I love to read home improvement blogs and organizing blogs (in addition to PF!). I am a sucker for a staged picture, where it is all neat and perfect. And yes, I realize it is staged....because if their house looks like that all the time.....I might cry.
One of my favorites is The House of Smiths. Shelly writes with a comical style, which I like. They do alot of DIY, but they always have a plan. Plus, they have a skill set that allows them to do these things. That is always a plus. I think DIY gets a bad rap sometimes because it implies that the person is just doing it to save money, and the finished product is subpar.
Anyway....I have absolutely no idea how they do all of this stuff.
1) They have 3 kids. How do they tear things apart and not have 3 little people pulling at them every 5 minutes that they need something?
2) Time. Not sure if her Hubby has a job outside of the home, or if their income is their home based business and blog. Because it seems that he has alot of time to work on these projects.
3) MONEY! They always have a new project going on. And they look fantastic! But all of this stuff costs money. And we aren't talking $100. One post is talking about the new granite countertops. One post is talking about building custom furniture (which yes, is less expensive than buying a premade custom piece), but still requires materials. They rarely talk about the final cost of a project. But based on some of the embedded links, I am sure that some final touches are a little pricey.
I already know my house will not look like theirs. My husband doesn't have the attention to detail that they do. Or some of the skills that they do. We don't have the time for some of these huge changes, nor the money to fund what we want.
But it is nice to peek at someone else's home and dream.
LOL - I hear you! We do projects, but at a much slower rate. And yes, it takes 10 times as long because my kiddos need to eat - the thought! ;)
ReplyDeleteI dream of those beautifully organized houses too, but then I think - mine looks well loved - literally!
Some people are pretty amazing in that aspect, but it's not something I see myself investing a lot of time into. I somehow don't dream of neat and staged rooms, just of cozy, lived-in rooms!
ReplyDeleteI look at those too and wonder the same thing! and I don't even have little kids anymore to get in the way :) I agree with Tanner though, I'm not impressed with neat and staged rooms, which most of them seem to be. I like comfortable and inviting.
ReplyDeleteJust a quick look around there and I'll say that they make a good living off that blog. A lot of money was spent on it so they must be raking in a decent side income from it......who would do all that(spend time on that blog)for free?
ReplyDeleteThey are probably getting free product from endorsement deals and/or are paid to improve their home. Of course they don't detail costs because that would just make most of the readers not attempt to do that project/spend that money of the sponsors products.
They are paid to get the avg. person to buy something and attempt diy. DIY is a MAJOR industry.
This isn't some little personal blog and someone doing this out of the goodness of their heart and for fun....tho they make be having fun with it and they may be good people at heart. No judgements from me but it's business at the end of the day.
It's a business wrapped inside a blog.
Their reason for being is to get you to buy stuff by making you feel inferior(envy and lust anyone?) about your home.
Don't buy into it.
I agree.
DeleteI decorate with primitives so I am not big on staged houses. I like warm, cozy and even a little cluttered(gasp!) homes. The kind that look like people actually live there.
ReplyDeleteWe have tons of things that need to be fixed in our house. Unless I can pay cash for things, they stay unfinished.
I enjoy Younghouselove.com because they DIY almost everything, the are very light hearted in their writing, and they love to do things on the cheap. They even run down the figures at the end of most of their projects, they use coupons, scour craigslist, bargain hunt thift stores, and they have a small kids (they do the stuff during nap time or after bedtime so they are up until 12am most nights). They have plenty of give aways, give coupon codes for their fav spots, and are honest about what they are paid for and not. Check em out http://www.younghouselove.com/
ReplyDeleteI wonder what they'll do when they complete their home makeover?
ReplyDeleteGill
I try to do home improvements in stages and save for each small stage. I think you do the same.
ReplyDelete