Follow the instructions here to get your website looking exactly like our demo!
Plugins
- Genesis eNews Extended: for the subscribe areas
- Jetpack: for sharing icons at bottom of posts and portfolio option #2 gallery
- jQuery Pin It Button For Images: for the Pin-it hover button
- Portfolio Post Type: to support the portfolio
- Regenerate Thumbnails: if your images are looking wonky, you’ll need this
- Simple Link List Widget: for the “favorite posts” list on the homepage
- Simple Social Icons: for all social media icons
- Soliloquy Slider: for placing a slider in the widget areas
- WP Instagram Widget: for the instagram widget in sidebar
- * WooCommerce: ecommerce plugin if you want a shop
- * Genesis Connect for WooCommerce: required if WooCommerce is installed
Homepage
- Under Navigation Bar Widget Area: put a Soliloquy slider or Genesis eNews (Subscription Box) widget here
- Widget Above Content: put a Soliloquy slider or Genesis – Featured Posts widget here — use these settings
- Widget Above Content Left: put a Genesis – Featured Post widget here — use these settings
- Widget Above Content Right: put a “Simple Link List” widget here, or a text message for a welcome message
- Home Divider: If you want to put something like “more recent posts” here, go ahead! It will display above the recent posts grid
Control what shows up here by going to Appearance & Widgets and dragging and dropping widgets into these areas.
Sidebar: Favorite Posts Widget
Use the “Favorite posts” widget in the sidebar to highlight recent or featured posts. (To highlight favorite or featured posts, create a new category for your posts called “Featured” (to do this, just go to the Posts >> Categories page and add a new one) and mark each one you want to feature. Or, leave “all categories” selected to highlight all recent posts.) To add the widget in the sidebar, go to Appearance >> Widgets and add a Genesis – Featured Posts widget to the primary sidebar. Use these settings:

After Entry: Recent Posts Widget
Use the Recent Posts widget after a blog entry to highlight recent or featured posts. (To highlight featured posts, create a new category for your posts called “Featured” (to do this, just go to the Posts >> Categories page and add a new one) and mark each one you want to feature. Or, leave “all categories” selected to highlight all recent posts.) To add the widget after entry, go to Appearance >> Widgets and add a Genesis – Featured Posts widget to the after entry widget area. Use these settings:

Adding in the Social Media Icons – Navigation Bar
First, download and install Simple Social Icons. To add, go to Appearance >> Widgets >> drag and drop a “Simple Social Icons” widget to the Nav Bar Social Icons widget area. No need to change the color or size–just enter in your desired social media URLs and save. For best results, make sure Alignment is set to “Align Right”.
Adding in the Social Media Icons – Sidebar or Footer
First, download and install Simple Social Icons. To add, go to Appearance >> Widgets >> drag and drop a “Simple Social Icons” widget to the Primary Sidebar widget area or one of the Footer Widget areas. Change settings and enter in your URLs as necessary.
Setting Up Soliloquy Sliders
The image size for the slider in the Under Navigation Bar widget area is 1200 x [any height ] px. First install the Soliloquy Lite plugin (got to Plugins >> Add New and search for “Responsive WordPress Slider – Soliloquy Lite”).
Once installed, you’ll see a new tab called “Soliloquy” in the sidebar within your WordPress admin area. Click Soliloquy >> Add New to add a new slider. Click “config” and modify your settings as outlined below:

Then, you can go to the “images” tab and upload your images. Click on the blue “i” icon to add a caption (note that captions will not show up on mobile devices):

