So, hi. This is us.
A small blog, a few opinions, and a lot of feelings about throw pillows. Here’s a little bit about who we are and why we’re doing this in the first place.
How this blog actually started
Okay so, the real version is a little embarrassing, but I’ll tell it. I was sitting on my kitchen floor (don’t worry about why, it’s a long story) with a cup of tea that had gone completely cold, scrolling through a home decor blog I had been reading for like, three years. And the post I was reading was titled “10 Easy Ways to Refresh Your Bedroom” and it was, I’m not going to lie, very pretty. The photos were beautiful. The writer had a Le Creuset situation that frankly made me jealous.
But the whole time I was reading it, I kept thinking, “this woman has never had a really hard week.” Which is unfair! I don’t know her! She might have had a terrible week! But the blog felt like it didn’t have any room for that. Like everything was always fine, and the sheets were always linen, and nobody ever, you know, cried in their car a little bit.
And I just thought, I want to read a blog where someone admits the sheets are from Target and they’re great, actually. Where the relationship advice doesn’t sound like it came from a self-help book your aunt gave you in 2008. Where someone talks about decorating a rental like a real human person who can’t paint the walls.
So I started writing it. That was, gosh, almost three years ago now? I think? It’s a little blurry. But the whole point was always the same. I wanted to make a place that felt like a real friend was talking to you. Not selling you anything. Not performing a perfect life. Just, sharing what she’s actually figured out, and what she’s still working on, and the random good lipstick she found at Target. (I really do love Target. I’m not sponsored. I just am being honest.)
Outside My Nest grew really slowly, mostly through women forwarding posts to their group chats, which is, by the way, the best compliment a writer can ever get. Then we started inviting other women to write with us. Women who write differently than I do, who care about different things, who notice things I don’t. That made it a hundred times better, instantly. So now there are a few of us. We don’t always agree. (Our internal Slack about “are area rugs over a carpet okay” got HEATED, you guys.) But we all share that one same belief, which is that women deserve writing that respects them.
That’s basically the whole story. Kitchen floor. Cold tea. A blog. Some friends. Here we are.
A few things we are, like, very serious about
We don’t have a giant manifesto or anything. (Honestly, who has the time.) But there are three things we keep coming back to, every time we sit down to write something.
Real over Pretty
Pretty is great. We love pretty. But we will always pick the honest version of a story over the polished version of a story. Always. We trust you to handle it, because you’re a grown woman, and you know.
Useful, Actually
If a post is going to be 1,800 words, it had better leave you with something. An idea, a feeling, a thing to try, a thing to stop doing. Otherwise we just wasted both of our afternoons.
Soft, Not Saccharine
We can be warm without being syrupy. Kind without being a doormat. Caring without it being weird. There’s a sweet spot in there and we are constantly aiming for it. Sometimes we miss. Mostly we don’t.
The other women who make this place go
A small group of writers I trust completely. They’re brilliant, they’re funny, and frankly they make me look like I know what I’m doing. (I don’t, always. But they kind of help.)
Margot Ellery
Margot writes most of the home posts, which is good because she’s the only one of us with actual taste. Lives in a tiny apartment that somehow feels like a country house. Knows where to find good sheets.
Nadia Okonkwo
Nadia is who you want writing about love. She’s been married, divorced, and remarried (the same guy, different problem, long story), and she has the wisdom of about four other women combined. She also gives the best book recommendations.
Rosalind Vega
Rosalind handles the slower, softer stuff. Routines, books, beauty, the quiet things. Used to be a yoga teacher, then a nurse, now mostly a writer. Has the calmest energy of anyone you have ever met. Genuinely.
A few quick promises, since you’re here
We don’t want to do a whole big editorial standards document because, honestly, who reads those. But there are a handful of things we will not do. Ever. So in the interest of being upfront, here you go.
No sponsored fluff
We don’t accept sponsored posts. If we ever do, we’ll mark it so loudly you could not possibly miss it.
No AI ghostwriting
Real women write every word. We use AI for spellcheck, sometimes, but the words are ours.
No advice we wouldn’t take
If we tell you to try something, one of us has tried it. We’re not making things up over here.
No pretending
If we don’t know, we’ll say we don’t know. If we change our mind, we’ll say so. Easy.
Okay so if you made it this far, we kind of love you
If anything we said sounds like your kind of thing, you should probably get the newsletter. It comes out roughly when there’s something to say (no spam, no fluff, no schedule we don’t keep). You can leave anytime, no hard feelings.