Good morning and happy 2017, everyone! I wanted to take this moment to check in

Good morning and happy 2017, everyone! I wanted to take this moment to check in and talk about our plans here at Design*Sponge this year. Last year was a rollercoaster of huge life changes, travel, and emotions, but with all of the change and adjustment came a sort of clarity for me. I realized what’s really important to me and what our mission and voice here at Design*Sponge will be going forward.
After Julia and I finished our book tours this fall, we spent a lot of our free time doing volunteer work in our area. I have never felt more useful, more plugged into my community and more in touch with what matters most to me in life. Those moments of honing in on what makes me feel good (helping people and making sure families have what they need) helped me clarify what I want to do here at Design*Sponge for the coming year: I want to make design personal again. Over the past decade I’ve watched design go the way of fast-fashion: favoring quantity over quality and demanding immediate gratification. Trends seem to turn over in a matter of weeks and judgement is quick and harsh if someone’s home/decor isn’t everything the market is demanding.
There will always be plenty of magazines and blogs to cover the latest/greatest anything in our design community, but as I head into my 13th year of blogging here at Design*Sponge (what"!) I know that my mission is to reconn...