House Call!

I went back through months of saves and likes and Etsy hearts and noticed something. There were a lot of tassels. Also loads of images of rooms with silk on walls, doors, and ceilings. And primitive folk art-style lamps and sconces with punched patterning. I love these items simply because they’re extra: the whimsy, the embellishment, that they’re just here to look and feel good. I went deep on these three hyperfixations because they go the extra mile in a space.

Locals as great as they seem? I’m currently taking on consulting clients! If you have a design, writing, or branding project you’d like to discuss with me, you can schedule a time here. Catching Up I slid to a stop on the shoulder of Highway 61 and backed up my truck. Two strangers, one huge Airstream, free coffee. A couple and their small child were saying their goodbyes as I walked up. I had driven 45 minutes south for a fresh Americano that morning, and it sat in my cupholder.

The best of the past month. I’m currently taking on consulting clients! If you have a design, writing, or branding project you’d like to discuss with me, you can schedule a time here. I’m up in the North Country this week (see here), watching the trees turn a little each day. My hair is abominable, and I’m living on Uncrustables. I watched Poor Things at 2 am last night. I’ve been painting badly, writing badly, and finding my edges. Having the best time. Here’s everything good in September. Cheers.

I’m currently taking on consulting clients! If you have a design, writing, or branding project you’d like to discuss with me, you can schedule a time here. On a whim, my friend Leslie painted the powder room of her midcentury home a rich brown. “It was way out of character for me,” she said. “I really went for it. The walls, the ceiling, everything.

I’m currently taking on consulting clients! If you have a design, writing, or branding project you’d like to discuss with me, you can schedule a time here. There’s that famous Andy Bernard moment at the end of the last season of The Office that summed up how so many of us felt about that era coming to a close. It was May 2013 when it aired, marking more than one ending in my life.

I’m currently taking on consulting clients! If you have a design, writing, or branding project you’d like to discuss with me, you can schedule a time here. When I’m designing a room with borrowed aesthetics for a home I don’t actually have, I know I’m lost. I have hundreds of midcentury modern rooms in my Pinterest boards. A lot of old Italian villas, too. A lot of clients I have worked with get stuck here, in the gap between inspiration and the space they have.

This is a bonus post with a roundup of everything that’s on my radar at the moment. Paid subscribers get access to this full post and other perks. Subscribe for $5/month here 16 items that landed on my radar recently…

I’m currently taking on consulting clients! If you have a design, writing, or branding project you’d like to discuss with me, you can schedule a time here. Pictured: lavender table lamp, floral storage ottoman, bone inlay coffee table My house was buzzing this weekend. The kids are going back to school, and the nerves had hit a fever pitch by Sunday morning.

This month shoved me down more times than I could count, in all areas of my life, and for that I am so incredibly grateful. I’ve always been someone who has looked for the silver lining or lesson when expectations go sideways, and while it has served me well for the first half of my life, the second half is showing me how to meet reality head-on. August taught me you can be realistic and not lose sight of hope, embrace softness, and become more resilient than you thought possible.

I was shopping for bathroom tile this week, and the only thing I wanted to know was whether barf would etch it. I was holding something beautiful and asking it about vomit. When did I start taking it all so seriously?