Young House Love

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Survey Says…?

***UPDATE: We’re sending out a giant thank you to the 30,000+ respondents to our survey! We’ve selected a random winner of the $500 West Elm gift card using random.org and the lucky person is… Sarah M from Birmingham, AL! Congrats Sarah – check your inbox!***

It’s no secret that I’m a card-carrying infographic geek (in case you’re wondering, the card has a pie chart on it). Here on our blog we’ve captured one year of living in this house, our book tour, and of course your responses to our annual blogiversary survey all infograph-tacularly, so with some sweet talking to my wifey and gentle nudging to our publisher, I’ve convinced them to let me put a few infographics in our next book. #nerdvictory

Survey Nerds

But obviously I need some info before I can get all graphic on you (not that kind of graphic). That’s where you guys come in. Since Book Two is all about sharing how families really live (you can read more about it here) we thought it would be fun to share some stats on what “really live” means. We’re about halfway done shooting the book (and mostly done sorting through your AWESOME submissions) and it has been an great reminder that there’s a huge variety when it comes to families, design needs, and housing challenges. And since we can’t photograph them all, we’re hoping these infographics can represent a wider smorgasbord. Even if the questions are a little goofy sometimes…

Survey Hard Hitting

To thank you for taking our little book survey we lined up a $500 West Elm gift card for one lucky winner. We’ll select that person randomly from the respondents next Monday night (8/25) at 8pm EST. Please complete the survey just once per household. Oh and if you’re an international reader, you can win a Visa gift card instead, so it’s open to anyone in the world.

West Elm Gift Card

Taking the time to represent your little slice of home in the book could also end up earning you a shout out. We’ve got a few open-ended questions in there that will allow us to highlight some particularly unique / helpful / entertaining responses complete with your name and city (assuming you give us permission at the end of the survey, otherwise it’s 100% anonymous).

Survey Finest

You can click here to begin the survey (or on the graphic below). It’s not super-serious and by no means scientific, so we hope you guys have some fun with it. It’s hosted via Google Forms and there are some open-ended questions but they’re not required if you don’t feel like typing much. Thanks in advance for taking the time to represent how you live in your home!

Survey Get Started

Oh, and PS: Since this has a $500 prize attached to it we won’t be hosting our usual Fab Freebie tomorrow, but we’re currently assembling some cabinets in the hopes of being back with a laundry room update tomorrow or Thursday at the latest.

Comments

  2. Jax says

    Filled it out! Hope it helps! I didn’t know where to put it in the survey but I have a creepy room with a toilet and sink which is just pathetic. It’s not currently a bathroom and not really a room. Oh brother….now the internet knows.

    Reply

    • Jen. says

      We have a “bathroom” in the basement with a toilet and a laundry sink — and no doorknob on the door! When we looked at the house, my family and I joked that it looked like my great grandpa had built it. (He put a toilet in a closet for my great great grandfather when he came to live with them — no sink, just a toilet. :) )

    • Laura says

      My sister-in-law has a bedroom (?) with a toilet and bath tub in her house too! She lives in the Fan. Is that a Richmond thing?

  3. Lindsay says

    Feel free to keep putting more surveys on your site. I get a kind of weird pleasure when I fill them out. Can’t wait for the book! We just bought our first house so I could use some new tips!

    Reply

  4. Cami says

    The link is working for me (I’m on my iiPad), but when I get to 87% done it won’t let me advance to the next page. :(. I have gone through it twice with the same results.

    Reply

  6. Claire - Brussels says

    I’m so fan of these surveys because I always love to see the results in your fun infographics :) and that gives me another reason to order your book once it’s out ;) can’t wait to see how this turns out! Thanks for involving us in this!

    Reply

  7. Haley says

    So fun!! My favorite questions were the ones about the “entryway” – ours is just a door that opens into a baby hallway by the kitchen. It’s incredibly neat and organized, because we don’t have room for anything but a key hook & picture on the wall!

