Remember Why You Started

I was the kid who rearranged her room all the time.

Even though my room really couldn’t be rearranged that many ways, given its size and furniture, I tried.

I even redecorated – changing out photos and posters, moving around the stuff on my desk and dresser, setting up my night table just right.

Were you one of those people, too?

I suspect that, today, those people – we – are the DIYers, readers of DIY and home blogs, and watchers of HGTV and DIY Network.

Ultimately, I started this blog because I was/am that person. I decorated and did DIY projects for my first apartment and my friends wanted me to teach them how to do what I had done.

I was listening to some of my favorite podcasts yesterday (my new favorite thing to listen to in the car), including Young House Love Has a Podcast. John & Sherry from Young House Love blog fame now have a podcast in which they talk about DIY, blogging, and more.

Yesterday, the episode I listened to was about how they quit blogging for a year and what they learned.  They talked about (among other things) knowing your purpose in blogging, how you are more than your blog, and remembering why you started as a way to keep the creative juices flowing.

“Remember why you started.”

This hit a chord with me. After my ankle injury and dealing with other personal challenges over the past year, in some ways, I feel like I keep effectively starting over with this blog. I have wondered whether I’ve lost my purpose and that’s why, or if it’s just that sometimes real life gets in the way of running a blog, whether as your passion or your business (or both, as in my case).

I started asking myself new questions: Should I keep the name “Dogs Don’t Eat Pizza,” even though it has nothing to do with DIY? Should I just give the blog a cosmetic facelift, rather than a whole rebranding?  Am I fulfilling my blog’s purpose in what I’m posting?

Ultimately, I came to several conclusions:

• I can’t – I don’t want to – rebrand. Dogs Don’t Eat Pizza is part of who I am (to the point that I’ve had people come up to me and say, “Hey! You’re the dogs don’t eat pizza lady!”) and, in my heart, I know I don’t want to change that.

• I decided that I did want to freshen things up around here – doing a little redecorating and rearranging. As you may have noticed, I’ve been playing with the fonts and headings and stuff on the blog lately. I finally have found the fonts and styles I love and am working on incorporating them into all parts of my brand (the blog, social media, emails, etc.). The design I’m going for is clean, uncluttered, sophisticated, and fun. (Perhaps not surprisingly, that’s the same aesthetic I’m going for in my home, too.)

• The feeling of starting over is not necessarily a bad thing. I have learned and continue to learn so much about DIY, decor, blogging, even coding (!!) and it’s just part of growing and developing a business. It’s an important and good thing to take stock of where I’ve been, where I am, and where I’m going.

• The purpose of my blog has been and, I believe, always will be:
  • Empowering you to DIY projects in your home (if I can do it, you can do it);
  • Showing you how to have a beautiful home by mixing old and new; and
  • Demonstrating how to repurpose or upcycle materials and pieces, giving them new life rather than sending them to a landfill.

To that end, you may see a few more changes around the blog, although not a whole lot. I’m working on how to showcase not just newer posts, but older posts that demonstrate and reflect the blog’s purpose. And, as my ankle heals, I’m excited to embark on more DIY projects in our home.

I’m still that girl who likes to rearrange the furniture.

I’m the girl that walks into a space and mentally redesigns it so that it’s more efficient or more comfortable.

I’m the girl who wants to keep as much home stuff – furniture, decor, house parts – out of landfills.

As always, thank you for joining me on my DIY adventures. Thank you for bearing with me while I recover from my injuries and find my way on this blog. If there’s ever anything you’d like me to talk about or if you have questions about any project here on the blog, please leave a comment below or email me at karen@thediybungalow.com.