Blog ReDesign and Migration

Hello World!  As you can see the site has been redesigned as well as moved from Blogger to Self-Hosted WordPress.  I have struggled with the idea of moving to WordPress from Blogger for years.  When I started blogging back in 2011, I certainly did not go into blogging with the intentions of doing anything more than just having a place to share all of my home decor projects and recipes.  Then the unthinkable happened, my blog started to grow.  I was shocked that anyone other than my Mom and sister would read my blog.  The Dedicated House started to find her legs like a little baby lamb.  She was wobbly but had a lot of energy.  She grew as the house projects were completed.  There were several times I wanted to quit, but God wouldn’t let me.  You see I didn’t want to start a blog back in 2011.  In the summer of 2010 I miscarried our second child.  We were heartbroken.  It was such a strange time in my life.  I felt unanchored even though I had Mr. Dedicated and Little Dedicated to take care of.  So, as usual with my relationship with God, He started chewing on me a bit.  He wanted me to start a blog.  Oh, there was no way I was going to start a blog.  This was in the Fall of 2010.  But, He just kept nudging me in His sweet way.  Fast forward to the summer of 2011, I was out on a walk early in the morning before Mr. Dedicated headed off for work, and the Lord told me again to start a blog.  This time instead of answering Him, I told Him the following excuses:

I have no time.

I have no desire to do this.

Why should I do this?

What the heck am I going to blog about?

He answered me very quickly:  “I will open time up for you.  I will give you a desire.  Because I asked you to start a blog.  Your home decor projects.”

Well, there it was.  I couldn’t really argue with Him anymore.  However, I didn’t start it right away.  I had one more question, “What do I name it?”  I’m not really gifted in the area of catchy titles or names.  I’m a pretty straightforward person who has tendencies towards being silly and just plain goofy.  I’m only witty just some of the time.  Ask Mr. Dedicated.  If you need a friend, I’m your gal.  I’m dependable and can be counted on.  However, I do have a feisty, crazy streak and never met a dare I didn’t consider long and hard.  Sometimes, my mouth does get me in trouble, but I’ve learned to shut it more often than not as I’ve gotten older.  When I love, I’m all in!  I’m either black or white.  You know what you get with me.  I am sometimes loyal to a fault.  But, I was stuck.  What do I call this thing?

Mid June 2011 I went to bed throwing names for the blog around in my head.  Nothing seemed to fit.  I told God, “Well, this was your idea, Sir; so you better tell me the name.”  Nothing.  I fell asleep.  The next morning, I woke up and said out loud before I said anything else, “The Dedicated House”.  There it was.  The name.  Now I just had to start.  Off to Blogger I went.

So, I had a blog on Blogger.  She grew.  She was fun.  She was a lot of hard work.  She was sweet.  She was well received.  She was frustrating at times.  She got tired.  She needed to rest.  She was happy.  She was purposeful.  She was loved.  She needed to take a leap of faith.

Early in 2013 every time I heard of another blogger moving from Blogger to WordPress, I felt like I was being left out.  Like all of my girlfriends were moving away.  I felt the tug then to move to Self-Hosted WordPress, but did I listen?  Oh, but no!  Instead I had my blog redesigned.  I went with the blue/white/gold theme.  I loved my new look and my little blog thrived.

My little blog has grown and has provided some additional income that we have used to pay for vacation, Christmas and furniture.  So, here we are in 2016 and I hear His voice again.  “You need to move to Self-Hosted WordPress.”  My question, “Why?”  His answer, “I want you to own your blog and to trust me.”  So, I began the process of moving from Blogger to WordPress.

Restored 316 Designs did my migration and redesigned my site.  I wanted the site to be user friendly, have specific pages of interest and of course be pretty!  Other than all of the pretties that you see, I think the biggest change are the boxes you see below.  These are my category boxes; and once I relabel 1000+ posts, these categories will fill up.

 

In the next couple of weeks I will continue to clean up all of my posts.  I hope you enjoy poking around the site.  And, I do hope you enjoyed hearing my journey!  Let me know what you think.

Click the links below for any posts you may have missed:

Make it Pretty Monday

The Sunday Showcase from MIP Monday

Crushing on Gold

Have a lovely evening.  Go with God and remember to be kind to one another!

Toodles,

Sharing this at these lovely parties:

Between Naps on the Porch, Stone Gable, Home Stories A to Z, Cozy Little House, A Stroll Thru Life, Savvy Southern Style, Just a Girl and Her Blog, DIY by Design, No Minimalist Here, From my Front Porch to Yours, Christman’s Creations, The Charm of Home, French Country Cottage, DesignThusiasm, Bygone Vintage, Bluesky Kitchen, Poofing the Pillows, Celebrate & Decorate, LouLou Girls, My Thrift Store Addiction, Remodelaholic.