    Reply

  8. Lindsey Q says

    This survey was fun! We just moved into a rental (and are struggling a bit with getting all settled in) so this really helped me think about how we use the space. I know we’re supposed to be helping you, but judging from other responses, this helped us! :)

    Reply

  9. Lena says

    I did the the survey and it asks if I have a dedicated work space and I don’t (checked that) then it requires me to fill in stuff about my dedicated workspace which I didn’t have so I just picked responses. Just thought you might want to update this so you don’t get more skewed responses.

    Reply

  11. Renee says

    Just finished! What fun questions! I have to say, though, that I felt a bit guilty for not “liking” open shelving. I do – we just can’t have them. CA + open shelving = earthquake clean up nightmare. ;) Can’t wait for the book!

    Reply

  12. Kim says

    Hate to be a nitpicker. I think you had china/dishwhere instead of china/dishwear.

    But other than that, it worked fine for me! Never-ending fame in your new bestseller and $500 to West Elm, here I come! ;)

    Reply

  13. Keeley says

    Great survey! I enjoyed participating. I notice that you use the term “living room” to describe what I would call a “family room” (or at least that’s what I think you meant). I think of a family room as an informal gathering space with casual furniture and a television. A living room is a formal space with no television. Of course, then there’s the “great room” in homes that combine the two spaces. My husband uses the terms interchangeably, but I differentiate between the two.

    Reply

    • Laura says

      Keeley and Jen – I have the same problem! My husband will ask about putting something in the “living room” and I will say “do you mean the family room?” He just rolls his eyes but the two spaces are so different in terms of function. Glad I’m not the only one :)

    • Erica says

      So interesting – I also consider the family room and living room to be two separately named spaces as you described, while my husband calls both rooms “living rooms”. When I say I put something in the family room he has no idea which room I am referring to. I hope to see some infographics on this one!

    • Courtney H says

      hahaha This is funny how different everyone is on this topic! My hubs and I call all of these rooms the ‘living room,’ but to distinguish between the different spaces we refer to one as ‘the red room’ or ‘the back room,’ etc… we describe their color or location in the house instead of using the family-room or living-room terms!

  22. Marcia says

    Great survey! My kitchen has made a 180. Walls and ceiling painted-check. Floor grout fixed with grout renewal-check. Just need knobs and paint the Formica counters(which are pink
    :-P). Off to paint the bedroom.

    Reply

  23. Daniela says

    That was FUN! And sad (I live in a rental).

    About where is the washer, I had to put “other”, because, like many houses in Argentina, mine is outside, in the patio. Poor thing…

    Reply

  25. Kim says

    I’m confused about the bathroom questions. It starts by separating main and ensuite bathrooms, but then they combine. So I can’t really answer if my main/master bathroom has a tub as my main bathroom does but my master doesn’t!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Sorry to confuse you! For those without a master we were referring to their main bath for those questions (if someone doesn’t have an ensuite, that question was about their main bath – but if someone has an ensuite master those questions are about that one :).

      xo
      s

  26. Tracey Bradshaw says

    Great questions guys – especially the contentious toilet paper over/under dilemma. I have been known to flip my lid once or twice (over TOILET PAPER?) but everyone in my house now knows the RIGHT way to do it. If I could just stop my kids from dropping the empty rolls on the floor behind the door!
    I have now also reminded myself of all the things I don’t like about this house and will now try to go to sleep (it’s 1am here) ruminating over everything that needs to be updated…

    Reply

  27. ETB says

    I had fun taking the survey, but I am surprised there were no questions about the outside of the house or the property (the latter I am sure would only be applicable to some people, but was a huge factor in our home purchase). I absolutely LOVE our house, but honestly the ambient noise we hear outside from a nearby road is bad enough that I’m considering selling!

    Reply

  28. Jen R. says

    The reason that I KNOW rolling toilet paper over the top is the CORRECT and intended way to do it is because the toilet paper companies only print the design on the toilet paper on one side. So if you go under you won’t see the design. Boom! :)

    Reply

  29. Wynn Anne says

    I took the survey — love the variety of questions and look forward to seeing the results. However, I’m not sure that Canadians are eligible to win the West Elm gift card.

