So….notice anything different around here?? Nothing too major….just, ya know, a total and complete redesign of my entire site!!! :)

Not to toot my own horn too much, but the logo, graphics, and customization of the child theme was all done by yours truly….and with only one white screen of death. Woot!

You guys have no idea how happy I am now when I visit my site. Not only is the look and feel of my blog exactly what I’ve envisioned having for the past three years, but it’s a giant weight off my shoulders. After countless hours of graphic designing and code tweaking, it’s finally FINISHED!

I’m so excited that my newly redesigned slice of the web is finally live for the world to see.  I hope you guys and gals like it as much as I do!

 

WTSHB Has a New Look! Check Out My Blog Redesign!

The Beginnings of WTSHB

This redesign is something I’ve been dreaming of literally since I launched my blog back in May 2014.  Yes, from the second I first hit ‘Publish’, I was already daydreaming of a complete overhaul.

When I first started this endeavor, I didn’t think anyone besides my mom would actually read it. Plus, I wasn’t sure if I would even like this whole blogging thing, so who knew at the time how long I would actually keep up with the site.

I therefore didn’t invest much time, energy, or money into the design.  Good enough was good enough just to get the thing going, and I slapped some thrown-together DIY graphics on and did my best to make the site feel kinda how I wanted with my almost non-existent coding knowledge….but it never truly had the vibe or function that I dreamt of.

 

A Little Facelift

Now it does!

Bright colors.  Fun fonts.  Bold graphics.  A clean, modern, professional site that I am 100% proud of.

Oh, and let’s not forget to discuss the navigation! I hope you’ll find this revamped design to be much easier to navigate and find what you’re looking for, and that you’ll stumble upon new things that catch your eye.  Instead of just having a Project Gallery with everything listed together as thumbnails, I now have dozens more categories and sub categories.  This should make finding your way around these parts a breeze.

As I always say, organization shall set you free.  User-friendly is the name of the game now!

 

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Let’s take a little trip down memory lane, shall we?  Thanks to The Wayback Machine, you can see old versions of any website….and I’m a little torn by this ability. :)

Here’s how WTSHB looked at its creation three years ago:

 

Not terrible, but not amazing.  It’s cute, but not very cool.  Or functional.  And I thought I was so creative for having the wood background and main area outlined in blue! :)

A few months after launch, I changed up the navigation menu graphics and added a Hello Bar to the top.  The site remained pretty much the same up until this past weekend….so yes, it was time for a change!

 

Graphics Comparison

Here’s how my two headers/logos compare:

 

And here are my sidebar profiles. My husband is very proud of his photography skills with how he captured my new headshot. :)  My previous pic was taken by a professional photographer during our maternity photos in 2013.

 

My two post signatures:

 

And here are some other graphics:

Not much of a comparison, huh?

These new graphics (and others that I haven’t shared here) are all bright, fun, and most importantly, cohesive.  They just make me smile. :)

All of my social media graphics also match the new theme of the blog, and I’ll be swapping those out over the next couple days.  Then it’ll be non-stop tweaking of posts and pages until I get everything set up with the new design…so if something looks a little wonky, please cut me some slack!

 

A Final Wrap-Up

This was pretty much a true digital DIY project for me, and it left me feeling like I’d just given birth to my third child. I guess WTSHB is my baby in a sense, and gosh darn it, I am so proud to be her momma! :)

I’d love to hear what you think of the new look!