Happy Monday friends!! I’m so excited to be starting out a new week with a fresh look to the blog! There are still some tweaks to hammer out, but for the most part this is the new site and I’m excited to show you some of the new pages I’ve added and get any feedback on what else you’d like to see going forward!
S’well Bottle // Weekender
This weekend we headed out of town to celebrate Mother’s Day with my mother in law and it was the perfect time to relax, unwind & enjoy some much needed time with family and friends. There was enough down time to finally switch over to the new version. I went the pre-made template route with Georgia & Lou Studios, but the reason I chose their template over the hundreds on etsy is that I was able to customize it as much or as little as I wanted to. So what’s new?
A completely interactive navigation bar including drop downs wherever they are needed. I’ve added some Frequently Asked Questions & a Shop My Favorites tab. I love that the navigation bar is static and moves as the cursor moves down the page.
I love the “featured boxes” that will lead to some pages that could otherwise be neglected – but now they are more prominent so they wont be lost.
I had been going back and forth between including the “read more” option into my blog and while I’m fairly certain that you can add a “read more” option to all blogs by using the page break image in each post, I really wanted to make sure that it wasn’t just set into my template. With this I control which posts are read more on my main page. Personally, I really wanted to have my first post be full and the rest have the read more option.
The search functionality is also almost “wordpress” like in the sense that it looks like it was customized but it actually came with this template. The query returns a snippet of the first image from the post pulling whatever the key word searched was.
Finally – if someone scrolls all the way to the bottom the template has this quick arrow that will take you quickly back to the top.
Over the new couple of weeks as I get accustomed to template, I’ll continue to tweak some colors, some side bar options and possibly even update or change some pages. I’ve had 2 previous blog looks and this was the first one that I installed, edited and pretty much worked on myself – huge thank you to Pamela who has been on the receiving end of many texts with questions!
I hope you’ll poke around a little bit and with this refresh, please let me know any posts or topics you’d like to see! In the meantime, link up below to share your weekends with us!
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YAYYYYY! It looks so good girl! I love it!! And glad you had a good weekend out of town with your mother in law! Happy Monday! <3, Pamela Sequins & Sea Breezes
Congrats on the redesign, it looks fabulous!
Wow! The page looks great! & you worked it out yourself! Nice! I'm not at that level yet haha! Loved seeing your snaps this weekend! Happy Monday! Xo
Love the new look!!! So awesome you were able to do it yourself. Happy Monday!
Sooo proud of you! It looks gorgeous as can be!! Your talents amaze me in a daily basis sweet friend!! Happy Monday!!
Your new blog design looks fantastic!!! I love how clean and simple it looks–and way to go for installing yourself!!
Sarah at MeetTheShaneyfelts
The new site looks amazing, Biana! I love the clean look and I'm so impressed you did this all! I like the idea of the "read more" button and I was experimenting with it, but I'm too afraid to change anything because I'm really bad with all that stuff! haha Happy Monday!
xo, Rachel
A Blonde's Moment
Love, love , love it!!! Well done. So clean and easy
Love the new look, Biana!! I'm dying to revamp mine, and I'm hoping to have something new and fresh toward the end of the summer. And I usually don't love the whole partial post showing with "Read More" buttons, but yours looks so clean and defined between posts that I'm definitely rethinking that! Great job, girl!
I love the new look!! It is amazing and so detailed and clean looking. Congratulations!! We have been debating the read more option too, i like the idea of keeping the first post full and adding it to the older posts.
Xoxo,
Whitney & Blaire
Peaches In A Pod
I loooove the new look! The header is so clean and fresh looking. congrats!
Evelina @ Fortunate House
So proud of you girl for doing this all yourself! Love the colors you picked out and the new header is fab.
Wow I'm loving your new look girl!! How awesome that you were able to figure out most of it on your own, love all the new features. The arrow up to the top is probably my favorite so far :)!
I love this look, B. So clean and fresh! And I love that weekender bag…I've had my eye on that collection for a while. I may bite the bullet and buy one for myself. Have a great week! xo
I am absolutely LOVING the new blog layout! I actually have been wanting to do a little re-design over at my blog and this is definitely pushing me to do it! I LOVE the "Featured" boxes!
rosyoutlookblog.com
Happy Monday! I love your new blog layout!! So pretty!
thecourtneydiaries.com
Love the new blog look! So pretty! (And I'm dying over that weekender bag!)
i love the look!! it turned out SO well!
Biana, I LOVE it! Looks awesome! I like how you put the featured articles at the top with fun pictures to coordinate – much more fun than just the links by themselves! Super cute and nicely designed!
