It’s been…a while

I promise we didn’t drop off the face of the earth.

If you are somehow reading this and followed our DIY journey from late 2021 to early 2023, you are probably wondering what happened to us. Or perhaps, like many things on social media, we quickly faded into a distant memory of late-night scrolling. I don’t blame you if that’s the case…

If you are curious about where we went, I can assure you we did not disappear. We are still in Chicago, enjoying our Little Chicago Two Flat, and I can assure you we are as healthy and happy as ever.

We just dropped off social media.

In December 2021, we couldn’t believe we were buying our first home and simultaneously entering this “house hacking” world we’d only heard about through YouTube and podcasts (predominantly male creators, unsurprisingly). We were pretty naive about everything and decided it would be fun to document our journey on Instagram.

I’m not sure our family and friends fully believed we could complete a DIY renovation. We had no experience, full-time jobs, and little cash to save the project if things went south. Oddly, at first, I think we wanted a social media platform to prove to our own families and friends that we were committed and would make this work.

As expected, our parents followed us. Most of our siblings followed us. And then a few colleagues followed us. Then, one day, I posted a story about house hacking, and Yellow Brick Home (a couple we truly admire) re-posted it. I sat in my pajamas with the cat in our bedroom, watching hundreds of people start following us within an hour. I kept thinking, what the heck. What the heck. What the HECK. No, we never amounted to more than 1,500 followers. No, we were never true “influencers”, but that many followers was absurd!

That day changed our “why” of being on social media. It wasn’t about proving a point. Suddenly, hundreds of people (many of whom have much more DIY/renovation experience than we do) were following our journey. We didn’t know what we were doing half the time and often laughed late into the night about how deep we’d gotten ourselves into absolute DIY chaos.

Those followers essentially joined our project that day and played a massive role in completing it. We barely had time to see our friends, but many Instagram followers messaged me regularly to check in, offer advice, or ask questions. I formed these odd internet friendships that kept the project exciting and fun instead of isolating and exhausting. They got us through the depths of building a new bathroom floor, waterproofing, framing, hanging cabinets, CLEANING, and so much more.

I am grateful to everyone who followed, messaged, or liked our stories during the most challenging parts of our renovation. You gave us the encouragement and energy to keep going. As odd as it sounds, I miss catching up with strangers about our various projects.

So, why did we leave?

Once our home became liveable, the exhaustion set in quickly. Previously, we wouldn’t shy away from taking on daunting tasks on a weeknight or spending an entire weekend painting together. But once we could rest, boy, did we rest. I barely had the energy to pick out new furniture. The projects Corey planned on completing once moving in, like finishing trim or installing a closet door, felt like impossible missions.

We had pushed ourselves to the limit and crashed. Projects came to a halt, and so did our journey on social media. We were forced to confront the many messages we had received about hiring people to help versus pushing ourselves to the limit. Exhausted, lying on the couch binging Abbott Elementary or Ted Lasso, we accepted that this once-in-a-lifetime DIY project was a ride full of lessons and entirely worth it, but we would never paint a room or demo a bathroom again. We needed a break, so we took it.

We also needed to step back into our regular lives. In October 2022, we adopted a puppy who needed a lot of training (she still does…). In April 2023, we traveled to France and got engaged. In October 2023, I started a new job. In November 2023, we got married in Chicago. Finally, we spent the final days of 2023 in Asia, where we explored the streets of Tokyo, Kyoto, and small Japanese towns, and I got to visit my homeland, South Korea, for the first time.

What’s next, you might ask…

We still have lots of house projects in the future. Last year, we did a few smaller-scale things, like building shoe benches for our porch/makeshift mudroom and enhancing our bar area in the dining room. We also have an empty basement unit and architect drawings that we haven’t touched yet. And we’re already discussing the option of de-converting our two-flat into a larger living space one day.

We’re also expanding our lives together and exploring new hobbies, affirming our love for travel, food, and financial wellness. We’re learning a lot about our values and aligning on our vision for the future and the path to get there.

I’m unsure if I plan to return to our Instagram account, but I’d love to use this blog to share some of our next journey with anyone interested. I can’t promise how often or all the topics I’ll post about, but I hope my reflections can help provide something useful, funny, or something for someone.

Proof that we are alive and well! Enjoying our honeymoon in Seoul, South Korea at a famous library. More to come :)