Hi Everyone,
Yes! The Laurel Home Blog is exactly ten years old today. And, while I’ve removed or rewritten many of the early posts, I have left up the first post written on April 8, 2012.
And, as I’m beginning to write this, it is still April 8, 2022.
Now it’s April 9. Above is a shot of the trees just beginning to open up in the Boston Public Garden.
Originally, I began the Laurel Home Blog as part of a new website that was to include a little e-commerce shop.
I had been talking about doing the e-commerce shop for at least five years. Then, I figured it was time to, you know, or get off the pot.
However, I had heard of lay people who created their own WordPress content management websites. So, I asked around to try and find someone to help me create this beautiful new website. Unfortunately, I came up dry.
Therefore, I googled “how to make your website” and came up with Prophoto. I clicked on it, and it sounded like just what I was looking for. So, I purchased the Prophoto template for WordPress and an additional theme for even more customization abilities and got to work. I connected it all to Bluehost, my server, at the time. And then, I was in business.
Well, it wasn’t relatively that easy, but I did it.
And then, I did find someone a few months later to help me with my online shop. And, after a few months, I had that ready to go. Of course, I had it all backwards as there were only about a dozen people landing on the website every day.
Soon after that, I left my wasband and was on my own.
If you’re interested in more of the early months, please read the tribute to my fantastic mentor and friend, Eileen Lonergan. She tragically passed away in October 2018 from metastatic breast cancer. There isn’t a day that I don’t think of her and mourn this profound loss shared by thousands of people who knew and loved her.
Eileen is the reason we are celebrating my 10-year blogiversary; no doubt whatsoever.
However, back in the fall of 2013, through no fault of her own or the guy she had to do some advanced troubleshooting, the entire site crashed one horrible day in September 2013. And, I don’t mean just went off-line. The whole site collapsed on itself– blew up to smithereens! But, Eileen jumped right to it, and within three days, we had put everything back where it had been.
That is everything but the shop. I let that die a quick natural death because nobody was buying anything anyway. No traffic = no business.
Once Eileen got everything fixed and taught me some things I needed to know, I began blogging religiously every other day. You can see some of those not-very-good blog posts if you go to the last two pages of blog posts.
However, as I said, most of those posts have been deleted or rewritten.
When I began blogging religiously, my readership began to grow steadily. I was also pinning like mad on Pinterest, trying to get that going to bring more traffic back to my blog.
And, that’s how it all began.
Of course, there’s a lot more to the story. And, a lot of it is in my blogging guide, which I recommend for everyone who has a website and would like to get more business from it.
Laurel, what are you going to do to celebrate TEN YEARS?
That’s a great question.
I’m going to do two things:
List the top ten most helpful, entertaining, and beautiful posts. Some of these are posts of posts.
The other thing I’m doing is offering at least 10% off all my rockin’ interior design guides. These rarely go on sale. I say at least because I’m lazy and rounded up and, in some cases, way up over 10%.
Plus, if you get all three of the most expensive products, you’ll get the 333 rules and tips and the Etsy guide for free, a discount for getting three products, and an additional 10% off. It’s like getting the Rolodex for free and then some. You can see the breakdown of that on the purchase products page.
But, please go first to the page with a short blurb on each product.
However, first, let’s go over the top 10 blog posts on Laurel Home to celebrate my 10-year blogiversary.
These are in reverse order, with the oldest first. However, the oldest only goes back to November 2016.
https://laurelberninteriors.com/laurel-home-paint-palette-home-furnishings-collection/
https://laurelberninteriors.com/guaranteed-beautiful-room/
https://laurelberninteriors.com/the-best-decorating-plan-that-always-works/
https://laurelberninteriors.com/decorating-mistakes-fabric/
https://laurelberninteriors.com/perfect-architectural-proportions-the-no-fail-formula/
https://laurelberninteriors.com/333-decorating-rules-you-need-to-know-is-here/
https://laurelberninteriors.com/the-21-funniest-laurel-home-blog-posts/
https://laurelberninteriors.com/the-ultimate-window-treatment-guide/
https://laurelberninteriors.com/the-9-most-beautiful-blog-posts-on-laurel-home/
https://laurelberninteriors.com/21-common-and-hideous-interior-design-mistakes/
These are not necessarily the most popular posts and definitely not the posts with the most comments.