I love your updates girly! I noticed the site looked different right about. Very fresh and contemporary!!
Love that weekender bag, I have the one with the grey stripes… got it last spring!
♥
Amber
All the Cute 🎀
Today's Post: Novelstyle Shop Photoshoot
Girl it's GORGEOUS! Loving the new look and of course your weekender bag and s'well bottle too! Glad you had a fabulous weekend with Gary's fam <3
Green Fashionista
Congrats on the new look and functionality – the blog looks awesome!
Love it! It's so gorgeous!!
loving the new look! you know i love all things simple. so chic. and yes to the static nav bar – so key! happy monday!
xoxo cheshire kat
It's fantastic! Love the new look!
I sort of had a feeling I would be walking to a brand-new page today. It looks great so far. I love the clean and professional look. Well done. Great graphic too to start this Monday. Love the static nav bar.
It looks so so good! Love it girlfriend! And I love having a static nav bar! Yay for B Loved Boston!
Zelle
Southern Style
The site looks amazing!! Congrats! xo
publiclivessecretrecipes.com/2016/05/public-lives-lindsay-mcfarlane-secret-recipes-cookie-dough-pretzel-bites.html
Love the new site!! Congrats girl, it looks awesome! Absolutely love the static nav bar and all the cool new features.
The new site looks so good !
I love the new look! It looks amazing!! You have a great eye to detail.
I love your new look! So much sleeker! I really need to invest in getting a better layout. And that weekender bag looks perfect! I need one, we plan on going to a wedding later this year, and I would love to hvae a more functional one. How do you like yours?
Where did you get this awesome layout? Obviously I wouldn't get the same one but it looks soo nice.
liz @ j for joiner
ohhhh fancy!!!! Lovin' the new look around these parts!
I LOVE the new look and I totally agree that the main post should NOT be read more. Read more is annoying! All of the features and things with your new look are great! I may need some help if/when I transition to WordPress with these things! 🙂
Love the new design! It's always fun to switch things up. Have a great day!
x Leah / eatpraywearlove.com
Love your new design 🙂 Chelsea @ thewilliamsjourney1.blogspot.com
I'm loving your new look, girl! It turned out fantastic & congrats on doing it all by yourself! 🙂
Hooray for having some downtime this weekend and being able to get stuff done! Your new site design is beautiful, and I love how clean everything looks and that you can add more customization to it later! I can't wait to see what changes you decide to make in the coming weeks!
The new site looks SO good!! I love it, and can't wait to look at it all!
Shauna
lipglossandlace.net
I absolutely LOVE the new look!! Congratulations- I'm sure it was a ton of work but it was so worth it!
Absolutely LOVE the new design!! Looks so good!
amemoryofus.com
LOVE the site! So clean and crisp and very easy to navigate! Congrats!!
Taffeta & Tulips
I am obsessed with your new blog layout! So gorgeous and user friendly. I love all the features and graphics. I always want to tweak with my blog but I am not good at writing any code. I always do the template route too. Can't wait to see more! mymonochromaticlife.com
LOVE, love, love the new look, Biana! I haven't poked around too much just yet, but everything seems easy to find and looks so pretty! You did such a great job…I could not have done it alone, you go girl!
xo, Lily
Beauty With Lily
I love the new look!! You've turned in to quite the little programmer if I do say so myself!! 🙂 Make today work, Rachel -CubicleCouture
Wow! I love the new look! It's always so great when you have a new look, it's like a brand new outfit!
This looks fantastic – I've been wanting a new blog look. I may have to check out where you went through with the templates.
Love the new blog layout lady! Always love reading out your weekend 🙂
xo! Tess
sequinsarethenewblack.com
I love love love love it!
~~Megan~~
poshprime.com
Biana, you did such a wonderful job, I love the new layout and design! I read your FAQ page and I can really see your personal style reflected in the design; I'm getting that glam feel with the black and gold color theme! Thanks so much for sharing and I hope you have the most amazing week ahead, gorgeous!
XO,
Jalisa
thestylecontour.com
I'm loving the new look! So clean and beautiful! I have pinned that weekend bag for my wish list, super cute! Hope you had a great weekend!
ahhh I love the new look and the color scheme! I need a major upgrade to my look so I'm definitely going to check out the site you used. Did you install everything on your own? I'm afraid I'll ruin my entire blog if I try and change too much, haha.
Love the new blog look lady! And that weekender bag is just too cute! xx
The new design is gorgeous! Go you for getting it installed all by yourself (well with some help here and there) but i know how nerve wrecking that can be because one little mistake and it could just go *boom* which I managed to do (delete the entire sites template but figured out how to get it back up again) Talk about a heart attack waiting to happen. I like your thinking with the read more button. That seems to be a good idea.
