DIY Playbook gets a Makeover!


Casey and Bridget blow up balloons.

SURPRISEโ€ฆThe DIY Playbook got a makeover! Welcome to our new and improved blog, can you tell we’re excited?!

Casey and Bridget express their excitement for their blog design update.

Yepโ€ฆthese photos say it all. We are truly over the moon happy to not only have a professional site that looks great, but also one that functions well too.

But let’s back up a second, because this is all new news to you! At the end of 2013, we made a big ol’ list of things we wanted to accomplish here on the blog in the new year. At the very top of that list? A site redesign! It’s not that we didn’t love the old site, it served us well for over a year. But that site was the ultimate DIY project…we coded and created the entire thing from scratch all by ourselves. We knew that someday, when we had enough pennies in the bank, we would hire someone who actually knows what html means (seriously, we still have no idea) and someone who could use Photoshop like a pro. We hired Wicked Magpie Productions in February, and have spent the last 5 months working together to redesign The DIY Playbook. Last Thursday, the site actually went “live”, but we kept it hush-hush just to ensure that it was actually up and running smoothly. Well, we haven’t had any crashes just yetโ€ฆso we figured it was time to spill the beans on our new and improved site.

Let’s take a little tour of the new site, so you know how to navigate it like a pro!

The new and improved DIY Playbook homepage.

So here’s the top of the site where you’ll find lots of good stuff. We’ve got some fun sliding photos, which we’ll change up seasonally, as well as our new sleek logo. We decided to keep everything very clean and simple, just so the eye candy within the posts can really shine. For colors, I bet you’re not surprised to see that we kept with our favorite color schemeโ€ฆ.blues and grays! If you ever want to get back to “home” simply click our logo at the top, and you’ll be taken back to the homepage.

The new DIY Playbook social media buttons.

Up at the top right, there are multiple ways to “Join our team.” We couldn’t help ourselves and of course had to add silly sports puns throughout the site. If you’re not already following us on social media, click these buttons and come follow along! You can also opt to receive our daily posts right in your inboxโ€ฆsimply click “Subscribe by Email” and enter your email address.

The new DIY Playbook website menu.

Moving onto the tabs. These are similar to what we had on the old site, but they obviously have a much better look. Clicking “Play by play” takes you to all of the different categories of posts.

The new DIY Playbook play by play categories.

Or you can simply hover over “Play by play” to see the wide variety of categories to choose from. If you click “Home Field” you’ll find our individual home tours, and then the rest are pretty self-explanatory.

We also have a search bar! Yes, this was very exciting to us since we certainly didn’t have that on the old site. If you’re looking for a certain post, but can’t seem to remember when it published or the name of the titleโ€ฆjust type in a few words and it will hopefully pull up the correct post.

If you’re still following along, it’s time for another mini celebration. P.S. those balloons were so hard to blow up. I think we need to work on improving our lung capacity.
Casey and Bridget have fun blowing up balloons.

Casey and Bridget mess around as they blow up balloons.

The new DIY Playbook categories.

Okay back to our little tour. On the right side of the page (aka the sidebar) you’ll find the cutest little circle icons. We knew we wanted to add some personality into the page, so we had them design images that correspond with a variety of blog post topics. We’ve got holiday, wedding, crafts, etc. Just click on any of those and you’ll find lots of blog posts. You’ll also see those little icons next to the daily blog post, to give you a sense for what the post is actually about. ย Or if little pictures aren’t your thing you can simply search for a post by month in the archive list.

Casey and Bridget throw confetti in the air. I swear we are actually looking at falling confetti in this above pic. #toohardtocapture

Casey and Bridget pose for a picture in front of a white wall.

The new DIY Playbook comments section.

Now onto the actual post. At the bottom of each post you’ll find this “share the love” box. If you’re totally digging that post, feel free to share it on social media or email it to a friend. We’d love you forever if you shared your fave content. You can also easily comment on the blog post right in the comment box. Easy peasy!Bridget and Casey smile together for a picture.

The new DIY Playbook website footer.

Now onto the bottom of the page, here you’ll find the latest and greatest from our social media accounts.

The new DIY Playbook "Meet Casey" section.

 

If you click “Meet the Rookies” in the tab you can wellโ€ฆmeet the rookies! We also dive into our own personalities a bit with a fun questionnaire. We’ll be adding more pictures and info to these pages over the next couple of weeks, so be sure to come back for more info soon.

The new DIY Playbook Play by Play categories section.

Now onto one of our favorite parts of the siteโ€ฆthe PLAY BY PLAY! Our old catalog of posts was a nightmare to navigate. That’s probably an understatement, it was pretty dang horrendous. Now we have scrollable categories so you can search for projects and posts easily. We’re still going through our 350+ posts to categorize them, so this will continue to populate over the next few days.ย The new DIY Playbook website mobile view.

If you like to catch up on your favorite blogs via your phone or tablets, we have great newsโ€ฆthe site is compatible on every device! Yep, catch up on our posts right from your cell phone with our easy to navigate, streamlined mobile site.ย Bridget and Casey look surprised.

Okay, have we completely overwhelmed you? Yeah, we’re pretty overwhelmed too. This site is our little baby, and transforming it was a looong stressful process. In fact, there is still so much that needs to be done to get it up and running the way we want it. Please let us know if you have any issues with the new site. Just shoot us an email at [email protected] with a quick message about the problem you’re facing. We’ll do our best to troubleshoot it and get it back to normal!

Bridget and Casey mess with some balloons.

Long story shortโ€ฆwe are absolutely thrilled to take this next step in our “blogging career” and we couldn’t have done it without all of YOU! We know we say it a lotโ€ฆbut you guys are the ones who make the late nights, endless phone calls, and jam-packed schedules totally worth it. Hearing your kind, encouraging words each day is the reason we do this. Thank you for being such supportive DIY Playbook fans.

Bridget-2526CaseySignature


The Year of Casey

Hey there!

Iโ€™m Casey Finn, the voice behind The DIY Playbook. I’m a Chicago gal teaching you how to design, DIY, and maintain your home…by yourself! Learn more about me right here.