We were amazed that more than a thousand of you completed our little blogiversary survey. Thank you so much. It was such a pleasure to meet many of you virtually and learn where you’re from, who you live with, and even your pets’ names. Burger is especially happy to make new friends — he’s tickled by Tater and Angus since they have food-themed names too. Our readers span a wide age range, from 15 to 66. One reader, Kay, described herself as 62 and “cool as heck,” and mentioned she rides a Harley — love it. We were also glad to see many men chime in; suddenly I don’t feel so alone.
We were surprised and delighted by how geographically diverse our audience is. You live in nearly every U.S. state from Alaska to Hawaii, and we had readers join in from around the world: Croatia, Singapore, France, Australia, Belgium, Greece, Bermuda, Colombia, Austria, Switzerland, Mexico, England, Estonia, China, Portugal, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, South Africa, Sweden, Italy, Holland, Germany, Spain, Malaysia, and Canada. That blew us away — merci, gracias, grazie, danke!
Your responses also revealed what you want to see more of: rental ideas, organizing tips, affordable DIY projects, step-by-step tutorials, before-and-afters, house-crashing visits, entertaining ideas, eco-friendly projects, and more of Almost Doctor Dan (we’re already plotting his next cameo). A frequent request was “more Burger,” which we’ll happily deliver — he’s definitely soaking up the attention. Ever since his appearance on The Nest magazine cover he’s been especially smug.
Two topics sparked mixed reactions: videos and design dilemmas. Some readers remarked they can’t watch videos at work (Heather jokingly asked if we could hide videos in an Excel spreadsheet), and we get that. At the same time, many of you love our videos and we enjoy making them, so videos will remain a regular feature. Think of them as a bonus to the week’s photo- and text-heavy posts — skip them if you need to, or catch them at home.
Design dilemmas also divided opinions. Many readers asked for more frequent after photos (we want those too), while others find some posts long or hard to picture and tend to skim or skip them. Because a large group counts design dilemmas among their favorites, we’ll keep them as a regular feature — and we’ll balance their length and presentation so they don’t crowd out other projects we’re excited to share. As Karen put it perfectly: “If there is a particular post that doesn’t suit me, I can just scroll past, but you shouldn’t take anything away!” We agree.
Overall, most commenters encouraged us to keep doing what we’re doing, which is incredibly gratifying. We took a deep breath of relief and got right to work adding many of your ideas to our to-do list. You know how much we love a new project.
We also enjoyed the little personal tidbits you shared — flattering, funny, and random. We learned that Jessica loves cheese, which made us laugh, and that our blog is LauraC’s homepage, which was truly flattering. Several readers appreciated that we proofread (Sherry’s inner copyeditor thanks you) and that we work to keep Young House Love a drama-free zone. We try to make this a cheerful place.
Reading your replies and learning about how you live, who you share your home with, and what you’d like to see in year three was a blast. Your suggestions have already inspired a stack of new post ideas, so give yourselves a pat on the back — you helped spark a lot of creativity here. Thanks again for telling us who you are and what gets your bacon frying. You truly made our day.
PS: If you asked where we got something in our house or how we decorate for holidays, check the Room By Room Source List on our House Tour page and the bottom of our How To page for holiday decor posts. We’ve got more holiday projects coming this season, so stay tuned.