When you’ve read all of the Empire, here are 10 blogs on homesteading, crafts, cats, and experiments

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126/365: The Reader
Jax has the best name, and a question:

I read Offbeat Home (and the rest of the Empire) everyday.

After that, I want more.

Are there other blogs out there that you can recommend for my daily reading list?

I need MOAR!

Oh goodness, yes. I don’t know if y’all know this about me, but even before I started working on Offbeat Home, I took it upon myself to read as much of the internet as I can, every day. I love the internet. I love blogs, and I love finding and sharing cool sniz online.

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First, how many of y’all use RSS — Really Simple Syndication? The simplest explanation of RSS is that it brings the internet to you. Instead of typing in www.offbeathome.com every day, you can just check your RSS feed and new stories from the sites you’ve subscribed to will pop up. It’s kind of like your Facebook news feed, except that you can’t miss a post — you have to manually clear them or read them. Here! Here’s a video!

If you don’t already use RSS, I highly, highly, highly recommend it. Google Reader is my favorite. If you sign up, add me as a friend! I’d love to see what you share.

Anyhow. RSS or no RSS, here are my top ten home-related reads, outside the Empire. I hope you enjoy them!

  1. Adult Onset Reality — My friend Adrienne’s blog. It doesn’t matter what it’s about; she’s a stellar writer. It’s not super regular because, you know, full time mom, student, teacher — but she’s smart, funny, and writes the only really long blog posts I simply have to read ALL of.
  2. Boing Boing — A mega-popular nerdy, geeky, science-y Neat Stuff blog, and it often has posts related to the home.
  3. Cockeyed — I’ve read Cockeyed since high school. I think I found it through The Spark/Sparknotes. Anyone remember that site? Anyway, Rob Cockerham has, for at least 10 years, done all kinds of crazy home experiments and costume builds. He’s got a whole category of How Much is Inside posts — checking out stuff like how many glasses you can get from a bottle of wine.
  4. Core77 — This is a general design blog, but it’s largely industrial design so there are many hot little pre-production or spec home decor items and tools.
  5. Craft Leftovers — My friend Kristin’s zine and blog full of urban homesteady crafterella awesomesauce.
  6. Tea and Cookies — This blog has the best recipes I’ve ever found on the web. Lots of Japanese food. MMM!
  7. TYWKIWDBI — Things you wouldn’t know if we didn’t blog intermittently actually posts pretty regularly, on all sorts of topics. From home and garden to interesting historical tidbits, it’s here. Even if it’s nowhere else on the net.
  8. The Walden Effect — If you have any interest at all in urban homesteading, read The Walden Effect and read it often.
  9. Way of Cats — I LOVE WAY OF CATS. It’s like a cat psychology blog, and it’s fascinating. So much effing better than that poser cat whisperer.
  10. Hipster Housewife — I am pimping myself. HH is my blog about my home and position as House Captain: DIY and fixit projects, food, and lots of photos of hipsterdom. Until I bought a house, I had no idea how deep my hippie-hipster-geeky-counter-culture tendencies ran.

I would love if you share your home-y blogs in the comments. I’m always on the lookout for new sources!

About the Author: Cat Rocketship

I was the Managing Editor of Offbeat Home for a year and a half. I have a rich Internet life and also a pretty good real life. Hobbies include D&D, Twitter, and working on making our household more self-reliant. I also draw things.

Comments on When you’ve read all of the Empire, here are 10 blogs on homesteading, crafts, cats, and experiments

  1. It’s not really a blog, but I’m OBSESSED with Pinterest. It’s a great way to combine my love of weddings, homes, and other people’s great ideas I want to keep track of.

  3. Oooh, thank you for the Way of Cats link – we have what I call a bad cat (which I just learned is a alpha cat). I’m scrolling there and practically every line is a revelation as to what I can do to help make life better for everyone in my house. Definitely adding it to my reader list.

