Featured Blogger: Bruno Bornsztein of Curbly
With the holidays just around the corner, Bruno Bornsztein and the team at Curbly have been providing great DIY and crafting ideas that are perfect for seasonal home decor. No matter what the season, though, Curbly is always featuring inspiring and innovative home improvement “how-to” ideas. Stay connected with Curbly on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, too!
Q: When and why did you start blogging?
A: I’ve been blogging since about 2002. I was in journalism school at the time and wanted a way to ‘practice’ what I was learning. I started out by setting a goal to write something (anything) every single weekday for six months, and I was able to do it!
Q: How do you think your blog stands out amongst home-improvement blogs?
A: We sit at an interesting intersection between do-it-yourself and design. Our readers love seeing the latest trendy designs and inspiration, but they also want to know how to make things themselves that are truly unique and express their own personality. We try to address that by doing a mix of content: curating what we think is good from around the web, and creating original projects, tutorials and roundups that can’t be found anywhere else.
Q: What do your family and friends think of your blogging?
A: I think they think it’s great, but kind of mysterious. People are always really curious; especially about my work/life schedule. The question ‘But, how do you make money off that?’ comes up a lot.
Q: What blogs do you read?
A: Tons. Mostly I read through my feed reader, Twitter, and Facebook, so it’s not always a set group. But as for design/home bloggers, I love DesignSponge, all the ApartmentTherapy blogs, Core77 and DesignMilk.
Q: How much time daily do you spend blogging?
A: Probably one or two hours. I’m also the technical person for our site, so I spend a lot of time on that as well.
Q: How many times have you redesigned site since it started?
A: This is currently our third (and, I think, best) design. We worked with an amazing artist named Kirsten Sparenborg to come up with the look and feel. She does really cool historical architecture sketches, and we thought the style really fit what we were going for.
Q: How much do you correspond one-on-one with readers?
A: A lot; in addition to answering every e-mail that comes in to our main address, I also monitor our tips line, respond to comments on the blog, and help out with the Facebook page. I think people are sometimes surprised to get a personal response, but I try to answer all e-mails from readers within 24 hours.
Q: What joys did you not expect when you started blogging? What pains?
A: Joys: seeing the impact that Curbly has had on other people, hearing people say “I love coming to Curbly every day”.
Pains: staying up till two in the morning fixing a broken website on the day before a big promotion, or fretting about our traffic numbers when they mysteriously fluctuate.
Q: What’s something your readers don’t know about you?
A: I wear those embarrassing breathe-right strips at night (yeah; they look ridiculous, but they help me breathe!)
Q: What has been your favorite DIY project?
A: I think everything from our Make It: Hardware Store Decor eBook was awesome, especially Chris’s light-up letter.
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Tags: interview