SURPRISE – Bitterroot DIY is now Tylynn M! If you were searching for woodworking plans from Bitterroot DIY and landed here, you may be a little confused. And we’re all a little confused on what happened with the short-lived Terrace Place.
Let me explain.
Some Background
The year of 2021 was one for the books. From a cross-country move, to welcoming baby #3, to learning some big life lessons, I don’t think I’ve ever gone through such a substantial shift in my perspective on life. And through it all, I started to feel a little nudge to adjust how I spend my time – to shift my focus back to the most important parts of life, the things that really matter.
I’ll be honest, my initial reaction was to ignore that little nudge and keep pushing through. So I did.
It worked great.
I wasn’t completely overwhelmed and falling apart AT ALL.
Nope. No issues like that.
Kidding.
It did not go exceedingly well.
So, when it became obvious that pushing through was NOT going to work, I decided to listen to the nudge and take a HUGE step back. I slowed way down on projects, yes. But, more than anything, I stepped almost completely off social media. It was scary and unnerving and unknown, and I was more than a little afraid of letting go of everything that I’ve spent so much time & energy building. But I knew it needed to happen – not necessarily as a permanent end but more to have space to think and just be for a bit.
And, let me tell you, it was a big breath of fresh air – to step away from the race to go bigger, better, faster all the time, and find some clarity. It gave me space to reevaluate what I’m doing, how I’m doing it, and where I’d like to go with it all.
Why Rebrand?
I chose the name Bitterroot DIY on a whim waaay back when we first got married and were living in a small townhome. I’m from Montana, so I just looked up the Montana state flower – the bitterroot – and went with it. It’s since been recognized more as the Bitterroot mountain range and valley, but the original idea was the state flower. Regardless, the name was pretty random. I jumped straight into woodworking and remodeling and that’s really the niche I started to build a name in.
When I started Bitterroot DIY, my goal was to grow it enough to be able to stay home with my kiddos. Fast-forward to three kids later and keeping up the woodworking and remodeling, while being full-time mom (without childcare), got to be pretty challenging. The days are FULL and, more and more, I felt that content creation (ie. writing articles, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, etc) was taking me away from my family, rather than allowing me to be with them, as originally intended. In short, I was burnt out.
But, during the break from social media and taking time to recover from the burnout, I felt like I had the space to remember how much I truly do enjoy projects and making our home our own. Yes, I could get help with childcare. But that’s not the direction I wanted to go right now. Instead, I’ve been reevaluating the type of content I create to try to find a balance so I’m not always running up to burn out.
Since rebranding has been in the back of my mind for a LONG time, I figured a switch-up in content is the perfect time to go for it.
New Name
I had originally chosen Terrace Place after the street name of our first home. It’s the first house I got to design and remodel. It’s where I made ALL the mistakes and had to redo everything 67 times until I got it right – the place where I learned so much. We put countless hours of literal blood, sweat, and tears into that house, and it will always hold a special place in our hearts.
HOWEVER. What I did not realize at the time was that there is another company with the same name, and they own all the urls associated with Terrace Place. I thought I could still make it work, but I should have done a lot more research into the repercussions on SEO (search engine optimization and how it would affect my results in searches). I do all my own web design and development, but I’m completely self-taught and always learning. Again, I should have done more research. But, here we are. Let me just say, one of the best parts of running a business online is that all my mistakes are out there for the world to see … super fun 😅
Just kidding, it’s fine! But it can be a bit embarrassing too.
So, in the interest of not looking like a complete crazy person, I figured my only options were to go back to Bitterroot or use my own name. And I’m sure I still look a little crazy 😂
But here we are. I decided to just keep it simple and go with my name – Tylynn M (M is for my middle name, which is Montana).
Smoothest rebrand ever. I know.
What’s Next?
So where are we going now?
I’ll be adding in a bit of home and lifestyle content – more of what actual life looks like right now – rather than busting out huge renovations and building all our furniture. Woodworking and large renovations are hugely time consuming, messy, and loud – all things that necessitate doing it separate from kids (or at least with lots of help). Big surprise, I know. Don’t get me wrong I love building and remodeling. But keeping it up ALL THE TIME is not sustainable right now. So there will be more space between projects, filled in with smaller home projects and real life. Don’t worry – there will still be big renovations and DIY furniture! But it’s time to slow down, rather than going project to project to project.
I’ll be switching my main social media focus back over to Instagram to fit best with this new type of content, so don’t forget to head over there and follow along! Rather than just pull a 180 on content everyone expects from @bitterrootdiy, I’m starting fresh with a whole new account for @tylynnm_. I’d like to build an audience for the new content and that will keep @bitterrootdiy searchable if anyone goes to look it up. To say I’m nervous is an understatement. Starting over is quite intimidating. But I’ve put a lot of thought into how to approach this and a fresh start is where I feel most peaceful.
Before we head into this new chapter, I want to thank you for all your support! I couldn’t do any of this without you guys and I’m forever thankful for this community.
Here’s to living life on purpose and trying new things!
| Tylynn |