YHL: My Thoughts

[emma61210]

Okay, I used to LOVE YHL, I would look at their blog every single day. But recently (and after hearing what a lot of you on this board had to say) I started paying more attention. I agree with a lot of you. It seems like they waste A TON of money buying things to see if they look right and then just "finding" somewhere else to put them (ex. the rug craziness for the kitchen on one of their recent posts).

Also, while I think they do have a good sense of DIY I think their taste in interior design is not any better than an average joe. Most interior designers (I should know, my mother is one) know what is going to look good the first, or second try. They (YHL) change colors (ex. his latest photoshop experiment with the kitchen bar stools) over and over and over again until they come up with what they think might look right.

Its starting to drive me crazy!! lol.

so what about you? thoughts?

[lemondrop]

I think you're right. They don't have the eye for it like a true interior designer would. There's nothing wrong with having to try a few options, but as you pointed out, it's definitely not cheap to buy things that are eventually not the right choice. (I don't have a natural eye for design. I do have to see something in place but I'm not trying to be a designer.)

I think buying the new house has really highlighted their lack of natural instinct. I really feel like that's when it started to go downhill a bit.

Also, while we're on the topic, I was thinking today while reading about the stools, that they seem like very nice people, but they aren't the quirky, crazy people they want to be. Their online personalities are sometimes too contrived, and they don't seem natural.

[Deleted]

I have no strong feelings on them & rarely look at the blog except when mentioned here....but yeah, those last 2 posts on the rugs & stools make it completely clear they have lost all confidence & vision. I think they post & then see the comments/reactions & then decide. They are actually getting worse as time goes on IMO.

[rugbywife]

I think they probably started off seeming fairly 'innovative' or perhaps somehow unique but now that this is how they make money/survive...meh, it's all okay. Frankly, I think design in general is so subjective. I look at a lot of blogs and think that only some of it is truly that much nicer than what I have. But I am sure that if I had a blog people would look at my stuff and think it was just okay.

When I read blogs I am often blown away by what people can 'make' out of nothing. And I have seen some of that on YHL but I have also seen it elsewhere. It's more the garage sale/thrift store finds that get redone and look awesome and cost nearly nothing that blow me away - on YHL I really liked the little kitchen they made for their daughter at a fraction of the cost that the ikea one cost BUT I would never take the time or effort to do that myself...I would just buy the ikea one!

Other than that kind of stuff...I don't get how you have to try out that many rugs to decide which one you like, or stools, or light fixtures or whatever...but it's also not how I make my living.

[ssmjlm]

No one is going to deny, they were sort of part of the early adopters of DIY blogging. And honestly when I first started reading in 2008 and they were working on their old house, I really liked their style and ideas.

Then I think they just ran out of things to DIY. I also think they went a bit helicopter parent too when John quit his real job to blog full time.

It sort of jumped the shark for me when they painted their porch floor poop brown and then stenciled a neon teal swirl design overtop.

[Deleted]

I quite honestly don't mind their designs in some respects. It's funky, it's out there and sometimes just strange, but hey it gets us talking and that's half the point. Design is also subjective. It's only paint and throw pillows if they like it whatever makes them happy I guess.

I even understand hacking the same issue apart and rearranging a kajillion times. I'm sure it's hard to dig up blog material after awhile and when it's your living you do what you gotta do I guess.

However, it's the half-assed way they go about things that drives me insane. I'm not a construction perfectionist or Inspector Gadget but some things they do are either obviously unsafe or plain cheap looking.

I just refuse to read too much into them. Something to talk about for me and that's as far as it goes. I think some people have a tendency to take John and Sherry too personally...like their bffs IRL or something.

[TBM]

I think they were in the right place at the right time. Other young couples with a starter home and small budget found them and could relate. When it was mostly Sherry writing, the blog had a more genuine feel. It could have been that they were within their comfort level color/decor-wise too.

They seem like nice people who enjoy making their house into their home, but they aren't really that good at diy (too cheap and too slipshod) and are definitely not good at working with color. They are really good at marketing themselves.

They aren't experts though, or even particularly original, and I feel like they were aware of it before, but maybe are buying the hype now.

I actually like the idea of much of what they do, if not the methods used or the results. I even like the colors in this house....just wish they understood color better.

[tcsbride]

For me, I starting following yhl when they were just starting their blog and I really loved what the did. They had a small space but made it look so much brighter with all those light tans and whites with splashes of color here and there. I also loved all the DIY ideas.

Then they started doing to blog for a living and bought the new house and started taking a more modern spin and I rarely read anymore. I'm not sure it's if they really love that style or if they that's what they havento do be ause they are paid designers, so who would want to see a house that was redone exactly the same? But for me....I loved their old house.

[frauschmindy]

May 31, 2012 17:04:49 GMT -5 L said:

I have no strong feelings on them & rarely look at the blog except when mentioned here....but yeah, those last 2 posts on the rugs & stools make it completely clear they have lost all confidence & vision. I think they post & then see the comments/reactions & then decide. They are actually getting worse as time goes on IMO.

I think this is probably true. You can also tell they don't have much confidence in themselves in the way they are always like, "but we're not professionals, and we know everyone won't like it! But we're taking risks! Haha." I feel like they do that a LOT now when they didn't before.

I think they are being tighter with money now that they both stay home for the blog, and they are struggling when it comes to being frugal but still stylish. I mean, just look at the kitchen in their last home compared to now. Their new kitchen looks very cheap in comparison.

I loved their first home.

[pugz]

I love some things and really dislike others. Hated pretty much all the new stool color renderings. ESPECIALLY the red. Hello, there is no other red in your house, wtf?

[aweilba]

I personally don't like how they spend an entire huge post talking about something that really only needed one or two pictures and a quick paragraph. For instance, today's post on grass growing.

I did love their old house, but it was more of my style. Their new one? Well, I like individual elements, but don't always like they way that they put things together. But I give them props for putting themselves out there and trying to make a steady living blogging; it can't be that easy.

[princepissedalot]

I found this site through my irrational dislike of YHL. I'd like to preface my rant by saying that I generally don't like talking shit about other people, and I'm sure John and Sherry are perfectly lovely people, but the site has jumped the shark. I thought their first home (minus that hideous porch floor) was lovely. But this house… I just can't. I'm on board with what everyone else has said so far.

Perhaps they should focus on featuring more reader submitted entries and less on fluff posts to maintain page views.

[lemondrop]

Jun 1, 2012 11:20:31 GMT -5 princepissedalot said:

I found this site through my irrational dislike of YHL. I'd like to preface my rant by saying that I generally don't like talking shit about other people, and I'm sure John and Sherry are perfectly lovely people, but the site has jumped the shark. I thought their first home (minus that hideous porch floor) was lovely. But this house… I just can't. I'm on board with what everyone else has said so far.

Perhaps they should focus on featuring more reader submitted entries and less on fluff posts to maintain page views.

The reader submissions and house crashings are so much better than their work. I wish they'd feature more of that.

Also, I think they could just post one stronger piece a day instead of two posts and it would be a much stronger blog. They have so many followers and worshippers that they won't every change their format, though.