    Reply

  30. Christie says

    trying to take the survey on my phone. When I hit continue after the screen it acts like I have required fields that are not completed, but they are. it kicks me back to the first section and won’t let me completed.

    Reply

  32. kalibrooke says

    Took it! Fingers crossed. (The giveaway is so nice, I feel bad about noticing grammatical errors… “Ex” instead of “e.g.” and “everyday” instead of “every day.”) You guys are such pros, though, so I’m hoping this doesn’t seem snitty! LOVE YHL!

    Reply

  36. Kaitlin R says

    Since we just purchased and moved into our first home, this survey was really the first chance I’ve had to step back and meditate on our space. Thanks for infusing a little gratitude into my day for all the wonderful things God has blessed my family with in this new dwelling place :) Even a few simple survey questions can really make you realize things you have and love that are often taken for granted!

    Reply

  37. Lynn says

    On the dining option question: Since many newer homes have a great room (kitchen, eating area and living room) maybe you should have an option for that. I checked ‘other’ since what I have isn’t a separate dining room nor eat-in kitchen.

    Reply

  38. jill says

    Definitely one of the more fun surveys I’ve taken. And I actually laughed out loud when I read the examples for the work you do in the home office. Because I really AM a freelance graphic designer!

    Reply

  39. Derek says

    There were a few questions that I think could be tweaked slightly – I couldn’t answer them properly because they were missing an option or worded improperly – can I send those to you somehow?

    Reply

  42. Chelsea says

    The only bad part was the survey reminded me how messy my apartment is and how much cleaning I have to do before my in-laws come and visit this weekend. Can’t wait to see the results in Book #2!

    Reply

  44. Rebecca W says

    THANK YOU FOR ASKING THE TOILET PAPER QUESTION! Can we finally put the debate to rest with these results (and conclude that over is definitely better). ;)

    Reply

  46. Emma C says

    Great survey. I know everyone is super excited about your amazing laundry (I myself could not be anymore jealous every time I load my combi washer dryer in my kitchen), however I would love some family updates – some Clara convos, how is Teddy sleeping, how are you finding having two. Love you guys and especially love that laundry room tile

    Reply

  47. Amanda says

    Too long!!! You guys are usually good about having good-length surveys, but this one was kind of a pain/ less fun than they usually are.

    Reply

  48. Jen. says

    Hmm … I got in just fine and took it, but the wording of some of the questions could be unclear — particularly, the ones about how you use your “living room.” We have both a living room and a family room, and we use them for different purposes. I answered for the living room only (no tv, entertaining space, etc.) but it made us sound all fancy. ;) The other part that caught me up was the question that asks what your “master/main” bath has. I don’t consider our master bath to be the main bathroom …

    Fun survey, though! GL with it all …

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Jen! We added some clarification about the bathroom thing (the “/main bathroom” was just for people who don’t have an ensuite or master – but if you have a master that’s the one we wanted to hear about :)

      xo
      s

  49. Courtney H says

    Eeeeeee HOW FUN IS THIS?!? Soooo fun. I am just so excited for book number 2. I literally would pay $100 for it(I probably shouldn’t tell J&S’s publishers that, though!). But seriously, not only is it going to be a fun book full of interesting things and inspiration, but it is going to actually be a historical documentation of how folks live in today’s age, here and now! Can you imagine how different this poll would be if taken, say, 50 years ago or 100 years ago?!? Wouldn’t that be so fun to read through and compare? This is going to be something our children and grandchildren can look through and think, “whoa, people still had ____ in their homes back then?” Looooooove it YHL!

    Reply

  50. One bedroom house says

    Hi, under the kids questions I think you need an option for the kids not having their own bathroom and for the kids sharing a room with their parents. We live in an urban area with a one bedroom home so our kids sleep with us. Designing the room around two adults and two little ones was quite the challenge!

    Reply

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