Around Here: July

One of our favorite kinds of projects is when a client calls us back years later and says, “We’re finally ready to finish the rest.”

A few years ago we transformed a former playroom into a bar as part of a larger renovation, but we intentionally left the rest of the room and the adjoining room fairly untouched. This summer, we’re back to finish the story.

The brief? Southern charm meets strong plaids. Equal parts masculine and feminine. If you’ve been following us for a while, you know that’s exactly the kind of balancing act we love.

Our design presentation was virtual, so we packaged these labeled samples up and sent along to our clients with a little note not to peek before our call to review.

We’ve also been tackling a massive foyer with soaring ceilings and curved walls that’s getting the full paneling treatment.

Curved walls are one of those details that look beautiful... until you’re the one trying to figure out how to panel them. Fortunately, we’ve solved this puzzle once before, and we’re excited to take another crack at it. The goal isn’t to repeat ourselves - it’s to create something that feels completely unique to this house.

So much dust, demo, and hundreds of tiny decisions made this month…

Our newest Tudor got a bit of an accelerated timeline thanks to a very exciting deadline: our clients are expecting a baby. This month.

That meant shifting from “let’s take our time and plan every last detail” to “what can we do first that will make this house clean and dust-free before the baby’s arrival?”

One of the biggest changes was surprisingly small on paper. We moved an entry opening about five feet.

Five feet.

That’s it.

But those five feet completely changed the furniture layout, finally gave the living room a logical TV wall, improved circulation, and created a beautiful sightline through the house. It’s possibly the detail that got us this job. Our client was having such a hard time understanding the potential in its existing configuration - it was nearly impossible to lay out. After a few minutes of scratching our heads during the consultation, the answer became clear: the opening just needed to shift.

We are also working on two kitchen renovations that were intentionally scheduled for summer demo, when the families have kids in camp, travel plans, and access to an outdoor grill.

Jessica’s Corner

I started the month in Palm Beach for the 4th of July and ended the month in Palm Beach for my dad’s milestone birthday. Plus, a trip to the Berkshires in between and tons of dinners with friends.

Some things I bought myself :

Literally in love with this hat I bought at a boutique in the Berkshires. It currently says unavailable but linking anyway because I hope for your sake it comes back.

Obsessed with these progressive readers - they are flexible, which I didn’t expect, and make them so comfy. (Btw, this is a complete sentence I never expected I’d make.)

My husband surprised me with a sheep he got at an estate sale as a joke. The surprise was on both of us when we found out he paid $30 for it and similar ones are listed online for over $2k!

This Month’s Favorites

• What I binged: Elle and The Idaho Murders (life is about balance, ya know?)

• Best drink: This matcha latte from famed Palm Beach coffee shop Drift was absolutely insane. I had to stop myself from finishing it before we got to the beach.

• What I tried: Had my first Lymphatic Drainage massage and hoping I can find the time to make it a regular thing.

Virginia’s Corner

With my daughter headed off to college this month, we hosted a graduation party in one of the monsoon storms we’ve had in New Jersey this summer. We didn’t let the weather get us down, though, and entertained both inside and outside, dance floor and all. I couldn’t resist the opportunity for custom cookies from the sweetest local bakery in her new school theme. (Virginia Tech - conveniently, she chose the school with my initials, and I can’t wait for the VT merch.).

Most of my free time has been spent getting her dorm-room-ready, but I’ve been escaping to my happy place as often as possible: our boat on the lake. Impromptu dinners, hosting friends, even a TG team excursion on a Summer Friday.

Some Things I Bought Myself

I came home from a vintage shop with this Belgian horse breeding medal that had been turned into a necklace. The inscription reads 1906 and references the Fédération des Sociétés Chevalines (Federation of Horse Societies) and the Kingdom of Belgium, so it likely began life as an agricultural or horse breeding medal before someone gave it a second life as jewelry.

This Month’s Favorites

• What I made in the kitchen: this delicious watermelon fruit salad with berries and lime dressing

• What I’m reading: The Briar Club

• What I did: picked flowers at a cut-your-own farm nearby

  

One of the fun perks of growing our influencer accounts is that brands have started sending products our way to try. We never want this newsletter to feel like a commercial, so you’ll only see things here that we’d actually recommend to a friend.

That being said - these are the items I’d genuinely buy on my own:

This candle dish! It’s so stinking cute. And it’s versatile. I also used it as a wine bottle coaster when hosting some friends in my bar. Code ALCREATOR20 for 20% off

And this candle is truly stunning- it’s a modern take on the vintage candle and so freaking chic. Can’t you picture a table filled with them in various colors?

Candles are certainly within our zone of genius, but we were also gifted a few things we love that feel slightly, well... off-brand. Sharing anyway because we genuinely love them.

• This power bra really, truly, genuinely helps posture. I have been wearing it around the house while cooking, tidying up, etc. Huge fan of multitasking!

• Somehow my kids’ socks and my socks always get mixed up, but having these pink socks has been a blessing for laundry sorting. Also, extremely comfy, and wearing low-cut socks is a hill I will die on.

• Obsessed, obsessed, obsessed. More on this one soon.

• Truth be told, August will be like half over by the time we post this, but this month brings an interesting pace to our office, with all of our staff out at various times for vacation. It’s reminding us that while we love what we do, and we live for it, it’s also really nice to completely check out for a bit.

• On a whim, I decided to renovate my basement.

• Our studio wallpaper should be going up soon - we are insanely excited to get some pattern and color up on those walls and can’t wait to share what we picked for our own space, and why.

If you enjoyed this little peek behind the scenes, we’d love to know what you want more of. Design process? Projects? Shopping finds? Life? Hit reply - we read every email.