dial-up. I used to offer web design services as Smart & Lovely, but I’m no longer accepting clients. This site is based on the framework of Laurel by Solo Pine and hosted by Liquid Web (they have the best support).
Advertising
There are several advertising and sponsorship options, designed to fit a variety of businesses. In addition to direct traffic and subscribers, Making it Lovely has sizable followings on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Please contact me for more information.
Contact Me
You can email me at nicole@makingitlovely.com.
photos by Arnold Klein
