Home design blogs have a fairly significant niche market. I know this not because I have a home (I'm a gypsy), or because I run a home design blog myself (potential home decor tip: stacked dirty dishes can also make an impromptu end table!). I know this because half the women in my life read them, and the other half either don't know these blogs exist or hate modern technology beyond rotary telephones. Yes-yes-yes, it might be stereotypical to say only women are into these home design blogs, but my all-encompassing sample size of a small handful of women proves it to be true.
Little known fact: Home design blogs are single-handedly bringing back the word "fabulous"--or "fab." Everything is fab to them. That chair? Fabulous. That curtain? Fab. The paint choice? Faaaabulous.
That choice of cleaning product? Why, it's...
Design blogs of note?
No, that's not the name of some documentary about a 1970s San Francisco free-love hippie commune.
It's the blog of a young, effervescent couple and their design tips. Picture a lovechild between HGTV and Abercrombie & Fitch. Sherry and John Petersik run the blog, a couple who give blog shoutouts to their two month old daughter, Clara, and chihuahua named Burger. If it was any sweeter, the American Diabetes Association would require a warning label.
They appear your typical upper-class, suburban, white couple. Their house is small(ish), but uber-stylish in a way that makes executives at Crate & Barrel get woozy over the potential profits they could rake in.
So let's rate their blog on a variety of issues:
Writing Style: B
If anything, they're literate. And verbose. You think I'm chatty? One of Young House Love's latest postings is 1839 words long, not including photos (which, according the mathematicians, are worth at least a thousand words each).
That said, the Petersiks are as humorous as a weather report. A sample from a recent blog posting of theirs, with my comments in brackets (the last parentheses is theirs):
I recently found myself flipping through old copies of BHG [Better Homes and Gardens to us non-home decor obsessed folks] and I came across one of my favorite little quote roundups ever in the February issue. [Ever? Thankfully, they're not into hyperbole here.] It was actually an article all about “choosing, using, and loving color” [two snaps and a twist!] and you know that paint is pretty much my BFF [please say I didn't just read that] so it’s no surprise that I had earmarked the page and even circled a few of my favorite quotes. [Put the magazine down and start walking away slowly...] So when I recently rediscovered my earmarked and circled page o’ quotes, I thought I’d share the wealth [I also accept wealth donations in the forms of $10s and $20s] and pass along all the great little tidbits that BHG amassed for that little article of yore (because frankly, we couldn’t agree more). [Wow, I haven't heard someone be that frank with me since I was told recently that the vegetable soup was delicious at Panera.]
They've clearly got a cash infusion going on with their blog layout. They have non-obtrusive ads, Twitter links, something called a "Discount-o-Rama" where you can use codes to save 10 or 15% at online retailers, links to photos of their kid, and even a smaller, mini blog for their dog, Burger.
That doesn't include house tours, details of their wedding, how-tos, videos, design advice, portfolios--all jammed into one little site. If they added anything else, they'd need a new garage added on. (See what I did there? I made a [not so] funny using design humor. If I keep reading these blogs, The Toolbox will start a weekly segment on pillow shams.)
Etc. Things: C-
The mini blog for their chihuahua, Burger, is cute and all. But they allow Google ads to be placed on the dog's blog--and those Google ads just happen to suggest recipes you can use for burger.
Tasty.
All in all--
Can they write grammatically correct? Yes. Can they write coherently? Yes. Can they write in such a way to captivate their target audience? Yes. Is the website appealing? Yes. Is paint my BFF? No.Ah, and there's the rub.
Named Design*Sponge because of the undeniable appeal of aquatic sponges in home decor design (?), Design*Sponge takes Young House Love's addiction to home decor and adds $100,000 budget to it all. That makes the blog entirely approachable to everyday budding millionaires everywhere.
Created and run by writer Grace Bonney, the blog hires twenty-one other contributors (who appear in photos wearing plenty of Banana Republic, offbeat glasses, and pretend-casual poses) to show what you're lacking in life. Specifically? You're lacking large sums of cash--and a sassy Banana Republic turtleneck.
Writing Style: C
Design*Sponge shows you how unique they are by writing without any capital letters. Why? Because capital letters are soooo dated. If you're cool and current you're too busy to hit the Caps Lock button on your keyboard for 2/5ths of one second. Design*Sponge is modern, trendy, current--in touch with the latest of everything, and that includes spelling. Just don't tell them ee cummings did the same shtick 50 years ago.