Genesis Enews (Subscription Box)
You can add in a subscription box in several different areas: under navigation bar, widget above content, sidebar, after entry, top footer, footer 1, 2, or 3. Do this by 1) installing Genesis eNews Extended plugin followed by 2) dragging and dropping a Genesis – eNews Extended widget into the widget area of your choice on the Appearance >> Widgets page. This tutorial covers how to set up your subscription box.
For best results, keep the button text as “Go” or something short.
Adding in Top Footer Widget
We’ve coded in a widget called “Top Footer” that lays on top of the three-column footer widgets. Put whatever widget you want here, but we like adding a subscription box here! (See above for set up instructions)
Adding in Footer Widgets
This theme features a 3-column footer widget area on the bottom. Control what shows up here by going to the Appearance >> Widgets page and dragging and dropping widgets into the Footer 1, Footer 2, and Footer 3 widget areas.
Setting up the Portfolio – Option #1
For Portfolio Option #1 as shown here, First, you will need to install the Portfolio Post Type plugin and activate it. Once you’ve done that, you should see a “Portfolio” tab in the sidebar of your WordPress administration area. From here, you can add in your posts. I like to set up my categories first, and then you can add in posts and tag them in their specific category. The featured image that you set for each post is what displays on the portfolio category pages.
You can view your main portfolio at http://yoururl.com/portfolio/, and your category pages at http://yoururl.com/portfolio_category/your-category/
If you’re receiving a 404 error page when you view your portfolio, you might need to reset your Permalinks. To do this, go to Settings >> Permalinks and click “save” on the bottom, without making any changes.
To ensure your title displays on the portfolio page, go to your main category page and edit that category. Add your title where it says “Archive Headline”.
To watch a video tutorial on this set-up process, click here.
Setting up the Portfolio – Option #2
Portfolio Option #2, as shown here, utilizes Jetpack, so make sure you have that plugin installed and activated. Make sure both Carousel and Tiled Galleries are activated. Then, create a new page, click Add Media and create a gallery. Make sure the following settings are activated:

To watch a video tutorial on this set-up process, click here.
Setting up the Shop
This theme has built-in WooCommerce styling. For configuration, please click here.
Using the Landing Page
The landing page template removes all other elements (like the navigation bars, footers, etc.) from the page so only your content shows up. To use, create a new page by going to Pages >> Add New. In the Page Attributes section, make sure “Landing” is selected under “Template.”
Using the Post List by Category Template
For fun, we’ve built in this custom template that, when used, will produce a list of all your posts sorted alphabetically by category. To use, create a new page by going to Pages >> Add New. In the Page Attributes section, make sure “Post List by Category” is selected under “Template.”
Setting up the Pin-It Hover Button
We’ve included a custom pin-it button with this theme. To set it up, you’ll need to install the jQuery Pin It Button For Images plugin. Once activated, click on Settings >> JQuery Pin It Button for Images and configure your settings. On the “Visual” tab, upload one of the pin-it buttons found in the /images folder of your theme download.
Setting up Share Icons at Bottom of Posts
You might have noticed the share icons that appear at the bottom of each post. To set this up, you’ll need to install the Jetpack plugin by going to Plugins >> Add New and searching “Jetpack.” The instructions will walk you through syncing Jetpack with your WordPress.com account (if you don’t have one, you can create one from free). Once you have it set up and synced, go to Settings >> Sharing and ensure your settings match the following:

Video Set-Up
Coming soon!
FAQ
NOTE on Featured Posts Widgets in Widget Above Content and Widget Above Content – Left:
The theme is set up to display your most recent post in the Widget Above Content area, your second most recent post in the Widget Above Content – Left area, followed by the rest of your most recent posts in the two column grid underneath. These are the default settings. The two column grid, therefore, has a post offset of 3 — meaning it starts with your third most recent post. If you want to change this so that the two column grid starts with your most recent post, follow these steps (ADVANCED: please be sure you know how to access your site files via FTP or your hosting account’s cPanel. You’ll be editing core PHP files for the theme, and one small mistake can result in the white screen of death.):
Step #1: Go to Appearance >> Editor and click on home.php. Make a back-up copy before making any changes.
Step #2: Find the following line:
‘features’ => 2,
Step #3: Change 2 to 0 and save.
Q. My images aren’t displaying properly/are the wrong sizes.
Please install Regenerate Thumbnails plugin and run through the images in question to “reset” them.
Q. My images are still appearing blurry and unsharp.
Make sure you don’t have Jetpack’s Photon activated.
Q. How do I change the favicon?
Navigate to Appearance >> Customize and click on Site Identity. If you upload a site icon, it will appear as the favicon.
Q. How do I remove the watercolor behind the site title or my logo?
Make sure you have the Jetpack plugin installed. Then, go to Appearance >> Edit CSS and add this code:
.site-header { background-image: none !important; }
Still need help? Contact us via our contact form for additional support. Please note that we are only able to provide support for getting your theme set up like our demo: if you need additional support for increased customization, we will need to charge accordingly for our time.