The top three, each with over 300 comments, are:
https://laurelberninteriors.com/a-compelling-reason-to-buy-a-house-instead-of-renting/
This post had 455 comments!
https://laurelberninteriors.com/october-3-2021-incident-i-need-your-help/
You guys were so incredibly kind and helpful after I had my accident.
In the number three position is: (you probably guessed it)
https://laurelberninteriors.com/shocking-truth-restoration-hardware/
I took this photo this afternoon, looking west, about 20 minutes before it began raining like crazy. Right behind me is where I had my accident on the corner of Commonwealth Ave and Dartmouth Street.
And, another lovely image was taken on the other side of Commonwealth Ave and Dartmouth Street.
Below is more information about the Laurel Home Guides
(Clicking on the links will send you to the pages to learn more about each guide.)
Laurel’s Rolodex is a unique shopping guide that shares hundreds of my favorite sources and, especially for decorators and designers, tells you the best sources that sell directly to the design trade, especially for decorators and designers.
The Essential Paint Color and Palette Collection (two volumes)
This is a must-have guide for anyone struggling with paint colors. If you don’t believe me, there are dozens of testimonials on the Palette Collection page.
Six-Figure Income Blogger. (This should be required reading for everyone every website owner who wishes to get more business.) You do not need to be a heavy-duty blogger. But, once or twice a month consistently will do wonders for your business. But, it would be best if you learned some other things, as well. Believe me, when I say in the early years, I made every mistake and then some.
333 Decorating Rules & Tips You Need to Know – There is so much information, and much I’ve never seen anywhere else. The window treatment glossary alone is several pages.
The Etsy guide on its own. It’s 200+ seriously cool vendors.
Etsy is known for exceedingly helpful, personable vendors and great pricing.
Gifting is available. When you go to order,
just click on the gift icon on the first screen after
you click the buy now button on this page.
Thank you so much!
I’ll leave you with one more image of a spectacular residence on Marlborough Street and their below-street-level garden.
For more gorgeous springtime images from last year at the peak of spring, please go here.
Once again, thank you all for your continued love and support. It means more to me than I can possibly say!
Love Always,
PS: Please check out the newly updated HOT SALES!
Related Posts
- The 20 Best Laurel Home Blog Posts 2020 – 2021
- Furniture Design – Is it old, new or stolen?
- Have You Seen These Incredibly Romantic Paint Palettes?
- The Most Exquisite Gardens and Landscaping Ever!
- How To Get A Sunroom Like Tory Burch (for a lot less money)
- Pantone Color of the Year 2015, the good, the bad and the barf
- The British Are Coming! Superb Interior Design from the UK
51 Responses
Congrats on your ten years of blogging! It’s always interesting to see how a blog has grown over time, and your blog is full of a lot of great content. I love your blog post about the Laurel Home! I think that you did a fantastic job at describing the design of the home and the furniture in a way that was easy to understand.
I’m happy to see that you are celebrating your blog’s 10-year anniversary. I especially liked your post about interior design and how you were able to create a beautifully decorated home with little money. I also enjoyed your post about how you were able to create a blog with little money. I’m impressed by the impact you’ve made with your blog.
I have no memory of how I found your blog, Laurel, but I did find it several years ago.
CONGRATULATIONS on 10 YEARS!!!
Pee Ess
I forgot to tell you I LOVE the new format for sharing your other posts! It’s very effective.
Happy 10th Anniversary Laurel!
Wishing you much happiness!
Cheers🥂
Happy Easter 🐣
Helen 💕
Laurel, Laurel, Laurel,
You’re a hard workin’ mamma!
Thank you for changing my life in a BIG way. Your blogging guide caused me to take a big leap (off a cliff! Hahahaa…no worries you gave me the wings to take flight).
