Our 10 Most Popular Instagram Posts of 2019 (Plus My Unexpected Feelings)

photo by sara ligorria-tramp

This is a larger conversation. Truly. Chasing “likes” is never a good thing as a creative—OR A PERSON. It’s like chasing “cool,” or worse, chasing “youth.” It’s the opposite of authenticity and wreaks of try-hard. So I haven’t chased likes, cool or youth, but maybe I’ve also not really put it all out there. I’ve focused my time here, on the blog where you guys know me and I feel frankly comfortable and safe. But the Instagram platform is the trickiest despite my perceived success. People ask me all the time what the key to social media success is and besides the most overused words of 2019, “authenticity” and ” unique,” which aren’t wrong, I truly don’t know. Our “likes” are down, and I don’t really know why (though if you follow other “influencers,” you’ll hear the same thing across the board in the same sentence as “algorithm”). I think I lost my voice (because I wasn’t writing enough) and created too much perfect looking content. It isn’t personal enough. I’m listening and lord knows I love “a note.”

The thing is, that  I can do personal. It’s actually all I want to do, but writing a personal post, getting the tone right, making sure I’m neither too flippant, sarcastic nor sentimental/cheesy takes me a long time, at least for me. I think I’ve been phoning it in, hoping that a nice shot of me setting down a plate in a pretty room would garner that thumb-stopping double tap. But it doesn’t anymore. Very few things do.

So next year isn’t about chasing those things. It’s about simply making space and time for more conversations that I want to have. I have to create space to write to you. Full stop.

So you want to see what our top 10 Instagrams from the year are, here you go. They aren’t my original images (thus the introspection) but they are VERY GOOD:

#10: This kitchen by Alyssa Kapito Interiors.

#9: This kitchen via House and Leisure.

#8: The mountain house kitchen (and the inside of the drawers).
photo by sara liggoria-tramp
#7: The Portland project mudroom pantry.
photo by sara liggoria-tramp
#6: YET ANOTHER KITCHEN, this time designed by Jean Stoffer Design.

#5: The media room bar from the Portland project.
photo by sara liggoria-tramp
#4: This killer dining room/arched window.

#3: The accent wall heard around the interwebs, by Molly Britt.

#2: This black-and-white breakfast room gallery wall (so good).

#1: Diane Keaton #TBT.

I recognize that only 4 of the top 10 are my work (besides with a celebrity) and for that, I’m pretty bummed. I know that producing incredible design work takes so much time, but I have to ask myself why some of my other projects that we posted throughout the year didn’t garner more of your love, or “likes.”

I’m re-asessing so much right now and into this new year and I’d honestly LOVE your feedback. I’m moving back to my roots, with far more personal, casual, colorful spaces full of approachable meaning and FUN. 

But listen, I’m not a kitchen.