YHL Blog update

[smilee1079]

They posted a new blog today. Did anyone listen to the podcast? If so, please give a summary here .

[sjh722]

An HOUR?

I'm just going to go see what gomi has to say.

[heygrey]

I like Jess livelys podcast sometimes so I'm considering it.

I'll let you know if I get through.

[jessesgirl08]

I listened. Found it interesting to learn that they have products in stores selling without their name on them. And that Sherry is a product namer.

They basically say that they are now working on show houses and advertising stuff. They are happier with their work life balance. They get to enjoy life rather than trying to document their every move.

[pugz]

I listened to most of it, they definitely sound happier and are staying plenty busy doing freelance work in advertising plus stuff related to their book, product lines, and show houses.

[sjh722]

Sept 14, 2015 21:55:37 GMT -5 pugz said:

I listened to most of it, they definitely sound happier and are staying plenty busy doing freelance work in advertising plus stuff related to their book, product lines, and show houses.

You are the nicest person on the face of the earth. (I mean that in a good way! I'm not being sarcastic.) No matter what you have to say or how annoying the person/poster/blogger might be (lol) - you always have such a positive spin on it. 

High five for pugz!

Also, I want the rug that YHL has in their living room.

[Deleted]

Sept 14, 2015 21:33:34 GMT -5 sjh722 said:

An HOUR?

I'm just going to go see what gomi has to say.

An hour of "in the past year we have spray painted 464643634 things 46464643643 different colors. Here is a list of every single item and every paint color and tonal variation we used. And here's one random original to the house thing we hacked apart just for funsies!" 

I mean I don't hate YHL like the rest of the internet (I think they're ok actually) but no one's life updates are that exciting to be an hour long! 


 

[krystee]

I listened. They talked about potentially blogging again, but in a very unscheduled, once-a-month as it tickles their fancy kind of way.

[pugz]

Sept 14, 2015 22:09:49 GMT -5 sjh722 said:

Sept 14, 2015 21:55:37 GMT -5 pugz said:

I listened to most of it, they definitely sound happier and are staying plenty busy doing freelance work in advertising plus stuff related to their book, product lines, and show houses.

You are the nicest person on the face of the earth. (I mean that in a good way! I'm not being sarcastic.) No matter what you have to say or how annoying the person/poster/blogger might be (lol) - you always have such a positive spin on it. 

High five for pugz!

Also, I want the rug that YHL has in their living room.

lol so not true, I can be a judgey bitch for sure!  They used to irk me big time but time has made my feelings simmer, lol. I do admire people that are able to step back from social media and really find balance, it is so so hard.

[sjh722]

Sept 14, 2015 22:21:24 GMT -5 pugz said:

Sept 14, 2015 22:09:49 GMT -5 sjh722 said:

You are the nicest person on the face of the earth. (I mean that in a good way! I'm not being sarcastic.) No matter what you have to say or how annoying the person/poster/blogger might be (lol) - you always have such a positive spin on it. 

High five for pugz!

Also, I want the rug that YHL has in their living room.

lol so not true, I can be a judgey bitch for sure!  They used to irk me big time but time has made my feelings simmer, lol. I do admire people that are able to step back from social media and really find balance, it is so so hard.

And see? You did it again, ending with a positive. LOL <3

(They don't actually bug me that much but I don't have an hour to listen to their podcast!)

[heygrey]

I listened while reading gomi, lol.

I think gomi is really harsh, but I think yhl was a bit defensive that they don't/didn't care what people think and the criticism wasn't why they quit. No doubt they've had a lot of time to reflect and may have come to a place where they realize the crirism doesn't matter, but it was getting brutal at the end. I think they are downplaying how it affected them.

I find sherry's job of naming products to be interesting. I've just never given much thought to how a product name comes about.

I like their dining room and living room a lot. I plan to leaf through their book when I'm at the bookstore next, but I doubt I'll buy it.

[redpenmama]

I only know the highly critical GOMI summary of what they are up to. I might listen to the podcast on my run tomorrow if I remember. Not sure I can take an hour of it (nothing against them, but an hour of life updates for anyone would lose my interest...).

I always thought they'd resurface, and it's no surprise that they have to coincide with their new book. I wouldn't be surprised to see quasi-regular blog posts. I'd definitely be interested in seeing what they did with the house, and maybe if they don't set the bar so high to do X number of posts a day, moderate X number of comments, etc., it'll take some pressure off for them and lower their fans' expectations. Plus, if they are making $ elsewhere, blogging could be more fun and less work.

[Deleted]

Sept 14, 2015 23:41:25 GMT -5 jenny1980 said:

Aw, Sherdog updated the bliz-og? Awesomesauce!



ETA: I am not afflicted with pugz-like kindness lol

we just became best friends

[mellymel]

Sherry connected with me on LinkedIn about a month ago. I accepted but I thought it was odd. I do not know her, do not work in her industry, and don't live anywhere near them.

[humpforfree]

Sept 15, 2015 5:21:51 GMT -5 mellymel said:

Sherry connected with me on LinkedIn about a month ago. I accepted but I thought it was odd. I do not know her, do not work in her industry, and don't live anywhere near them.

She did this with my mom too! So random.

[aspentosh]

I wish that they had a little blurb on the blog that said what they were doing. An hour podcast is just not easy to listen to these days.

