Kathie Shoop’s blog Housewife Cafe was one of the first blogs we built, back in 2005. Kathie has been blogging ever since, as well as continuing to write fiction and publish articles in various places.

As her writing has taken a new direction, she felt her blog was ready for a new look and a new name. The new name would be KShoop.com.

She tasked us with creating an open, friendly design that would incorporate an old black and white photo she had of bookshelves her grandfather used in college. We liked the thought of Kathie’s writing sitting on bookshelves, so we made the photo the background for the design. For the color palette, Kathie suggested the colors of a homey upholstery print she likes.

The two ideas seemed to work just fine, and why wouldn’t they? A comfy upholstered chair makes a great partner to sturdy bookshelves.

The overall look is modern, but it has a feeling of history as well, which suits the historical fiction on which Kathie is currently working. Just as importantly, behind the scenes WordPress offers key features that make blogging easy. We hooked up Kathie’s Flickr account too, so she can post and blog about photos she takes.