I began my blog at the end of February 2013. At the time I was craving an escape from real life; a way to live out my dreams of being immersed in beautiful interiors day and night and having the time and freedom to explore my creative side. The blog became my new much needed hobby (I have never had one) and this outlet for my passion for design was totally consuming. I would come home from work, sit at the computer and before I knew it four hours had passed me by. I was hooked.
I built up a bank of posts during 2012 but didn’t have the guts to publish any of it because it wasn’t ‘perfect’ and it didn’t look as good as the professional blogs that teams of people contribute to. I wanted the perfect theme, the perfect photographs, the perfect content. That was until one evening a friend came round and told me I was being ridiculous and it didn’t matter what anyone else thought: the fact that I had loved putting the posts together was the important part.
When I finally built up the courage to publish the blog I had absolutely no idea what to expect. Yes, the initial rush of enthusiasm from my friends and family was lovely and I was deeply flattered and yes, when people I didn’t know started to make contact, sharing and commenting I couldn’t quite believe it. But, the reason I have kept at it and developed my blog is not what others think but because I have a new sense of challenge that I had lost in other areas of my life.
I originally thought I wanted to start a blog so I could collect and share my interior design ideas. However, it has become so much more than that for me. I’ve found something that I love doing just for sake of doing it. I’m not driven by money, promotion, deadlines or working towards an ultimate goal – I work on my blog for about eight hours of the week just because it makes me happy. I’ve never experienced that before and this feeling has made me see my life very differently as I’ve realised, at the age of 33, that it is possible to want to achieve something because of the means, not just the end, or even in spite of the end.
I think it is this realisation that has enabled me to throw caution to the wind and dare to expect that I can achieve some of the amazing things I have done in the last ten months connected to my blog. My 2013 highlights have been:
1) Working with my dear friend and photographer Katharine Peachey whose beautiful film photographs have added to my blog beyond measure.
2) Doing two guest blogs for Liberty.
Liberty advent calendar bunting.
3) Interviewing designers Lisa Levis and Double Merrick.
Home of Lisa Levis.
Home of Merrick Angle.
4) Being nominated as Blog of the Month by Sew Magazine.
5) Having my flat photographed for an interiors magazine, Style at Home (more on this in my next post).
6) Taking craft classes and courses at the Amazings, Sew Over It and Crafts Bee.
7) Doing a tutorial for craft magazine, Homemade With Love.
8) Learning to sew.
9) Discovering so many talented designers, crafters and bloggers through the Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram communities.
10) Can I add getting our puppy as number 10 even though it’s got nothing to do with blogging?! He has been such a joy this year.
I’m very excited about the coming year and seeing how my blog develops and changes over time. There are a few very exciting things on the horizon to look forward to: My first blogging conference, Blogtacular, another craft class to learn how to screen print (such a thoughtful Christmas present from my bro-in-law), a project with The New Craft Society and I’m hopefully teaming up with Katharine Peachey again to contribute a home tour to 91 Magazine – eeep!
I really hope you’ve enjoyed my blog over the last year – I can’t wait to see what 2014 has in store. Happy new year to you all!
Katy x