I love your new layout/design! Personally, I'm not a big fan of the "read more" posts, so I love how your most recent post is he full post and then the others are read more!
I LOVE YOUR NEW LAYOUT!! I actually saw it last night when I was linking your site to my post and was like…um this is perfection. Great job! I redid my layout back in August and did the same thing you did…bought a pre-made template and then added all the little odds and ends myself! Doesn't it make you feel so accomplished! lol I know that's how I felt when it was done! 🙂 It looks great!
The new look is great! -Hanna Lei
Latest Post: How to look Chic in High Waisted Shorts this Summer
Seriously in LOVE with your new site! I even squealed for a second when I first saw it! So chic, modern, and cool. Love the static bar at the top and the arrow at the bottom. I need that arrow at the bottom! Genius! Glad you had a great weekend!!
Xox Dana Ivy // iadorewhatilove.com
you did an amazing job!!!! I don't think I could do mine by myself! catchatwithcarenandcody
Everything looks really great, girl!!!! 🙂
I love the new look. It's very clean and chic! I will admit I'm not personally a huge fan of the read more option, but the way you plan to do it with the first post being fully available then the rest with read more…that sounds great. Good work, looks awesome Biana!
I love it, love it, love it! It is so fun to roll out a whole new look and vibe to the blog and now with Etsy templates it's a no brainer! Great job!
Omg the new site looks ah-mazingggggg!! Love it! Glad you had a great weekend!
<3 Shannon
Upbeat Soles
Love love love the new look! Fantastic job. I'm in the market for a new site design too, so I'm definitely going to check out that company!
The new layout looks great!
Your new site looks fantastic, girl – congratulations!
Beautiful new look, I absolutely love it!
LOVE the new look-so pretty! I love that the navigation bar is static-that's so neat!
Things are looking great! Good job girlfriend!
Love the new blog look…so clean-looking and professional! Have a good Monday!
Oh hey super cute new site!! LOVE it girl!!
LOVE the new design! It looks awesome – and I didn't know that they had templates that you can customize, so cool!
Amanda Kids and Cabernet
Your new look is so fresh! I'm loving it! Hope you had a nice weekend and can't wait to see some new content! I'd love to see more fashion posts. You're totally better at them than you give yourself credit for!
Love the new design! Glad you added a shop my style feature! I always love what you wear!
Ashley
acutelifestyle.blogspot.com
Loving the new design Biana!
Loving the new look, so fancy! And I am liking that weekender bag too! Hope you have a great week!
LOVE the new look – congrats on the great transition! Loved peeking around the tabs – I never knew the story behind the name before!
Congratulations on the new site design! It looks amazing!
Heidi || Wishes & Reality
I LOVE it!! I've been toying with the idea of a 'read more' button, too and like your idea of keeping the first post full and then doing it on the rest. May have to steal that from you 😉
LOVE the design! It looks so great and has great functionality! Love, love, love!!
I like the new look!! Love the new B. Loved logo! Great job!!
I really like the new look. Nice and fresh and very organized looking. 🙂
I love your new blog look! It's very simple and clean – perfect! -xx Leah || Chasing Texas
It is looking great.. it's always fun to play with the layout and tweak things. Sometimes even the smallest change can make a huge difference
I love love love the new layout! The arrow on the bottom right corner is a great idea! I also love the new pic of you at the top right! So pretty!
I love the new design, I also changed mine about 2 weeks ago, and it's just such a great feeling to have a blog design that you actually love! I personally love the read more option, but first I wasn't sure if I wanted to use it either. You did an amazing job!
xo, Esther
bubblesther.com
I am loving the new look Biana, it makes me want to stay and browse for hours! Go you for working on it all yourself, you are one amazing woman! Hope your week is off to a great start! XO -Kim
I love it! Such a clean design and I totally thought you were on WordPress until you mentioned the search bar feature!
The new blog looks great! I need serious help overhauling mine- but it's so intimidating! You did a great job! I'm so sad i missed this link up. I need to put it in my calendar so i can remember! It looks like a fun one!
Seriously, I LOVE your new look! So sleek! xo, Champagne&Suburbs
I love the new look to your blog!
So glad I stumbled across this blog! Love all your content
Hey-Talia.com
Loving this look! I love how much functionality you've added to the theme – I swear I would think it was WordPress!!
love the new look, and that little arrow really is brilliant! and i love the read more function but not for the first post. very smart!