Bloggin Blues

Can someone please tell me what the key is to publishing a successful blog?

Do I need to be a better photographer, a better decorator, figure out how to do 'giveaways', take a daily picture of my dog wearing a wig,  make a masterpiece out of popsicle sticks and paint, rant about the challenges of motherhood even though I'm not one?????

What's the secret? 

I have 10 followers and most blogs that I read have at least 500 (some have thousands)!

I thought I did a pretty thorough job of chronicling my bathroom renovation and I'm incredibly pleased with how it turned out, yet I have ZERO comments on that post! I've even posted it on other sites and I think they've been deleted!!!! Is it the shiny brass, the white grout on the subway tile, the lack of wallpaper, the commonplace choice of color? WHAT?! Maybe I need to provide a service, like selling a product on an Etsy page? 

Anybody need some flower pots made from recycled coffee cans?

I'm starting to doubt my creative abilities. Yesterday I re-arranged my den because I thought the Feng Shui was off...well, I don't really study that philosophy, I really shoot directly from the hip. I needed a change based on how I feel and what I know. My experience comes from the hundreds of homes that I've seen over the years, good and bad energy and my education in the creative field for color, texture, hierarchy, design, and layout.

Many years ago, when I was looking for a home to buy, my realtor showed me some real duds! 

One victorian house could have been a spectacular showing except for the combination of dark colors, heavy closed drapes, and large boxes of Depends and brown Lysol in the bathroom... 

I became soberly aware that first Impressions make a huge difference, but so does vision!

Another house was absolutely pristine and I could envision changing out colors and fixtures to make it just what I wanted but the owner had built a funky addition that didn't fit with the architecture of the house. It had really low ceilings and didn't seem structurally sound. Huff! 

Have you ever been on a home tour or decorator show house and just been blown away by every detail? 

Those homes were often way out of my price range but I got so much inspiration from them. I tucked those ideas away in my inspiration pile for just the right time.

I know my home is Far less than perfect...as a matter of fact, if I had to sell it tomorrow I shutter to think of all the things an inspector would find, all the painting of trim that I would need to do, and the current state of my basement would ruin any kind of a deal!

But the first time that I saw it I fell in love with it and it wasn't even for sale! 

I happened to be trolling the neighborhood after a contract on another house a few blocks away fell through. As I was leaving the neighborhood I saw a painting crew working on a little bungalow...It looked vacant so I stopped and asked the painters if it was for sale, they said the owner was thinking of doing a FSBO and allowed me to go inside and look around. 

It was LOVE at first site!

I took notes of all the things I loved about it, including the baby grand piano in the living room (which didn't stay). I looked in a closet and lifted up the nasty hunter green carpet to see beautiful red oak floors. A four sided brick home in a historic neighborhood with gorgeous plaster walls and molding, a fireplace, huge attic and stained glass window in the bathroom. It was exactly what I had asked God for in my prayers! I contacted the owner and made him an offer (10k less than the appraisal) and the rest is history!

Back then my vision enabled me to move past some of the obvious flaws to see the potential. 

Have I lost that vision? 

Yes, my little blog has flaws, my ignorance of the blog-o-sphere being the biggest, but I hope that I (and others) can move past that to see the potential in it.

Is anybody out there?! Is this blog a dud or does it just need some polishing?