It’s time for our annual goal declaration—there’s nothing like a public commitment to light a fire under you. Let’s do this.
Goal #1: Embrace the Crazy (Be Flexible)
After five years of blogging and more than two years working on this full time, we’ve learned that no two days are the same. The coming year promises to be our busiest yet: a book release on November 6th, a 15+ city book tour, and several secret side projects we can’t wait to share. So our main goal is to stay flexible and let go of any illusion of “normal.” The less we cling to rigid plans, the more we’ll be able to enjoy the ride—and we’ll share the chaos with you every step of the way.
Goal #2: Broaden the Menu
Looking back through the archives, we notice our posts used to be more varied. Routine crept in (thanks, Type A tendencies), and we lost some of the spur-of-the-moment randomness that made the blog fun. Alongside our usual projects, giveaways, and reader redesigns, we want to bring back more variety. Expect more of the following:
- House crashings
- Window shopping features
- Budget-friendly makeovers
- Quick, free upgrades
- Advice-seeking posts (from you or for other readers)
- Table setting ideas
- Holiday decorating
- Mood boards
- Using and tweaking what we already own
- Roundups and top-ten lists
- Road trips and travel adventures
- Random off-topic chitchat, which often ends up being our favorites
Sharing two or three projects a week has always worked best for us—it’s a sustainable pace that avoids burnout and keeps the budget intact. So we’re recommitting to mixing in older favorites, trying new formats, and generally broadening the blog’s content alongside our project posts.
Goal #3: Less Typing, More Living
Finding balance and trimming long, wordy posts go hand in hand—both have been on our list for years. While we’ll still work evenings and weekends sometimes and ramble on now and then, many of our most-loved posts aren’t lengthy dissertations. We want to offer a mix of short-and-sweet pieces along with the longer, detailed ones you’re used to. Here’s to the third time being the charm.
Goal #4: More of You
We want to involve readers more—crashing more of your houses, asking how you live in your spaces, and building a warmer community. Our casa is your casa: come in, get cozy, and share. We’ll keep opening the blog up so you’re part of the conversation and the projects more often.
Those are our four goals for year six of blogging full out—ambitious, and maybe not all perfectly achieved, but worth aiming for. Each year we revisit prior goals to see how we did. Here’s a concise rundown of last year’s goals and how they fared:
Last Year’s Goal #1: Find Balance
We aimed to avoid letting the house and the blog consume all our time and energy. The internet is always on, so we’re still connected evenings and weekends, but starting a separate lifestyle space and taking an actual break from blogging helped. Verdict: still a work in progress, but better than before.
Last Year’s Goal #2: Be More Concise
Shorter posts can help achieve balance and clarity. We tried to tighten things up, and we’ll keep improving. Verdict: ongoing effort.
Last Year’s Goal #3: Bring Back Before & After Inspiration
Reader makeovers were missed, so we reinstated them—there’s too much inspiring work out there not to share. Verdict: mission accomplished and we’re thrilled to have them back.
Last Year’s Goal #4: Be Secure in Our Blog Identity
We worked on being comfortable with not pleasing everyone and blogging with more confidence. It took time, but we’ve settled into our groove and blog more fearlessly now. Verdict: progress made and we feel more settled.
Last Year’s Goal #5: Be Grateful
This was a mindset goal—remembering that this is a dream job even when projects and deadlines feel overwhelming. Verdict: we made a conscious effort to pause, breathe, and appreciate the ride.
Last Year’s Goal #6: Try New Things
We committed to experimenting with half-baked ideas and new adventures (writing a book was one of those surprises). Verdict: we embraced spontaneity, shot book photography at home, and stayed open to fresh ideas—more to come.
Finally, a heartfelt thank-you: you make this possible. Your encouragement, feedback, and presence are why we can do this and why we love doing it. We’ll be announcing book tour dates soon and hope to meet many of you in person—being able to say thanks face-to-face would mean a lot.
P.S. The first image credit was noted in the original post, and the final image was sourced from a shared collection (we added heads to some photos for fun).
P.S.S. We also announced this week’s giveaway winner on the blog—check the latest post to see if it’s you.