Blogger Behind the Blog {The Carpenter’s Daughter}

Here’s this week’s instalment of Blogger Behind the Blog where I interview a blogger all about their reasons for blogging and what it means to them. This week I’m joined by Vikkie from The Carpenter’s Daughter.

Here’s Vikkie with more about her blogging life:

Where did your blog name come from?

I found myself tacking more and more DIY projects while renovating and found it funny that I seemed to be following my dad’s footsteps, so The Carpenter’s Daughter has never felt a better fit.  My parents always do most things for themselves because money’s “hard earnt’, easy spent” and that’s stuck with me.

When did you start your blog and why? 

About 2015.  I’ve always wanted to show people how I save money while living in a huge renovation project and it never fitted in with my food blog.

What did you do befo­re you blogged?

I’ll started a food blogger prior but before that, I was a retail manager in fashion for most of my adult life.

What was your first post?

I originally shared shabby chic projects using alternative paint to Annie Sloan.  I’ve used it before but found it very expensive.

What inspires you to blog?

I’ve wasted so much time procrastinating assuming DIY jobs are too difficult or complicated.  But it turns out most have been so much easier, so I want to tell people “if this girl can, then you probably can too!”  What inspires me to do DIY though is to save money because tradesmen aren’t cheap and Im ultimately saving for a huge loft conversion correction.

What post has had the best response, whi­ch post are you most proud of and which post did you enjoy writing the most?

About how I led the way and had my fiance help me install fencing.  It was very labour intensive and not my favourite project but it needed doing and my YouTube video seems to be going viral with over 3k likes and nearly 200k views since October this year:

Have any of your pos­ts not had the respo­nse that you expecte­d?

I don’t think so.  I did think my blog would be more successful but I soon realised that DIY videos are much more favourable for visual learning so I make sure I do both.  I’m also a visual learner which may explain that.

Where do you see your blog in a year’s time?

I struggle to think that far ahead as with DIY I like to take one job at a time otherwise I’d get overwhelmed.  Hopefully I’d like to think I can make a difference in empowering women or complete novices and help them feel more independent.

What is your favouri­te thing about blogg­ing?…and your least fa­vourite?

The most favourite is the sense of achievement and the lovely encouraging comments or constructive feedback on my methods.

The least is probably editing videos or admin stuff like emails as I’d rather be creating.

What’s the best blog post you have ever read?

That’s so tricky. I’m not a loyal blog reader as I usually hop from one how-to post to another until I’ve got something all sussed out.

What blog do you love to read and why?

I do love Taming Twins food blog.  Her recipes and blog in general is so lovely.

Do you do anything differently now to wh­en you started blogg­ing?

Yes, I originally treated my video part as a much lower priority than my food blog and channel.  But within a year, I found women doing DIY is far more unique and in demand.  So I now focus more on DIY videos and less on food.   It’s become more of a juggling act.  It can be tiring but it’s so much fun.

Is blogging what you expected it to be?

I didn’t find photography that easy initially and wish I’d bought Pinch of Yum’s Tasty Food Photography book sooner as it’s been great for understanding how to use my DSLR in general.  Also, it takes much more time than anticipated regarding editing pictures, creating pins for Pinterest and specific layouts.

What’s been your fav­ourite blog collabor­ation to date?

When I teamed up with DIY online store, www.ManoMano.co.uk.  It wasn’t sponsored – it was on a gifted basis featuring a how-to video show3d how to install shed shelves which I needed for organisation.  They really widened my eyes and said I was really on to something being female and unique.  They helped me optimise tags etc and guided me through SEO stuff to help rank the content.  They were relatively new too and it felt like were holding hands and have made a great PR friend which is unusual.  They’re the reason I think differently about my image today.

Are there any brands you would love to work with, why?

I would love to work with more DIY brands like B&Q, Axminster, Travis Perkins, Jewsons etc where they help teach creators on how to do some aspects of DIY.  That’s way I can keep learning, growing and apply new techniques in future projects and keep focusing on producing good content.

Have you had any blo­gging fails so far? 

Nothing stands out to me yet.

What is your biggest blogging hope, dream or ambition?

To be able to build a house by the sea and document it. I’d feel great if I learnt how to do that!

What do you do when you’re not blogging?

Research my family tree.  It’s rather addictive!!

and lastly, tell us all a random fact ab­out yourself.

I once got locked in Debenhams department store and couldn’t get out as the emergency exits were locked and my phone broke on the same day so couldn’t access my contacts for help… it’s a long story lol

Now that you know all about Vikkie from The Carpenter’s Daughter, make sure you go and read her blog. Make sure you follow her on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram too. Thanks so much Vikkie for being involved!