Ok, so this is right up there with the weirdest thing we’ve ever seen in our past almost-three-years as bloggers. Recently a reader (thanks Sara!) wrote alerting us that she had seen photos of our living room and guest bedroom on a vacation rental site called Airbnb. And apparently the “landlord” was claiming that they were photos of their house in Pasadena- and charging $48 a night with priority to anyone who booked it for one or two weeks straight (to the tune of $336 to $672) since they “received so much interest.”
Isn’t that weird???? What happens when people get there and it doesn’t look like that? Or maybe it doesn’t get that far because it’s all a scam and this person takes the money and runs without providing an address? Either way we were adequately skeeved out. And of course we contacted both the webmaster of the site along with the “landlord” to let them know that those images were ours and they were firmly planted in Richmond and not for rent. Pretty soon thereafter they were removed. Whew. But so odd right?!
It ranked up there with the time that another reader (thanks Michael!) wrote to us shortly after our big bathroom reveal to tell us that they saw some girl named Amber on Rate My Space claiming our bathroom after photos as hers.
The good news is that it was getting great feedback. But the bad news was that it wasn’t her bathroom! The funniest thing about that situation was that Amber was answering questions about the paint color and where she got things (all of which were wrong, so we were totally confused to see her claim that our $100 Overstock sink was a $400 splurge from Kohler and that the walls were some shade called Cucumber Dream instead of the actual Dune Grass hue that we used). Isn’t that weird? Of course we just commented under the post with a link to our site saying “Wait- that’s actually our bathroom! You can see where we got everything and how it all came together by following this link.” Literally within a minute the post was removed.
Actually now that we think about it, the Rate My Space thing might have been stranger than the room rental incident because the room rental person seemed to be in it for the money, so the idea of a scammer stealing a photo and trying to make some loot with it kind of makes sense. But isn’t it odd that someone found a photo of our bathroom and thought it would somehow be rewarding to claim it as their own on Rate My Space (where there’s no dough on the line)? Maybe she didn’t feel like redoing her bathroom so she thought using our photos would be a shortcut? Or she thought it would be funny? Consider us stumped.
Thank goodness for all of our lovely readers who have eagle eyes and thoughtfully email us every time they see our casa somewhere that it doesn’t belong. We’re used to hearing that our pictures are on eBay or Craigslist when someone’s trying to sell an identical rug or duvet. And we even saw before and after photos of our front yard on some landscaping guy’s website in Texas (so crazy, right?!). But the latest Rate My Space and vacation rental listing have been the most odd by far. What do you guys think? Can you figure out some ulterior motive for the Rate My Space thing? Have you ever seen your photos somewhere they didn’t belong? Do tell.
joni says
wwwwwwwwweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrdddddddd.
Marcia says
actually, for pictures you post to the blog, if you did a small, low-opacity watermark, and move it around to an inconspicuous place, it would barely be noticeable upon first glance, plus it could deter future creepy thieves. :) (i’m a photographer who’s alos had her photos creepily stolen for no monetary reason, which is when i started the movable watermark.)
Reva says
The B&B person is a total slimebag. The rate my space thing — my guess is it’s someone so unhappy w/ their life they wanted someone else’s for a moment. Yes, totally creepy, but also really sad.
Nancy Wyant Barr says
Kind of creepy what people can do… I need to learn how to protect my pictures! I heard of someone who was in Europe driving down the road and their on a billboard was a family in the US that she knew advertising something they knew nothing about!!! Kind of Freaky!!
AbraCat says
Uh… it’s flattery, I guess? I don’t know– weird.
Kristen {a little ditty} says
That is so weird/creepy about the house for rent. I cringe to think of what the place is really like. So Bizarre! I agree with a few other comments, maybe you guys should start adding a small tasteful logo/watermark to all your pictures posted? Clearly they are a hot commodity!
Jim says
I bet with the B&B listing, people won’t remember the picture when they show up. I don’t think scamming people for $50 a pop is going to get you very far but you’d be surprised how many people won’t remember the pictures as long as it’s “close enough.”
Doesn’t it make it, or the Rate My Space rip, any better though.
Lindsay says
Hi!
Too creepy about the vacation rentals! I just recently had someone “borrow” my photos from my portfolio and said it was their project. Nope, it was the Presidential Suite at the Pinehurst Resort I designed. I just politely asked if they could remove it… they did. It is kind of hard when you work so hard on a project and then for them to be ‘stolen’.
Have you thought about watermarking your photos? I am thinking about it for my site..
Diana says
Why is it that people who do weird things like this always have grammatical or spelling errors? OWN bathroom? I hope you own it if your trying to rent it…but wait, you don’t. Maybe it was a freudian slip?
Krystle says
Weird and creepy! Where do these people come from!? I’m glad you were able to resolve both issues!! I love your blog and Baby Clara is just adorable!!
