my top Instagram posts of 2018 - Lost Upstate Studios

Instagram, not unlike this blog, is a tool I use mostly as a creative outlet. I had a conversation with a guy once who thought Instagram was all about self-worth and how many compliments you get, but I never cared about the number of followers I had, and I never deleted a photo because it didn’t have enough “hearts.”

As for my Lost Upstate account, I try to be more engaging with it. I like to think of it as an art gallery rather than a personal runway. I don’t post photos of the people in my life, but I try to capture the aesthetic of the life I live. I’ve been taking “Instagrams” since before it was a thing. My first phone was full of little 30 MB photos of sunsets and lakes and dogs. I still have those old photos too. Now, instead of carrying them around on my phone with no one to see them, I get to share them with my followers.

Since Instagram shows you insights about your posts (because so many people have turned social media into a business), I decided to give mine a look. What were my most engaging posts? What did my friends and family like to see from me?

Here were my top 5 Instagram posts.

This series is of my living room and “office” post-paint and post-carpet, right before I sanded the floor. It had already undergone a decent transformation after removing the pink carpet and painting both rooms the same color. I left the floor untreated for longer than I wanted too, but I was reading up on how to use floor sanders. I wanted to get it right. Plus, there was a gap in the floor where the house had shifted. We had to crank the house back up to bring the gap back together.

This was just after I put some furniture in the living room. This was a pretty rewarding moment as far as house projects go. I didn’t have any idea what I was going to put on the windows and walls yet, but all my ragtag furniture came together to feel quite homey.

These two images compare how the office looked before I ripped the carpet up and after I had just finished painting. The first photo was actually from the assessment of the house (what it looked like when I toured it before making an offer). It’s pretty easy for me to visualize life in the 70s.

This was when I posted the final reveal of the entire overhaul to the blog. I love this pic.

This gram got a lot of people talking (a lot for me – haha). Everyone was so encouraging about my student debt progress, so thank you, all you nice people. I’m in a little bit of a conundrum right now. I have been debating whether to continue to pay down my loans so intensely or to throw every extra cent into my savings. Unsurprisingly, I’m back to paying down my loans because I’m too close to quit now.

I’m not at all surprised about this now that I’ve looked at it. Everyone loved the house-grams: the before and after posts, the wood floor transformation, etc. I’m not going to lie, I love that stuff too. I love it because I’m proud of it – or maybe I’m proud of it because I love it… I’m glad that the monthly breakdown of my loan payments made the top 5 too. The remainder of the support I have has helped me get back to my goals and continue to “tough it out.”

Tuesdays really know how to sneak up on me. I had hoped to type a few of the mental notes I have been taking for my kitchen renovation, but that will have to wait until I compile my visual inspirations (aka Pinterest). I still have (hopefully no more than) five months left to pay off my student loans. So, I’m getting a little ahead of myself with the kitchen anyway.