This summer has been equal parts fulfilling and busy – workwise. We have so many incredible design projects that all have the same deadlines, which means we are slammed, and yet all of them have so much creative freedom and autonomy that my team is buzzing with fun. And I’m not just talking about the guest cottage or my daughter’s purple room. Nay. We have jobs for clients that are so fun, etc. Let’s jump right on in…

Design Projects: A Tiny House

Talk about a dream project. This is for Velux, our skylight partner, and they’ve hired us to design a tiny house that will move around to different design events and show off their skylights so more people can experience them IRL. We have so much creative freedom, and I’ve worked with them for so many years that they trust me, and I them. Like all construction, the costs of labor and building materials are expensive, so my precious decor budget is being cut. It’s a bit of a moving target. A couple months ago we had dreams of designing all of these custom pieces of furniture (built-ins to maximize the size of the Tiny House), and we’ve had to slash and pivot and cry, and then we come up with a new plan that we like just as much if not more. Is it stressful? Totally, but also fun. I feel like I’m wired to deal with these kinds of scrambles, and it’s the good kind of cortisol. Gretchen and I are doing it together and so while our design team is so small (just the two of us), we are having so much fun doing all the creative work in the ways that we work best. The other challenge is that it’s not in Portland; it’s in California, being built by Joshua and Shelley of Tiny House Basics, and they are moving so fast, so keeping up with the decisions from afar is challenging. It’s a lot of trusting the process. But since the scale of it is smaller (just 4 small rooms), it is easier to execute, and we also know that we can do a lot of magic with styling. Its designed in a ‘contemporary cottage’ style which I think will be a sweet take on the Tiny House. Done by end of Septmeber so hopefully you’ll see it published in October.

Design Projects: My Sister’s Kitchen

This one has been going on in the background and we are holding the content to release it all closer together (sometimes when we spread out the projects in real time we lose people amongst all the noise of the other projects and followers get overwhelmed – ha, me too). We started it in March, and we are shooting it all finished in August. It’s with a sponsor, Lowes, that has made things so easy, TBH, and while it has still taken 100s of hours, it’s been pretty streamlined where a lot of the decisions came really naturally and fast and working with all their installers has made it so streamlined.

Design Projects: A Fall Dining Room/Entertaining Makeover

You’ve seen our upstairs “meeting room” being painted (a more accurate work than an “office”, as we are mostly WFH). We are transforming it this week into a dining room for a partner. This didn’t create stress per se (we have our systems for partnerships and they work really well due to my dialed-in team), but we did want to paint the walls and floors a fun pattern (and electrify the room, literally so we have lights and plugs). And we wanted to do the floors ourselves (again), so that took a few days, which doesn’t sound like a lot but it meant we were neglecting the other projects. I’m excited to show you how it looks!

Design Projects: Beth’s Makeover

This is another makeover for Velux that I’m so excited about. Beth has macular degeneration and her living room is so dark, so our job is to redesign and brighten it up. There has been a real stall with this one due to some roof construction that is out of our control timing-wise (we are vaulting the ceiling which requires asbestos removal, etc). All the furniture is ready to go, so we are just waiting for the skylights to get installed then we’ll tile, paint, decorate and shoot! You can read about the project and why our wonderful client was chosen here🙂

Design Projects: The Guest Cottage

Like I’ve said all summer, this project had to get placed back on the back burner due to all of the above as well as parenting and enjoying time with my kids while they still live with me. I owe you an update, but things are moving now, and a little too fast for me to keep up with. So many questions are being thrown my way that I just don’t have answers for, which is frustrating for everyone. I really want the game room to be ready to shoot holiday content this year, and I think that can happen. But we are behind on the bathroom with some not-so-fun plumbing hiccups, with a heavy dose of side-eye from our plumbers when they see my vintage fixtures. So yes, there have been some very sad shifts away from some of those that I’m not ready to talk about (still mourning them) as we move into more practical choices. Cue your schaudenfraude – because yes, many of you were “right”. Stay tuned on that. Meanwhile, the fridge and range are supposed to arrive next week, the last-minute windows I ordered just arrived, and the wall and floor paneling are 1/2 way done. It’s so dusty and full of construction stuff right now that as soon as we get some time to clear it out, I’ll take some photos to show you the progress. The good news: six months ago, I prioritized the stained glass colors for the vintage doors to the water closet! LOL. It’s go time on the important stuff, and no, I wasn’t totally ready. More to come obviously.

Design Projects: Elliot And Charlie’s Rooms

Coming in last on the priority list, but still fun to think about on the weekends, are my kids’ rooms and the upstairs landing. II’ve squeezed in some fun shopping time with Elliot and I still work on it at night and on the weekends because it’s fun and easy and low stress. But its been deprioritized for now during the week.

Meanwhile writing the blog and social production doesn’t stop, so juggling all the design projects and staying on top of the day-to-day with the kids around has been pretty dis-regulating. Thank god for Brian, who has put down his writing for a lot of the summer to take over the Substack and continue lead-parenting so I can support us.

Also three cheers for my team who has leaned in when people have gone on vacations (yay!) and has had to deal with my scrambling slacks that even I am trying to decifer. My “low” this summer was a random Tuesday after a huge weekend of hosting family. I had 4 different contractors on site asking me questions I wasn’t prepared for (fires that needed to be put out immediately) during a shoot day where I was on camera for four different blog posts and people were waiting for me. And then Elliot’s sweet cohort of friends accidentally broke and flung an entire vial of red food coloring all over the sunroom upholstered furniture, table and tile (and grout). It looked like a blood bath … IN MY FAVORITE ROOM. They were using it for “horror makeup” movie which they were all covered in, and it was indeed terrifying. I kept it together (barely) in front of them, while asking them why they thought doing it in here was ok when they have a literal ART BARN (jokes on me). Their sweet answer was that “its such better light in here”, LOL – although I did not LOL at the time. And then I just lost it outside for a while in the woods, letting the overwhelm totally take over with all of the other self-punishing thoughts that seem to come so easily to me. I came back to the shoot with puffy eyes and we finished the day while someone grabbed the cleaning supplies. We cleaned it up together, and you can barely see the hint of pink now;) All the other moms and I have now laughed about it and oddly I feel a lot closer to all the kids (who I already loved). They saw me at a low, but we repaired together and talked a lot while we waited for the rubbing alcohol and baking soda to lift the stains. Thank god it was margarita night 🙂

This fall you are going to get a lot of fun reveals, I promise. Most of the above should be done by the end of September. Oh, and we have another renovation coaching client who is almost done with their project (another awesome custom IKEA kitchen makeover). It’s been a year on this one, and it’s turning out so beautiful.

Anyway, thanks so much for being here. If you are juggling a lot this summer and feeling overwhelmed, you are not alone. But I’m honestly so grateful for the work and to be able to do it with my team and for you all. xx