Nonetheless, they're jamming as many links in as Young House Love has, but more. Want city guides? Want mini trends? Want recipes? You're in luck, because there's a link to different chefs offering up their goods. This is including a recipe of tartlette gluten-free financiers. The only financiers I know of wear three-piece business suits and smoke cigars, and I suspect they might be chewy.
Etc. Things: D
"small measures with ashley" lives in a wonderful land of make believe. It's a recurring segment on the blog that, as the name casually hints, deals with small things you can do around your home.
The latest? Taking your home entirely off the grid. As in take your house off of the electricity grid--off the water supply--and off the heating supply.
Now, maybe Ashley comes from a land of giants where humongous projects appear as tiny tasks. But taking oneself off the grid involves three things:
1.) A home and piece of land capable of being used off the grid.
2.) Giant sums of discretionary cash to afford the home makeovers required.
3.) Months and months of work.
So, a small measure.
All in all--
They have a special "budget" section where you can get design tips for under $100. Except buying everything they recommend often adds up to $200, $300, even $500.The millionaire in my dreams approves.
The thing with design blogs is that their names can be a little vague sometimes.
Are you getting therapy in your apartment? Is the apartment a therapist? Do you get therapy from buying products for your home? Has your apartment had a brutal emotional trauma the likes of which is rarely seen outside an episode of Dr. Phil, and it requires therapy?
Covering six cities (despite what their little photo shows above--add Boston and DC to it), and 43 editors/contributors, Apartment Therapy is nothing if not extensive. For good measure, they have a mission statement, channeling the spirit of a non-profit group and showing they take your latex paint decisions very seriously. In brief:
Our Goal
To connect people to the resources they need to improve their homes,
while reducing their reliance on stuff.
Wait, what, hold up--did you just say you're aiming to reduce a reliance on stuff? But you're a design blog! You'll cease to exist unless you tell us we need stuff! We need saffron-encrusted picture frames because--because--because we've been told so!
Writing Style: Inc.
With 43 contributors, it's kind of difficult to get a general vibe. Are they all literate? Yes. Do they have a phobia of capital letters? No. So, those are two pluses.
It's hit and miss on tone and tenor. Funny posts are followed up with gravely serious posts. So we'll cut right to a writing sample about the color of Summer 2010. Designer Bridgette Buckley says the color is--- (my thoughts in parentheses):
Gold. Perhaps more of a texture, or state of mind (pssh, I'm always of a platinum state of mind): it seems that during times like this (uh-oh, sounds like a grandparent moment is about to strike), when the fatigue of economic downturn sets in (you mean whenever I wake up every morning?), people yearn for notions of lavishness (like Ben & Jerry's ice cream), regardless of how faux they might be. (Admittedly, Ben & Jerry's does have a frozen yogurt line of products.) Gold leaf, gold plate, gold lamay, sequins, beads and gold stitching (but what about gold rhinestones on denim jackets?)...it all feels right, right now. (If gold rhinestones are wrong, I don't want it to be right.) At your nearest Mega Mall, have a necklace made of your sweetheart's name spelled out in it. (Very subtle.)
Layout: C
Maybe it's the fact they don't want you to rely on "stuff," but the blog page is kind of---barren, while still being jam-packed. It's like having a million nicknacks on a wall, but ordered in such a fashion that it looks like you have none.
Etc. Things: F
There's a link near the top--beside the archives and home tour links--that says "The Inside Man." At first glance it looks like a theme segment, kind of like "small measures with ashley" from Design*Sponge, except without asking you to do small tasks like hand-sawing down redwoods and making a luxury cruise liner out of it.Except it's not a theme segment. It's another blog--a corporate blog, run by the Valspar Paint company--in the guise of being a design blog about paint. For some reason or another, they keep saying it's aimed at men. Because apparently only men paint with Valspar. In reality, men paint with whatever gallon of paint their wives / girlfriends / lovers / female friends hand them with a brush.
All in all--
Semi, sort of, kind of cheap tips on occasion, unlike a lot of other design blogs. On the bright side, you don't need to sell that kidney on the black market to afford quality home decor.Design Blog Conclusion:
They're varied. Mildly. Put another way, they're like major league baseball teams. They have different players, different uniforms, different skill sets, but they all aim for the same thing. To be:
No comments:
Post a Comment