Nicole B says
Holy creepy!! That would be THE weirdest thing if that were me reading that about my own place… I wonder what other home/deco bloggers “houses” are for rent in other places… Too weird! Way to go whoever noticed that! You have a great eye and Sherry, obviously a memorable home :)
Katie says
That is so unbelievably creepy! And I agree it is incredibly odd that someone would get a kick out of pretending they redid your space solely for comments. I love that you took a picture of the rental site to expose the creep who pretended to have your house. Sorry you go through such awkward scenarios. They say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery but this goes above and beyond that.
Lindsay says
Creepers. It’s because the bathroom reno was that amazing!
Someone stole my and my fiance’s (now-husband) engagement photos from the photographer’s website, posted them as her Facebook photos and (not kidding) created a fake profile for her “fiance”. She’d written things on “his” profile, he’d written things on “hers”…the only reason we know she was the real person was because she chose photos that didn’t use my face, but had a prominent shot of my husband on the fiance’ profile.
We reported her to Facebook and I sent her a kind, loving message explaining what I would do to her if she didn’t. They went down shortly thereafter.
Nicole B says
Just goes to show you have to be careful with vacation rentals. Only used high rated, secure sites or sites that come with personal recommendations from people you actually know.
I had a close encounter with a scammer when I was looking for an apartment to stay in for a few weeks in London. At first it seemed too good to be true (which is kinda the same case here…$48 a night in Pasadena?!?), but then some things were not adding up. As I began to ask questions, the “landlord” started getting really pushy, and demanding I sent my deposit (when I hadn’t actually agreed to take it yet).
patti says
that is just crazy! i am always a little worried about people taking my photos from my blog because i mostly post photos of my kids and my cooking. i’ve been thinking about watermarking my photos but have just been lazy because it’s one extra step in my photo editing process, but i’m thinking it’s about time to start!
kitarita says
eeeeeewwww. that is just creepy.
Aimee says
I know the saying is imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but in this case maybe it’s thievery. Your reno is so awesome that people steal the pictures rather than trying (and possibly failing) to replicate your success.
Becky@OrganizingMadeFun says
That’s is crazy stuff…so much for drama!
Cindy says
We noticed a scam similar to this when looking for a new place to rent. They claim to be missionaries in Nigeria who want to rent out their home that you can drive by but you can’t see inside because the keys are with them so once you send a $500 security deposit they will send you the keys to see inside. Many people later discover these homes are occupied and never hear another word from the missionaries.
Charlotte says
THAT IS CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love your home and hope to one day have the same inspirations you all have!!!! Your ideas are ingenius and wonderful!!! LOVE THEM!! Keep up the wonderful work!!
Olivia says
This is definitely strange. I like Lindsay’s idea of watermarking your photos!
Suzanne says
So weird and funny! I agree though, I understand why the landlord swiped your lovely photos. I don’t get the rate my space thing.
Melissa says
As much as the whole bathroom thing seems weird it is actually very common. Ppl like to feel good about themselves and receiving compliments for even something that isn’t even theirs boost their need for a self-esteem lift. It may not be monetary gain they are after some ppl just crave attention and people posting nice things about something they posted even if it doesn’t belong to them works. It’s weird but some ppl are weird like that.
Stephanie says
I don’t have a bajillion readers like yourselves, but I have had 2 copiers! They both consistently took things from my site, posted them on theirs and claimed they created it. It’s flat out irritating. The only thing I can think is that they want to be creative, but don’t have it in them, so in wanting to be that, they just take from people who are? I have no clue. When you figure it out, please let me know.
katy says
My SIL actually worked as a room designer for Ikea for several years before becoming a stay at home mom to three, but frequently she would incorporate pictures of her family, my husband included, into her room designs. Every time he went to Ikea, he could always find at least one or two pictures featuring his smiling mug. She moved to Oklahoma about four years ago and left her job at our Virginia Ikea, so you can imagine my surprise when, while perusing some decor options for our nursery a few months ago, I saw my hubby’s smiling face in a picture taken as recently as a year ago! Turns out, one of her friends is still working there and occasionally uses some of SIL’s pics in her arrangements!
Julia @ Hooked on Houses says
What the what? Now that is truly bizarre! It amazes me that people think they can get away with stuff like that.
katy says
CREEPY!!!!
Morgan says
Sherry and John –
I’m relieved to hear you’re committed to leaving your photos the way they are for now.
If you have more problems with this issue, I would completely understand you turning off the “save as…” feature. I would be sad because I save photos from your posts to my “inspiration folder”. I think a lot of people do that, but would never post your beautiful shots as their own.
Thanks for all the great ideas!
Morgan
Condo Blues says
Stealing from blogs is unfortunately uncommon. That’s why I watermark all of my project photos and especially photos of my dog. My strangest blog theft came from some home improvement splog site that hijacked my blog feed and featured me as their green blogger! Unfortunately they must have read my tweet about discovery and took the site down (all of the content was stolen blog feeds)before I could write a post on my blog that named them as stealing from my blog – so it would show up on their site.