I’m excited to be on my new work-from-home journey!
I’m going to buy the rest of your guides today, because I CAN! Yesssss!
You deserve a double decker ice cream cake to celebrate!
Congrats! I’m so proud of you!
Here is wishing you settling in to an even more fulfilling decade to come.
Congratulations! Deep and undying gratitude for your generosity, humour, knowledge, humanity, and impeccable taste. I found you just as we were embarking on the 7-year DIY rebuild of our 1911 house. I didn’t have a clue! I was in love as soon as I saw the first unkitchen. Now my house oozes beauty and it’s all because of you. I hope you do something special for your lovely and gracious self.
Ten years young already? Congratulations and thanks for all the inside details you share weekly. Here’s to many more Sunday mornings with Laurel-it’s like a visit with a a good friend.
Congratulations Laurel! I found you around 2015 I think, and your voice has been in the back of my head through every stage of our house journey. “What would Laurel do?”
Happy Anniversary, dear Laurel. I can say, hand over heart, that I’ve read (and often re-read) all of your posts and have benefited a great deal, and that’s not to even mention the joy and entertainment value I derive from them. Your humanity, humor and talent have been a treasure, and even more so in the last few rather fraught years. Thank you so very much!
My favorite Laurel: “wasband.” Of course, everything else is simply the icing.
May you continue to challenge our matter. Show us the beauty of Boston. Give up all the finite details, and, prosper in all that you do.
Many congratulations to you Laurel! I have loved your blog for several years now and only wish I had known of it sooner !! You’ve taught me so much about how to put a room together and how not to ! And all delivered with your wonderful sense of humour. I’ve enjoyed your travels and your lessons in art. I’ll raise a glass
Many congratulations to you Laurel! I have loved your blog for several years now and only wish I had known of it sooner !! You’ve taught me so much about how to put a room together and how not to ! And all delivered with your wonderful sense of humour. I’ve enjoyed your travels and your lessons in art. I’ll raise a glass
Congratulations, Laurel!!! Ten years of helping so many people and making them laugh at the same time. I have loved being along for the ride.
Much love,
Nancy
Congratulations on 10 years of hard work, of learning, growing and sharing. And here’s to prospering! I read a quote earlier today and thought of you. Laverne Cox, actress and Emmy Award-winning producer said, “God give me permission to do this imperfectly and allow me to be of service.”
Regardless your Godly-persuasion, your service has made my life better and my surroundings more beautiful. Every week I read of people here who believe similarly. Your sense of humor is spectacular! Thank you…
Dear Laurel,
I selfishly hope you inform and entertain us for decades more. I can’t remember exactly when I found you, but you have for sure refined my taste.
Like at least one other, you helped me through a long, long illness which has largely confined me to bed. Given what one student coined for me”the ugly facts,” stopping by here twice a week is a major respite.
Beauty, beauty and more beauty. We all thank you.
Take a series of bows all week!
Congratulations, Laurel!
I didn’t come across your blog when you started, but this whole spring, I’ve been celebrating 10 years of recovering from illness, so it’s fitting we are both celebrate today!
Had I been reading your blog then, no doubt I would have recovered much quicker-galvanized to action to make my world more beautiful.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, for constantly sharing the good, the bad, and humorizing the ugly…McMansions is still one my favorite posts!
And I love all you do to spread beauty everywhere…hats off to you!
Blessings, Gabrielle
Congratulations Laurel on 10 years! I’ll continue following you for as long as you continue doing this … thank you!
Thanks Laurel for everything! I’ve been following you just a few years, but those years coincide with me renovating two properties and at least one out of three of your posts has hit on something I am working on at the moment. It’s been great timing and great advice, so thank you so much.
Congratulations! 💕 Thank you for your creative and entertaining content. I have followed you for many of those ten years. You saw me through two years in bed and a life saving 4 way open heart surgery and recovery. Often you were the only content I found the strength to read. You are very appreciated here, back in the woods in rural NW IL. Looking forward to another 10 years!
