The Home Renovation Blog Vol. 01 · The Workshop Journal
Vol. 01 · Colophon · About this publication

We started a blog because someone should finally explain it kindly.

The Home Renovation Blog is a small editorial publication for first‑time homeowners — written, edited, and quietly maintained by people who once didn't know what a stud finder was either.

Our one promise

We will never assume you already know. We will define the word. We will show the wall. We will tell you when to call somebody.

Founded 2024 · Brooklyn & Asheville 14,200 readers · 48 issues "Measure twice, ask anything."

We started The Home Renovation Blog in the kind of mood you only get after spending forty‑five minutes on a forum trying to figure out whether the green wire is the ground wire. The advice was either: assume you already know the answer, or assume you should hire someone. Neither felt true. Most first‑time homeowners don't need to be talked down to — they just need someone to start at the beginning, slowly, without flinching.

So we made the publication we wished we'd had when we got the keys. Patient, opinionated, deeply researched. Every guide is read by someone who's never done the project before, and if a single step makes them uneasy, we rewrite it until it doesn't. We test what we recommend with our own outlets and our own walls. We show the receipts. We name the tools. We tell you when the YouTube tutorial is, frankly, lying to you about how long this is going to take.

"We're not trying to make you a contractor. We're trying to make you the kind of person who isn't scared of their own house."
— Maya Ellsworth, founding editor

We are not a marketplace. We do not run sponsored content disguised as advice. We do not take affiliate kickbacks for steering you toward a specific drill. The publication is small and slow on purpose — one good guide a week, edited four times, fact‑checked once more on a Friday. If you find an error, you can email us and an actual person will write back, usually before Monday.

— the editors
03 · What we believe

Five quiet rules we refuse to break.

Every editorial publication has a posture. These are ours — taped to the wall above the desk where the next issue is being written.

  1. 01

    Beginners first, always.

    Every guide assumes you have never opened a wall, never sweated a pipe, never owned a multimeter. We define every word the first time we use it. We show the photo. We name the part. If a step would scare a beginner, that step gets rewritten until it doesn't.

    In short

    "No prior knowledge required."

  2. 02

    Real numbers, not vague ranges.

    When a project costs $1,847, we tell you it cost $1,847 — and we list the line items. When it took two long Saturdays, we say two long Saturdays. The honest number is more useful than the optimistic one, and the optimistic one is how people end up halfway through a job they cannot afford to finish.

    In short

    "Receipts, not estimates."

  3. 03

    We test what we recommend.

    No product appears in a guide unless someone on the team has used it on their own house, in their own life, for at least one full project. We do not accept review units. We do not run "best of" lists for things we have only read about. If we are unsure, we say so out loud.

    In short

    "Used it. Kept it. Or didn't."

  4. 04

    When you should call a pro, we tell you.

    There is a quiet category of internet advice that pretends every job is a DIY job. It isn't. Gas lines, structural changes, panel work, anything behind a permit — we will tell you to put the wrench down and pick up the phone. Knowing the limit is part of the craft.

    In short

    "Knowing when to stop is a skill."

  5. 05

    No sponsored content disguised as advice.

    We do not take affiliate kickbacks for the tools we suggest. We do not run paid placements wearing the costume of an editorial review. Sponsorships, when they exist, are labeled in 16‑point type at the top of the page. The trust is the product.

    In short

    "The trust is the product."

04 · How we work

The slow part you don't see.

Most renovation content on the internet is produced quickly, by people who have not done the work, for a search engine. We make a different trade: fewer guides, slower, edited harder. Here is what each one walks through before it shows up on a Saturday morning.

One guide a week. Four editors. One test reader. Zero affiliate steering.

  1. Step 01

    Pitched at the kitchen table.

    Every guide starts with a question we actually heard from a reader, an editor, or a friend who just bought a house. We do not chase keyword ghosts. We write what people are quietly Googling at 11pm.