    • YES YES YES! I was surprised that wasn’t on here already. YoungHouseLove is awesome. I want to steal their living room—OMG did you see the table/shelf thing behind their couch that they MADE THEMSELVES?! They’re amazing. And so are all the colors they choose…. I could continue gushing. I’m an obvious fangirl.

  6. Home-iness!
    http://thesteampunkhome.blogspot.com/ (intermittent, but ooooo shinyyyyy)

    http://cattycornercottage.blogspot.com/
    (New home owners. Run by the woman who also does The Beautiful Necessity, a Pre-Raphaelite blog, so you know it’s full of pretty)

    Fashion!
    http://retrorack.blogspot.com/ (Author Gail Carriger’s fashion blog about having big boobs and loving vintage style, which go together surprisingly well. Fantastic for those of us who also have big boobs. And love hats).

  7. I really like iheartorganizing.blogspot.com

    It’s pretty onbeat, but some of it’s cute nonetheless. And I kind of enjoy using the super-normal, matchy-matchy ideas (how to spray paint all your storage boxes in varying shades of beige so that they all match! Yay!) in a totally “wow! Pink, green, orange and yellow, here I come!” kind of way.

    It makes me feel subversive.

    And her cloffice is B-E-A-U-TIFUL.

  8. I read a ton of blogs and will get some posted.

    In the meantime, damn straight I’m pimping… http://thehappyheathen.com/. It’s a blend of DIY/trying to mold our home between our tastes and my mother’s very traditional tastes/my gardening obsession/sharing my new discoveries of amazingly talented people.

    Oh wait, I do have a list of some of my favorite blogs on my sidebar. 😉

  14. Love this one. Lots of DIY-able stuff:
    http://www.designsponge.com/

    This one is cool but it’s a lot of fancy, high end stuff. Still good for ideas, inspiration and dreamery:
    http://www.captivatist.com

    Some plain old really cool things. One of the posts further down is for a contraption called “Cradle.” Want. Also, a site that previews the yearly Ikea catalog? Love.
    http://www.digsdigs.com/

    More fancy, schmancy, high endish stuff, but some of it’s pretty and some of it’s DIY-able. (Repainting vintage furniture in a fun color, painting an old door with chalkboard paint and setting it up in the corner of a room with a quote going all the way down it):
    http://www.houzz.com

  19. bonzaiaphrodite.com
    sayward is a crunchy vegan momma from portland who is blogging about her life. even for non-vegans (like myself) there are plenty of tips and ideas that can be applicable to your life.

    http://www.everydayminimalist.com
    written by a 20-something woman about (what else) minimalist lifestyles. currently, she is also blogging about her trip to Asia that she recently went on (i think she is currently in europe, but dont quote me on that).

  22. THANK YOU for posting the link to Adrienne’s blog, “Adult Onset Reality.” I’ve already read the whole thing 0_0 (it’s been a slow day at work). Her experiences and voice are resonating so strongly with me that I keep telling my husband things I’m reading and saying “doesn’t that sound like something I would do??.” It’s always such a good feeling when you can read something and go “hey, this person who sounds JUST LIKE YOU went through babymaking, so you totally got this!”

    Thanks thanks thanks!

    • Awesome! I am far from into mommy blogs. I don’t have plans for kids so all but the most compelling blogs-involving-kids turn me off. But I have to read every post Ade puts out. And Offbeat Mama — Steph’s been rocking it over there lately.

  24. Firstly, please allow me to pimp my own: eekology.wordpress.com 🙂 It’s all about the environment, food, home and pretty eco-stuff.

    I also love:
    craftzine.com
    ittybittyfarminthecity.wordpress.com (another awesome urban farming blog)
    hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com (she makes me just about pee myself with laughter every time she posts)

    And I’m an absolute Pinterest addict.

  25. I’m looking for a blog that takes about saving money and doesn’t involve full on born again Christians, home schoolers or wives that are surrendering to their husbands please help!

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