You may never want to build a log cabin in Michigan, renovate a run-down beach shack outside Sydney or restore a 1930s Shanghai lane house. But if you do, know that others have gone before you, and you can read all about it on their blogs.
The desire (by some) to reveal all via social media does not stop at home improvement. Followers will find the good, the bad and the ugly laid bare by bloggers who offer blow-by-blow accounts of their renovation project - interesting enough for some, but the question is, why do they bother?
According to researchers in Taiwan, blogging, in general, makes people feel good. Nearly 600 college students surveyed reported increased social bonding through blogging, and a greater sense of well-being or happiness. Home renovators who blog span the full gamut of emotions, often times at the high end. US couple Shelley and Greg had long held the dream 'of building a log cabin in the woods' - their blog shows the world how they've done it in northern Michigan, with the stated aim of encouraging others also to follow their dreams.
Londoner Sarah dreamed of a new life by the sea. She packed up her family and headed to Sydney, Australia, to a 'tatty old beach cottage' that had captured her heart. Sarah started blogging to document the journey of her fixer-upper project, but it ended up providing her with 'a cathartic outlet at the end of the day'.
Others use blogs to vent their frustrations. 'I would rather endure an afternoon of Rambo-style physical torture than do this anymore!' screamed blogger 'H' of his 'excruciating' bathroom project. A long-suffering wife likened her 'home improvement hell' to the film The Money Pit, citing 'one calamity after another' in a renovation lasting 25 years.
Writer Stephanie Han, a Korean raised in America, didn't plan on including 'home reno hell' in her blog on life in a Lantau village, but a series of unfortunate incidents with contractors drove her to it. 'Home renovation in Hong Kong means everyone says they know what you are talking about, agrees to what you say, and then 24 hours later they don't. And yes, the quotation is valid - until the person forgets what the quotation was, at which point it goes up, or the job is deemed impossible.' Sound familiar?
