Cozy Little House

Ye who blogs gather round. Let’s have a little talk. OK? Just between us.

Blogging has changed and evolved over the past years. I’ve been blogging for five of those years. And I daresay not many of you were here too many years before that. Back then it was like a village. Now it is more like a continent. Humongous. There are so many blogs I daresay I’d hate to have to count them.

And so it is. So let’s have a little chit-chat about trends in blogging, shall we?

WordPress versus Blogger, my version. I loved Blogger. I did. It was easy to design, easy to navigate. Easy to change fonts, colors, size of blog, size of text, etc. There was just one little problem: There was no one to go to when something went haywire.

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I was lucky, I truly was. I never had my blog completely disappear as many of you have. Still…

WordPress: The versatility is amazing. There are as many plug ins (sort of like gadgets) as you could possibly ask for. Most are free.

I love the designs. I just changed mine very recently. You have your core, Genesis or Thesis, (I have Genesis) for the sum of about $50. Don’t quote me. But that’s very close. You can then go look at Child themes. Think of this as a cell phone you must add the innards to. The mechanisms that make it work.

Once you’ve purchased your first Child theme, which is about $25, you will forever get a discount on any others. I think I paid $18 for the one I’m now using.

You can gather themes like flowers in a bouquet. They sit in your little blog innards just waiting to be activated. Yes, along the way you learn the dreaded HTML or code or whatever it is they call it. But you soon become pretty comfortable with all that. Really you do.

All right, we have that discussion out of the way. Questions can be left in the comments.

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Trends In Blog Designing: There was a time when fancy headers were in vogue. Just the name of a blog and nothing else has recently become popular. No frills designing.

But I have to have color. Left in a white/gray/beige world I think I would die of starvation. I NEED color. I am drawn of course to blogs that have color. Pinterest boards that have color. You’re either of the “White Is Right” group or “Never Enough Color” folks. And there is room for all of us, thank goodness.

Blog Rolls: That has really gone by the wayside. Most of the time when I see a blog has headed to WordPress, they often automatically have done away with their blog roll. And that’s fine.

But guess what tends to naturally happen, in this huge world of blogs aplenty? Your blog buds will at some point think: Hm, they don’t have a blog roll anymore. And so and so has me on theirs. So I could take the one sans the blog roll and add the other. And we’re copacetic! Fair and square!

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So that is entirely up to you (and possibly your designer). But blog rolls are little gold nuggets waiting to be discovered. Because if you read a blog you like, eventually your eye roams over to the sidebar and discovers that list of endless possibilities. And then you start clicking over to visit them. Because they think: well if so and so likes them, I probably will too. And a star is often born!

Yes, it can look like a popularity contest. But then so is the fact that marketing is directed at the “big” blogs. Seldom do some of the biggies have to say more than: I’d like to have a new stove, than it is often sitting on their doorstep like magic, courtesy of whatever company is vying for their name to be plastered inside the much-visited and high-ranking blogger that wished for one.

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That is the way the world goes round. The more money you make, the more of a following you cultivate, the more companies want you to please take their product and say in big bold letters where you got it. Advertising that is priceless. Well, I’m not in that group, and I don’t need a stove anyway. I rarely cook these days. So let’s move right along.

The Blogs That Have Everything: Not many of us can afford to have a five digit remodel done on one room of our house. Yes, once I had a bit of that and now I don’t. Riches to rags I am, I am. So I’ve sort of been on both sides.

But this is solely my opinion: I don’t want to see a magazine with air-brushed perfection. I want to see a blog and the person behind it. The character and their frugal talents. Not many of us are in the ranks of the five digit makeovers. Unless we’re in the group that speaks of a new stove and it instantly appears.

It’s nice to get freebies. It truly is. It’s part of the blogosphere that is so unique. Blogging seems to eventually lead to freebies and offers and sometimes even magazine spreads.

I do have to say that most bloggers are going to show you how to do something that doesn’t cost very much. It’s like we’re in a race to see who can make something with the least amount of cash. We stroll the aisles of Dollar Tree and thrift stores, looking for that diamond in the rough.

And suddenly it becomes trendy and you get to write a tutorial. And maybe a magazine editor who scours Blog Land everyday comes upon it, and you’ve hit blog gold.

Isn’t it interesting how magazines watch the blogs instead of the way it once was? The blogs watching the magazines? Blogs tend to set the trends these days, and marketers follow close behind.

Right now I’m seeing lots of unique terrariums and succulent dishes. I’m seeing pretty lettering scrolled across a photo courtesy of places like Picmonkey. I’m seeing farmhouse style bump cottage style over to the side a bit. Though really they’re a little hard to tell apart.

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I’m seeing spray paint move from the indoors to the outdoors as spring unfolds. If it isn’t moving, it gets painted. Pots and outdoor furniture and of course the beloved mason jars.

I’m seeing a slight trend in indoor gardening. House plants in little teacups or mugs. A vignette of same-colored containers with little succulents and such planted inside.

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You know, when I was first blogging, I saw few quilts and more duvets. Now handmade is all the rage and quilts and hand embroidery are in the coveted spotlight. I am thrilled to pieces! I feel vindicated!

Once granite in a kitchen was a must. As was stainless steel appliances. I’m seeing that trend change a bit too. Remember brown and gold and olive colored appliances (bleh!) were once in vogue, for those of you old enough to remember.

And now I envision a cemetery or landfill brimming with them. Stacks upon stacks of green and gold and brown appliances. Because really, where did they go? Appliance heaven?

Wood is being painted every color of the rainbow. And white cabinets are now the norm.

Yes, blogging has changed the world.

What blogging trends are you seeing and what would you like to see more of? You now have the podium…