Happy 10th! Looking forward to more insight and wit – many thanks.
Congratulations, Laurel! I found you four years ago on March 15, 2018 when another blog I was reading featured the exterior make-over of Nancy Keyes’ beautiful “starter” home (your blog post from Nov 26, 2016). I was instantly hooked! I spent the next several days going through your archives. Your blog is my all-time favorite! And finding it was the start of my interior design passion/hobby. I’m so grateful for the service you provide, for not only are you helping our homes be more beautiful, but you are lifting up hearts that feel heavy and bringing some beauty to our lives. (I speak from experience.) And I’m grateful to the Laurel Bern community here! The comments from your readers enriches the entire experience :] Wishing you all the best, Laurel!
Hello Laurel, Congratulations on this milestone. What has been especially helpful to me (since I have no present plans for redecorating) is the gradual accumulation of tips and principles that you so generously feature. Although I know that my comments can appear opinionated, your photos of so many interesting interiors have gradually opened my eyes to widen my possibilities a little. And the icing on the cake is all the ideas and real-life experience shared by your commenters. I am looking forward to many instructive and entertaining posts in the future.
–Jim
WONDERFUL JOB!!! : ) : ) : )
Congratulations, Laurel! Here is my little anecdote. The first post from you I ever read was your response to a “real life” problem from a not-so-real reader with a strange name… While highly interested in the issue that was discussed, I somehow felt a little put off by the fact that the reader’s letter was imaginary. Go figure… Now, these posts of yours about fictitious people with common design problems are my favourite! Your sense of humour is just irresistible. I also enjoy reading the comments from your readers sharing extremely useful or funny information about their own design experiences. Your blog is delightful, keep it up Laurel, please! Best wishes and much much success to you!
All the best because you are the best! I have all of your products and refer to them often. They are a helpful additions to your blogs. Here’s to the next 10, whatever they bring.
Congratulations to you and your accomplishments! I consider you the artist the dancer and music maker-ALL that brings much joy to my day. Thank you for all you bring to share with us.
Congratulations Laurel! I am pretty sure I have read all of these blogs, but will revisit over the next couple of days. You have been a source of inspiration and laughter to me for eight years. Your shared knowledge is evident everywhere I look in our new home. Thank you so much for helping me wade through all the choices out there. Your blogs did this for me. And your humour is legendary- so many deep belly laughs! Looking forward to ten more years!
Congratulations on 10 years, Laurel! Love your blog for your humor, honesty, and great design advice, which has served me well. Here’s to another 10!
Congrats Laurel! and congrats to all your followers for following the queen of design blogging! I started reading your blog when I first moved into our home exactly 7 yrs ago (April 6th 2015) that needed a LOT of work (had been a foreclosure that sat for 3 or 4 yrs unattended until investors bought it…put some band-aids on it and sold it to us). Your blog set me on my path to dreaming and planning for what it finally was to become (we had a large loss claim in 2016 when water was found to have traveled under our entire first floor of 2500 sq ft). That led to new kitchen and much more. Your blog guided me through all the new choices I had to make and a great deal more. We loved our newly renovated downstairs finished late 2017. We also had renovated our upstairs master in 2020 and then….(drum roll please) in Nov 2021 we had a fire (started in the pantry and investigators couldn’t find the source)…it was put out fairly quickly but completely burned up pantry, butlers pantry and a bit of the kitchen cabinetry…I thought thank God it was contained (our neighbor is the fire chief of our county and had his guys on it very quickly)…well I was wrong in thinking that the damage had been contained! We are out of our house (living in a little carriage house (750 sq ft with 3 cats that we are fortunate enough to have on the property). This is a custom home and mitigation isn’t yet complete, therefore, we are looking at probably another 15 to 18 months if lucky. All and I do mean all of our belongings were either deemed discarded (much of our fabric furniture that was practically brand new) and all the rest is in storage. We have to replace & reconstruct pretty much the entire first floor and much of our furniture and much more. Life happens… doesn’t it?? Anyway, my point here is that while we start from scratch pretty much AGAIN I will be anxiously awaiting every single post and you will help me get through this…yes you! Someone I’ve never met and who doesn’t know me from Adam but you will be the one who helps me the most. I love you Laurel and thanks for all the years of helping me and others with our most valuable asset…our place where we land to feel safe…our safe havens especially since 2020..our homes!
