I’m sure you’re just on the edge of your seat wondering why I’m changing my name.
So, let’s dive right in and answer your burning questions!
First, a Little History Behind @betweenwhitehouses
When I started my Instagram account in 2018, I truly didn’t have any idea where I was going to go with this. People had been asking me about my design selections for our new construction home, and instead of flooding my personal account with content I didn’t think most of my friends and family cared about, I thought I’d create a separate account to track our build that people could opt in to.
I’m all for an aesthetically pleasing feed, so, to drown out all the framing and construction photos along the way, I decided to share photos of my family’s farmhouse to fill the gap (every bit of décor I owned was in a storage unit while we were renting an apartment waiting for our house to be done, so the farm was my only option). My entire feed was photos of our life Between these two White Houses, so boom! A name was born.
What Changed After Construction Was Complete?
Once our house was finished, my content focused on decorating and furnishing our new home, while sharing the antics of our crazy life with a newborn, 3, & 4 year old.
With our schedules going in five different directions on the weekends as our kids have grown, it also became harder for us to get to North Carolina to the farmhouse so that content has largely gone away, and there’s not much playing into the “between” anymore. I pretty much just share my home in Atlanta.
Side note: My family is still planning a renovation of the 1800s farmhouse, so I promise I’ll be sure to share snippets of that as we go through the slow process.
Plot Twist!
While home decor was the vessel for my introduction to so many of the people in my community, as people got to know me, they wanted to dig deeper. They wanted more than just home content.
I started getting an overwhelming number of messages from people asking me about more of the things I do daily like:
Getting dressed. Getting ready. Selling Houses. Parenting. Being a wife.
As I slowly started to incorporate more of this lifestyle content, it seemed like there was an overwhelmingly positive response, and I started to feel like I wanted to share more than just home decor.
Wait, No More Home Decor!?
So glad you asked! As you may have noticed, I’ve been embracing a bit more lifestyle content over the past few months, but nothing is changing from what you’ve already come to know and love.
My account/blog will still lean heavily toward home decor and design – emphasis on the heavy!
So, Why the Change?
I suppose since not much is changing content-wise, you could argue that I could just continue to share “life & style between the white houses,” but I don’t feel like it’s a name that represents me most authentically and doesn’t reflect my content well. I’d been feeling the nudge to make a change but kept making excuses about why it wasn’t a good idea for months and months.
Then, a few weeks ago, someone stopped me in the Target parking lot and asked me, “Are you between white houses?” While I’ll answer to anything, I knew right then that changing my name was the right decision. I invest a huge amount of time using my Instagram and blog platforms as a way to inspire, but more importantly, to connect. If connection and relationships are at the core of “why” I’m here, I want the people I’m talking to every day via direct messages, comments, etc., to know that there’s a real person – a trusted friend, if you will – on the other side of their screen. A friend named Casey.
Enter: @caseyrutherford.co and @case.rutherford
Inquiring Minds Need to Know, Do You Go by Case?
Good question! I go by Casey. Someone else already has ownership of all the versions of @caseyrutherford I could think of, so using my nickname was the next best thing when I started the re-branding process. My husband and best friends do call me Case as a term of endearment, which come to think of it, actually feels fitting as I welcome you into my online home.
Cheers to New Beginnings!
I hope you’ll stick with me through the name change and send BWH off into Instagram bliss where we will remember her fondly. Now you just get me, and I couldn’t be more excited about that.
I’d love for you to take a look around the new website and make yourself at home! I’ll be sharing all kinds of things around here from my work in Real Estate to My Favorite Sneakers for Spring, and so much more.
Make sure you are following me on Instagram to keep up with the day-to-day, and I’d love if you subscribed to my newsletter (below) to stay up to date on what we’re doing around here.
Thanks for popping into the new home for my blog! I hope you kicked up your feet and felt right at home.
Until next time,
Casey