  2. Step 02

    Drafted by someone who has done it.

    Drafts are written by editors who have completed the project on a real wall in a real house — not by freelance generalists working from a content brief. If we have not done it, we do it before we write about it.

  3. Step 03

    Beginner‑tested before publish.

    Each draft is read by a first‑time homeowner who has not done the project. We mark every paragraph that confused them and rewrite it. A guide is not finished until our test reader can do the project from the page alone.

  4. Step 04

    Fact‑checked, priced, and dated.

    A second editor verifies tools, materials, code references, and prices against current retail. Every guide carries a "last verified" stamp. We re‑check pricing every quarter and bump the date when we do.

Articles per month
4
Editors on each guide
4
Pricing re‑verified
Quarterly
Affiliate links
None
06 · The masthead

A small team, on purpose.

Three editors. One test reader. A rotating bench of people who have actually held the tool. We keep the masthead small so we can stay accountable for every line.

  • ME

    Maya Ellsworth

    Editor in Chief

    Brooklyn, NY

    Maya bought her first house in 2019 and rewired the kitchen with one YouTube tab open at all times. She's been writing about home renovation since 2021 and started The Home Renovation Blog after one too many forum threads that began "this is obvious, but…".

    Owns the desk on
    • Kitchens
    • Renovation Planning
    • Budgets

    Owns three multimeters. Could only find one this morning.

  • JQ

    Jonas Quintero

    Senior Editor — Plumbing & Electrical

    Asheville, NC

    Jonas spent eleven years as a residential contractor before moving to the editorial side full‑time. He writes the parts of the blog that involve water or amperage — the parts where being wrong is expensive — and he is firm, kindly, about when to put the wrench down.

    Owns the desk on
    • Plumbing
    • Electrical
    • When to Call a Pro

    Has snaked his own drain so you don't have to. Wishes you wouldn't.

  • RB

    Ruth Beam

    Editor — Beginner Projects

    Portland, OR

    Ruth came to the publication from a decade of teaching middle‑school science, where she learned that nobody learns anything from a person who is annoyed they have to explain it. She owns the first‑weekend guides — the small wins that make a house start to feel like yours.

    Owns the desk on
    • Painting
    • Patching
    • First Weekends

    Believes a primer coat is a love language.

Plus a rotating bench of plumbers, electricians, and cabinet‑makers who fact‑check the technical guides. They are credited at the bottom of every piece they touch.

07 · Our promise to readers

We will treat the first question as seriously as the hundredth.

Nobody on this team woke up knowing what a P‑trap was. Nobody knew what a stud finder did. We remember the embarrassment of being new, and we have decided, on purpose, not to forget it. Every guide is written from that memory.

Signed
— the editors Vol. 01 · The Workshop Journal
08 · Get in touch

Write to us. Honestly, please.

Tell us what you're trying to fix this weekend. Tell us where a guide left you stuck. Send us the part you wish someone would explain. We read every email. We answer most.

  • For corrections, fact‑checks, or "this part of the guide didn't work for me" — we'll usually reply within 48 hours.
  • For pitches, syndication, or press — we read these on Tuesdays.
  • For sponsored partnership requests — please don't. We don't do those.
vol 01 postage
To the editors hello@thehomerenovationblog.com
A real person reads it. Usually with coffee.
07 · Saturday morning, your inbox

One short letter,
every Saturday.

One project to try, one mistake we made, one tool worth its money. Three minutes to read, no upsells, unsubscribe in one click. Twelve thousand new homeowners read it with their first coffee.

No spam. No "marketing emails". Unsubscribe in one click.

Issue 13 · preview 13

Hello friend,

This week I tried to fix our slow bathroom drain and ended up learning what a "P‑trap" is, the hard way. Here's what I'd tell past‑me on a Saturday morning…

3 min read · sent 6:42am — L.

P.S. Joining 12,400 first‑time homeowners (and the editor's mum).