Thanks for the summaries though!

[ssmjlm]

I only need you all to answer me 2 questions.

Did Sherry finally go out and buy a 2nd bra?

Did Sherry finally stop wearing her 1 black blazer to EVERYFUCKINGTHING they do?

[linz]

I didn't listen but still read gomi on them from time to time. I follow them on IG still and it seemed obvious they needed to pop back in to promote their new book.

I think it's great they've found other work and hopefully taking a step back from the blog has helped their family. I really miss reading it in the early years.

[womet]

I listened to it. I actually enjoyed it. It's clear that they have had a lot of time to process things and recalibrate. They talked a lot about work life balance and how the blog had taken over their lives in an unhealthy way. I had gotten sick of them towards the end, and their description of how things had gotten for them made sense. It seems like they both have regular jobs (back to what they were doing before the blog)and that they have continued to do some of the things they were doing because of the blog (show houses, product lines).

I agree with linz that they will be around online more. Mostly to promote their book, but I think they will come back and post things again (albeit much less often).

[mlt]

I'm going to listen to the podcast today. I really like them and I was bummed when they quit. Their projects weren't always perfect but I liked how they broke things down. It's hard to find that level of detail on other DIY blogs. I do hope they at least blog about their eventual kitchen renovation.

[bowies]

Maybe they are the biggest and loudest writing on the wall for where blogging will be a year from now - back to a hobby with a casual readership instead of a job with a dedicated audience.

I've never blogged but I imagine that years of strategically planning your life so you can monetize it would drain the humanity right out of you. All that criticism may have been a good thing for them.

Whenever the topic of blogging comes up, I think back to a psychology class I took in college on authenticity. It was an easy A because there weren't any textbooks or exams - just discussions on the self - but damn if that class didn't make a lasting impression. The basic summary of our findings was that if you failed to live a life of truth, you were doomed to disordered thinking, functioning, social constructs, etc. It probably informed a lot of my opinion on gay rights as well.

[AmyRI]

Tl;dr They realize they were doing everything for blogland and gave up all of their personal lives to maintain posting schedule and content quality. They're totally happy now, doing 50% their old freelance jobs and 50% DIY/book/etc projects.


Sherry is back in advertising/product naming and John is back in marketing about half time for each. The other 50% of their time is spent on product line designs, book writing, and working on decorating show homes (they are working on 5 currently, this is a new project).

They had companies (like Home Depot) sell products they designed without putting their names on them to prove that they're good designers, not just selling based on their following. That is what lead to their named product line.

They let their decisions about their houses be dictated by what blogland would like, and they obsessed over what the feedback would be instead of picking things they loved.

They are going to do a white kitchen even though it's overdone because it's what they love.

They have true family time now and don't work 100% of the time anymore.

Blogging got tiring and when they stopped, they expected it to be a desire that came back after balance was restored and instead it felt good to quit. The overlap of personal and business in blogging was too much for them. They will never blog for income again, but they might blog for fun again. They had let the blog take over their life and completely - to the point that they were taking photos on vacations just so they could do an awesome recap post later instead of actually going on vacation. (Seriously, this is why Young House Life was an awful idea.)
I
Negative feedback did contribute to their blogging break, but the main reason was no work/life balance. Sherry internalized negative comments and got too defensive and reactive. They think sharing after the fact will simplify things - no decisions under a microscope, just big reveals that show the whole picture instead of people critiquing little details before the room is finished. It will also keep them from designing for blogland instead of for themselves.

They travel more, entertain more, do more, look at phones less. Their friends have commented on how much they've changed for the better.

Sherry says "like" WAY too much.

The lack of public scrutiny + a mix of income sources (especially ones not associated with the blog/book at all) has given them much more confidence and happiness.

No talk of underwear or blazers. Only mentioned the kids in generic "they're good, growing so fast!" sort of terms.

[linz]

Sept 15, 2015 6:50:15 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

I only need you all to answer me 2 questions.

Did Sherry finally go out and buy a 2nd bra?

Did Sherry finally stop wearing her 1 black blazer to EVERYFUCKINGTHING they do?

They shot a little video on their page and Sherry has on bright colors! But her hair is still in a ponytail and I'm sure she has the same bra.

[ssmjlm]

Sept 15, 2015 7:59:50 GMT -5 linz said:

Sept 15, 2015 6:50:15 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

I only need you all to answer me 2 questions.

Did Sherry finally go out and buy a 2nd bra?

Did Sherry finally stop wearing her 1 black blazer to EVERYFUCKINGTHING they do?

They shot a little video on their page and Sherry has on bright colors! But her hair is still in a ponytail and I'm sure she has the same bra.

She always does the ponytail and statement earrings. 

[justjen]

I listened and really enjoyed it. Hearing them made me realize how much I did enjoy their blog once upon a time and how much I miss that--honestly, there's no blog right now that I enjoy very much. I mostly just skim.

I would enjoy occasional posts for sure. It also makes me think for the millionth time what it would be like to move somewhere l-er col for more work/life balance.

[smilee1079]

Thanks for the updates everyone. I listened for a little bit last night but needed to get to sleep. I am glad they are happy, but would like to see occasional posts of their house progress .

[mellymel]

I had a long drive today so I listened to the podcast and it was actually pretty enjoyable (except for Sherry's overuse of the word "like"). Great recap AmyRI !!