Life has been busier than ever for us, and having a new baby has made our priorities crystal clear. Lately we’ve been asking ourselves: what are we working toward? What do we really want to gain? The answers don’t include more blog traffic, likes, or approval. In fact, the idea of pushing this blog to grow bigger feels unsettling. We look back fondly on the earlier days when we worked less, slept more, and spent more time with family and friends. This little website has already exceeded every expectation we had, so what are we chasing?
When Clara was born we were blogging full time, but our traffic was about a third of what it is now. We were sharing roughly one project a week along with home updates, family news, polls, reader makeovers, and other casual posts. It was one of the best stretches of our lives: we did less, owned less, and felt completely content. With a new baby boy, and a daughter growing up far too quickly, we’ve decided to steer back toward that simpler rhythm.
We understand this choice may lead to fewer page views and lower income, and we’re okay with that. It’s a little scary not knowing where we’ll be in months or years, but we’ve never had guaranteed certainty as professional bloggers. We’ve made bold choices before for the sake of life quality—leaving the NYC grind and trading steady paychecks for blogging—and those moves turned out to be some of our best decisions.
Like before, we’ve saved enough to sleep at night and kept doors open in our previous professions. If needed, we can pick up freelance advertising or creative work again—roles we’ve both done in the past—so this transition feels manageable. We’re willing to accept that risk to restore more balance and presence in our daily lives.
Our love for home improvement and storytelling runs deep, and our to-do list remains long. We don’t plan to stop blogging. You can still expect project updates, planning posts, shopping finds, and our usual content on a more relaxed schedule. We anticipate publishing roughly three to five posts per week as we rebalance priorities.
We’re also moving family posts back to Young House Love. Family content has always been a key part of our main site—some of our most-loved posts have been personal pieces about breastfeeding, Clara’s birth story, her photo project, and other life moments. With Instagram covering many shorter family updates, Young House Life has started to feel redundant, so we won’t be posting there anymore.
We know some readers will welcome this slower pace—many of you have encouraged us to do exactly that—while others may choose to tune out. That’s okay. We feel fortunate to have the flexibility to make this choice, and we didn’t reach it lightly. Teddy is our last baby and Clara will be starting kindergarten before we know it, so we want to spend these years with them instead of working nights, weekends, and vacations chasing goals that no longer feel meaningful.
We don’t know exactly what the future holds, and that’s fine. Even if the internet changed tomorrow, we’re grateful for this unexpected journey. The blog has opened doors to remarkable experiences and opportunities we never imagined.
We still have big plans for our home and can’t wait to share how it evolves. But for now, please excuse me—there’s a very tiny diaper that needs changing and John just headed out to buy lumber.