Rosi T says
I would watermark your photos from now on, it’d be a good idea. :) I read Jorge Garcia (Hurley from Lost) blog and he makes his photos tiny because people steal them all the time.
bink & boo says
These people have some big OL’ NERVE!
Kati says
You wonder how many people the lastest guy has schemed. I think the authorities need to follow him.
Pam says
I agree with the others who said that we really appreciate your hard work and the fact that you share so much with us. There will always be some nutcases out there (hopefully very few), but thanks for keeping it real for the rest of us who are here to learn from you and be inspired by you.
I discovered your blog about a month ago, and have been reading through the archives and searching the topics for help on my latest project. You two are amazing! Keep up the great work.
AtypicalTypeA says
Bizarro.
You have so many readers out there that anyone who does this is going to be found out sooner or later.
Lisa says
I guess you’re going to have to start watermarking your photos, which sucks. It’s crazy that stuff like this happens, but unfortunately it happens fairly often. I’ve seen blogs where every post was stolen from different bloggers, or blogs that were completely fake, everything was fiction but passed off as fact (weird thing about that one, the blogger MET PEOPLE in person and kept up the story the whole time. How crazy is that???)
Watermarks can still be cropped out, but that takes a bit more effort, so it can deter some people.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey everyone,
Thanks for the watermarking idea! We hate to put a big YHL seal in the middle of our photos, and putting one in the bottom or the corner just means people will crop the photo to get rid of it. Boo! So for now we’ll just stick to retroactively asking the few-and-far-between scammers to remove our pics (since there are far more people who enjoy our photos without doing anything shady with them- thank goodness!).
And as for the suggestion to keep our photos from being copied & pasted, we definitely could add that feature to our pics, but anyone can just take a screen grab anyway. So we’re pretty sure we’ll just keep things as is and occasionally ask people to remove our photos if they’re being used in any creepy ways. We hate to change anything for those very few incidents that are so easy to resolve with a quick little email. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Jocelyn Stott says
Eeeeew! I don’t like this at all! What is wrong with people??? SO weird!
carey says
Just plain bizarre! (And kinda funny, too!!!) :/
Andrea says
Crazy people, I swear! I can relate. We’ve had a similar problem with people claiming our wedding pics as their own; or worse, as their work – and used them to advertise! I will never understand it…
Amanda says
As someone else mentioned I would watermark your photos. You can change the opacity so it’s not glaringly bright over the picture.
Julie says
I used to follow a blog until recently called katydid. She quit posting (understandably) because some woman had posted pictures of katy’s children on her flickr and facebook account and claimed they were her kids. So. Creepy.
Misty says
I’m gonna say that “those people” will have horrible karma for doing this.
Amber P says
Okay, my name is Amber and that so was NOT me! I can’t believe somebody would do that! I agree with whoever suggested watermarking your pictures. Your spaces are so well known, though that I think people will always know when it’s an imposter.
Suzie says
Ewww…if I were in your shoes, this kind of incident would well and truly creep me out. I’m glad that you haven’t said “enough’s enough” and shut down the blog, your designs are a great source of inspiration for my house. Sweet jebus, the Rate my space thing is uber creepy-there are whack-jobs out there.
Erika says
Ok, that is all just to weird. I have found my photos from FLICKR and from my blog on DIY sites in Europe. Unfortunately I was not able to decipher whether they were saying good or bad things about my rooms due to the language barrier. Oh well, I’m gonna say good…yeah, they HAD to be saying good things, right? ;o)
Amanda says
Please be careful. It is one thing to have this happen with photos of your house, but you have a baby and it would be horrific to have this happen with her photos.
Kim@ NewlyWoodwards says
Wow! I originally thought this post was going to say that someone completely duplicated your room in California. This is definitely crazier. Good for you for standing your ground on both counts. And, I’m totally impressed that you kept your cool on Rate my Space. That was definitely the classy way to handle it.
As for why… I cannot imagine why. It’s one thing to do something on accident, but this was clearly malicious. Very odd. There are some crazies in the world.
Jessica says
What a society we live in. Sheesh.
I also agree about being super extra careful now that you have Clara. I totally love that you’re willing to share her with all of us (generally nice, normal) strangers, but not if it’s going to ever be dangerous for her!
amy says
what’s sad is… I almost wish I was “at that level” where people would want to steal my photos! It’s somewhat flattering (?)
Lisa says
Someone has probably already mentioned this, but it’s probably time to start watermarking your pics as your own. If all your pics say “Younghouselove” it will be WAY harder for people to palm them off as their own!
Molly says
No picture incident, BUT…one day I was home, in the house we were renting at the time, and someone knocked on the door. I opened to find a very confused lady who asked if this was the house that was on the market to be leased fully furnished for $750/month. No! We had a year-long lease (for a bit more than that…)! Someone on Craigslist had scammed her, using our address and public info about the owner (whose first and last names he had actually mixed up). She was fortunately smart enough to drive by the house before she sent him her deposit–which she had in an envelope ready to drop in the mailbox! Bizarre and creepy. Called the realtor into action on that one…