UPDATE: We’re sending a giant thank you to the 30,000+ people who completed our survey! We used random.org to pick a winner of the $500 West Elm gift card and the lucky recipient is Sarah M from Birmingham, AL. Congrats Sarah — check your inbox!
I freely admit I’m an infographic nerd (yes, my imaginary card even has a pie chart on it). Over the years we’ve turned milestones like one year in this house, our book tour, and responses to our annual blogiversary survey into infographics. After some convincing, my wife and our publisher agreed to let me include a few infographics in our next book — nerd victory.
But to make those infographics meaningful, we needed real information from real families. Book Two focuses on how families actually live (you can read more about it here), so we thought it would be fun to gather stats that reflect everyday life. We’re about halfway through shooting the book and have been blown away by your submissions — the variety in family size, design needs, and housing situations is huge. Since we can’t photograph every household, infographics will help represent a broader slice of real life. Some of our questions are a little goofy on purpose, but they paint a vivid picture of how people live.
As a thank-you for completing our book survey, we offered a $500 West Elm gift card to one randomly selected respondent. We planned to draw the winner the following Monday night (8/25) at 8pm EST. Please fill out the survey only once per household. If you’re an international reader, you could win a Visa gift card instead, so the sweepstakes was open worldwide.
Taking a few minutes to share how you live might also get you a shout-out in the book. We included some open-ended questions so we can highlight particularly helpful, unique, or entertaining responses — with your name and city if you give permission at the end of the survey. If you prefer, answers can remain anonymous.
You can click here to begin the survey (or click one of the graphics above). It’s lighthearted, not scientific, and meant to be fun. The survey is hosted on Google Forms and includes some optional open-ended prompts if you feel like sharing more. Thanks in advance for taking the time to represent how you live in your home — your responses will help make the book feel more real and relatable.
PS: Because the survey included a $500 prize, we skipped our usual Fab Freebie that day. We’re currently assembling cabinets and hope to be back soon with a laundry room update — likely tomorrow or Thursday.