Did She Have a Little Work Done?


A few commenters have noted the change in Mrs. Blanding’s appearance.  At his elegant home on Saturday night, David Jimenez mentioned Patricia van Essche’s charming illustration that I use for the header of the blog.  It made me realize I hadn’t “seen” it in a while.  I started Mrs. Blandings almost a year ago.  For a while, her title was simply typed at the top of the page in red, then Patricia created the engaging illustration above just before I was headed to New York.  Enchanted, I knew it must be my header, but blogger was a little trickier then and I couldn’t quite figure out how to do it.  Eventually, I created the old image in Word (it’s funny how far you can come in a year), printed it, scanned it and posted it.

Courtney, at Style Court, was gracious and noted that it had a vintage feel.  OK, so it was a little fuzzy, I’d get back to it later.  I wasn’t thinking nine months later, but that is kind of how I work.  After David’s comment caused a mental nudge, I realized I could easily update the header, which lead to a little more tinkering.  The template is the same, but I changed it to a wider version to expand the margins a bit.  “Wordy,” this keeps the text on Mrs. Blandings from looking quite so long.
I also changed the font.  This is cleaner, I think, and I am a Arial user in “real life” so this is a better fit for me visually as well.  And it’s larger, which might be a little easier to read on screen.  Overall, I think it’s crisper.  I initially changed the background color to white, and I must say I liked it, but I could not give up this gentle shade as I’ve grown so accustom to it.
I know it takes the eye a while to adjust to change.  Hopefully, Mrs. Blandings just looks better and fresher, not different and strained as sometimes happens with cosmetic alterations.   Or so I’ve heard.
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16 thoughts on “Did She Have a Little Work Done?

  1. I think it looks beautiful -much fresher (not that it wasn’t great before!). I think mine is due for an upgrade as well!

  2. I did notice and like the new artwork very much. Lovely dog with lovely you out front, sherpas behind!

    Personally, I’m glad you kept the blue background. It reminds me of a front porch ceiling. Very restful!

  3. i’m a san-serif font lover myself, so your choice is pleasing to my eye. quite glad you kept a colored background as well- white seems so sterile.

  4. The crisp feel and clean font really suit you, and the pale blue is so nice with PVE’s work. (For the record, I thought it was pretty great before too 🙂 Now it’s just outstanding.

  5. For what it’s worth, I miss the old format.

    This new look felt a little like an ALL CAPS email when I clicked onto my morning read the other day. I’m still getting used to it.

    I will be a good soldier, though, and try to embrace the change.

    Posting anon as I don’t wish to offend. I’d find a way to read you even it if the font was webdings. 🙂

  6. Just great – now and then! The hubs is always after me to change the look of my blog – he hates the blogspot template(s). I don’t mind them, but yours is really much nicer.

  7. I could be. Perhaps tied with Christian, aka M21, and a few others. Like all those Introspective readers!

  8. Ok – mostly good. Anon – hang in, you never know, there may be “corrections.” I promise no wingdings!

  9. I always say, “Botox or Bangs” and must admit, when I clicked and saw the new and improved, I thought it looked fun and fab, easy on the eyes. Mine seem to be failing. I could thread any needle back in the day and now I need a magnifying glass and to stand on my head.
    Change is hard but it is always refreshing.
    Thanks again for the mention. A year…. time flies when one is having fun. You are so fun!
    pve

  10. Yes, we have ALL come a long way in a year. amazing. remember how technical issues were always so prevalent in the beginning. I don’t have those anymore. Now I just have “what should I write about” issues!!! and other problems. I would love a new header and all but it’s so moi – I just can’t change it. I love how Courtney’s blog is so perfect – the colors and Katiedid has a perfect color coordinated one too. I haven’t looked at your new header yet, so I can’t comment – but of course here I am commenting anyway! what a loser. I just reacted to you talking about how far we’ve all come. we 1 yearers are like a special sorority. imo.

  11. Patricia, I love the crisp font and your illustration is so great I wouldn’t mind any amount of fuzziness. In general, I do have a harder time reading wide format blogs. Maybe it’s a sign of my ultimate laziness or aging eyes, but I find it tiring. Yours is such a visual blog and I find myself having difficulty scooping up the gist of the entry as a visual whole in the wide format. Like Anonymous said, however, I would read your blog no matter how it was formatted.

  12. tc- that is an interesting issue I hadn’t considered. Let me ponder it for a bit.

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