A Brand New Blog Design

It has been a much longer break from blogging than anticipated but I’m finally back, roaring to go, with A Brand New Blog Design.  What do you think?  Do you love it?  I do!  I’ve struggled with a lot of little “glitches” on my blog ever since my transfer from Blogger to WordPress last summer and it has been very frustrating.  I was able to figure out a lot of things on my own but there were certain problems that “Googling it” just couldn’t solve for me.  In addition to the glitches, I wanted a lighter, fresher look for my blog.  I really liked my previous header and the general layout of my blog.  It was a lot of work and I created myself with virtually NO technical knowledge (pat on the back), but it seemed a bit old and “heavy”.  It was time to make an Old Thing New.

Enter Mr. OTN, my knight in shining armor!  I virtually have NO budget for blogging but I do  have a husband who doesn’t like to see me struggle.  It was at his urging that I finally decided to pay someone to help me out.  After looking at some of my favorite blogs and seeing who they used for blog design I chose Julie at Blogger Boutique and I am so happy that I did!  Before I met Julie though I have to confess that I tried two other companies that offered help to bloggers. The first one didn’t charge much at all and I got a step-by-step tutorial that I had a hard time following. When their steps didn’t work on my computer they couldn’t help me. The second one charged a little more and actually transferred my blog from Blogger to WP but I was left with a lot of things that didn’t work.  I emailed and emailed for follow-up help, all to no avail. I was willing to pay anything to get things working but never heard back. All this to say that it is better to pay a little more and find someone who others have had a good working relationship with before putting money into your blog.

So the process began with Julie setting up a Basecamp account where we were able to email back and forth to come up with the blog design.  First she sent me a questionnaire asking me what other blogs I liked and why, what my favorite colors were, what I’d like my layout to look like, etc.  Then she went to work and came up with this beautiful style board.  I loved it right away.  She understood what I was looking for on the very first try.

Next came the creation of my header from pictures I uploaded to our Basecamp account.  I sent Julie a large selection of pictures and asked her to choose which ones looked best together.  Again, she captured the essence of my blog.  Farmhouse Glam is my style.  Can you see it here?

Then came my Facebook cover page . . .

. . . and here is my new blog button. So pretty.

The design is wonderful, the layout is wonderful and I love the slider across the top of my blog where recent posts can be seen.  I’d better get to work on some new posts now so you don’t have to keep looking at holidays long past!  A great big thank you to Julie at Blogger Boutique.

Blessings to you all,