a fresh new beach cottage look

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Hey you the rock steady crew, show ‘em what to do, make a break make a-move!  Well, I have made a break and a move…with a new blog look – we are freshening up this old cottage inside & out and it’s been extended to the blog too!

So this has been going on for a long time this latest blog update, for many reasons it’s taken a while to get here, this has taken months and months

….. but here it is, there is nothing like a breath of fresh blogging air to get you motivated is there?  This is one of the things that I had to tell you about, more exciting blog news coming very soon, yahoo!

Anyway I wanted this little place on the web of mine to have a fresh, new look, but I wanted to keep the feel of the old site, not that I am difficult or anything…I briefed lovely Darcy on what I wanted and we both brain-stormed it, until it came together…

There are still a few tweaks behind the scenes going on, including a new contact box full of information which will make it a whole lot easier to find things around here

…but up there on the menu bar we have been trying to streamline things…. and make it a bit…swisher

Over the past I dunno, like ever, I have had lots of emails, messages, social media and comments from Beach Cottage ladies saying firstly that they would like more updates and more stuff and secondly that a more streamlined front page would make it easier to see what’s been going on and what might have been missed.   So this I hope, is it……

Unlike other areas of my life, like blue painted walls I actually listened to what someone else told me, that would be you.. first and foremost because I like to do the same on the blogs that I stalk…I like to see their posts condensed, all on the front page, if I haven’t managed to stalk them for a few days and secondly because as this blog grows, naturally, I am blogging more and it’s good if that is easy to find..

…and so now, in Beach Cottage Land it’s easier to navigate to posts…yah!  I hope it’s easier to find thing and it’s easier to see what’s going on in other places and find things you might want to remember..

You will now see shorter excerpts of posts, making it quicker and easier to navigate & read, my lovelies

This, together with my news soon, feels like a bit of a new start…onwards and upwards…

and let me say this, about a year ago I wrote this on my blog….

Can I just say thank you so much for you guys on here…for the comments and the interaction, for the visits which continue to grow (!), for your sweetness and support….as this blog moves on and follows me in the different directions my life goes in (it’s not just about painting things white and doing makeovers anymore) I am pleased to see you still with me…

I dont’ know if you noticed but a while ago I made a decision about my blog I decided to step back and take it where I wanted it to go…to make it reflect the good things in my life that I wanted to be positive about and for it to document what interests me…that meant adding in recipes and my love of the outdoors and more of Australia…the things that I was doing in my life that make me happy and keep it all ticking along nicely….not just the cottage and vintage things and the white stuff…of course though I love all that at the same time!

I have to admit I was a bit concerned about going down this avenue with the blog but I felt that I had to stay true to me…because that was why I started it in the first place…for a little place in the internet for me…. and so I asked Mr BC what he thought…he said that I should go with my gut and just blog about my passions and what I enjoy, because, bottom line that’s what people enjoyed in the early days…and that’s why I loved doing it….

so at the time I started to blog whatever I was doing and whatever took my fancy and I never looked at my stats…and with these changes I wondered if you guys would stick around …and I am surprised and humbled that you did…that you are still interested, engaged, and want to follow me as I continue my journey with a new life on the other side of the world.

When I wrote that a year ago I didn’t know that my blogging journey would change again…and that you would still be here….it has and is changing…and I like it….a lot …since then I have seen my blog move more into my real life, not that this isn’t real on here, but that just, somehow, this used to be my little place to connect with people who liked white paint and vintage things, nowadays, through it, I’ve made new friends and it’s just, I dunno, just moving and grooving more in my everyday life, when I am out and about, not just me in the study on a polka dot desk anymore…and that is such a good thing for me, ladies.

You don’t realise something until you look back at it and suddenly see how life just nudges you the way you need to go…and I needed that…I need to get out there and rock this blog…Hindsight is indeed a beautiful thing.  I was a leetle bit staid and oh-so-very comfortable on my own here – I am much happier here now…..

But what about you?

Really, would I still be coming back here if it wasn’t for you lovely Beach Cottage Ladies, and you lovely Beach Cottage Blog Lurkers that I see there in the stats.  Really would I bother if it weren’t for that?

I dunno…what I do know, at the end of the day, is that you are here and I am here.

So lets rock this partay yeah, let’s rock Beach Cottage Land – tell me what you think about the new look, and ask me anything you want for an updated FAQ page

…and let me know what you think of it around here…friends…yep lurkers, you can do it!

you and me are what make it around here, there ain’t no denying that

Sarah

xo

 more daily stuff from the beaches, including the lovely Barley’s fan page here, click  go ;-) 

blog design with Darcy at Graphically Designing

…in my humble little opinion Darcy is la creme de la creme…she plays with the big girls, but that’s not why I like her and think she’s good, so not my style…you only need to look at her Portfolio to see that she rocks…believe me, I have studied blog design and Darcy is a rare chick…simply because it’s not about her…her designing is all, so very much, about you…and that is what you need. click the lick above to see for  yourself

and thank you, thank you to the bestest Daisy Olsen, talk about grateful…you know…cheers lovely Daisy

(yes I get girls to help me on this blog with kewl names like Daisy and Darcy – not good D combo when mixed with Peroni  )