Happy 10th! I found your blog during the first winter of the pandemic. It was the positive mental boost I needed then, and it still gives me joy. Here’s to the next 10 years!
Congratulations and thank you for all your design advice over the years! Mozel tov!
Congratulations! Thank you for all the wonderful content over the years. Your blog was the “gateway drug” for my design blog habit/hobby. It’s the first one I started reading, and still my favorite. Your style speaks to me the most. Also, your posts are refreshingly devoid of all the obligatory “influencer” drivel and jargon (eg “I’m obsessed!” in every other sentence, etc…honestly if people have that many obsessions they should get help). Thank you for teaching us so much, and here’s to another 10 years!
Laurel,
I’ve been following you about 4 years. I love your decorating knowledge and advice, but I adore your humor, sarcasm, and even occasional snark. Keep it up!
As a former Bostonian (Beacon St. between Arlington & Berkley, originally, and later Beacon St. between Dartmouth and Exeter) your blog is even better as I get to reminisce about my time in Boston thorough your beautiful photographs.
Long may you run!
That brick townhouse with the wonderful sunken garden is haunted, according to its owner, who wrote this book about their experiences: https://www.amazon.com/Hairbrush-Shoe-True-Ghost-Story/
Happy anniversary, Laurel. I love your blog!
Congratulations!
I started following you in earnest about 4 years ago, but can remember my sweet mom sending me Posts you’d written about paint colors at least 7+ years ago when we were working on our first house (“this Laurel person says…”) I have a design background myself and still learn so much from your blog.
Congratulations Laurel! I remember when I discovered your blog. Some years ago I was browsing the internet, looking to find someone who had come up with a way to replicate Farrow and Ball colors without spending a small fortune on paint. I found your post on paint colors and have been a dedicated reader ever since. I enjoy all your posts and also devote time to reading older ones. Please do not stop posting. You often make my day. Congratulations again!
Congratulations! You are Fabulous!! In talent and personality. Here’s to 10 more 🙂
Hi Laurel,
Congratulations! I’ve enjoyed your blog so much. Between your humor, advice, & history lessons, there isn’t another blog out there that is as much fun to read.
Cheers to you & the next ten!
Congratulations, Laurel! You are blogging royalty…and my blogging hero!
Congratulations, Laurel. Can’t thank you enough for all the design advice and for making me laugh. Your posts and gorgeous photos of Boston make me yearn to get back. I’m so glad you’ve made so many friends and have built a life for yourself there. I hope to meet you one of these days.
Congrats on your blog anniversary! Here´s to many more informative fun blogs!
Congrats on 10 years Laurel! Four years ago, I was burying myself in the internet daily just to quiet the turmoil and dull the pain from life events. Thankfully, I found your little corner of the internet which motivated me to make steps to change the few things in my surroundings I could actually control. Your posts helped me define my own style and have the confidence to be the one home amongst all my friends and family who didn’t obsessively embrace the prevailing design trench’s churned out by popular design shows. Along the way, you’ve made me laugh out loud too many times to count, think about my home surroundings in different ways and avoid disastrous mistakes in decorating. Thanks for everything!
Beautiful pictures Laurel. Great accomplishment! Happy Spring!
Pat
Hearty congratulations! Your hard work has brought you to a wonderful place and has graced all of us with so much fun, knowledge, and inspiration. Here’s to 10 more!
Congratulations on your decade of success!
Congratulations on your success! Can’t thank you enough for 10 very enjoyable years of laughter and design delights with you!! Here’s to the next 10!!!
Happiest congratulations to you!!! Long may you reign!
I will be the second, woohoo, way to go girl!
Let me be the first to congratulate you, Laurel, on your first ten years — and to wish you the best for the next ten!