All in a (Half) Year's Work

As you can probably imagine, my big project for 2016—writing a book—almost completely took over the second half of the year. Sometimes it seems like that’s all I’ve done since selling the project to my publisher, Rizzoli, late last winter.

But looking back on the year as I tossed and turned in bed last night (thanks, champagne), I realized I haven’t stopped to take in—or share—some of the awesome projects and features I was able to take part in as part of my day job as style director for Joss & Main. It’s pretty crazy... and I’m pretty proud. Here’s a recap.

In late June, my Joss & Main team and I flew out to Salt Lake City to shoot the outdoor spaces of mega-bloggers (and sisters!) Rachel Parcell of Pink Peonies and Emily Jackson of The Ivory Lane. These uber-stylish women picked out most of their own stuff with some input from me, and so it was mostly a matter of arranging their spreads so that photographer Nicole Gerulat could snap these gorgeous shots. The story was picked up by Architectural Digest online, and I just about lost my mind.

All photos credit Nicole Gerulat for Joss & Main

Then, in July, I was asked to redecorate the showroom of NYC company BaubleBar. They wanted to spruce it up for meetings with external partners as well as the celebrity influencers who come in to preview and select products to wear. My team and I came in with a tornado of furnishings, and they threw a party to celebrate the showroom’s girly, glam new look.

Source: Baublebar

In August I worked hand-in-hand with Lauren Bushnell, winner of The Bachelor, to completely redecorate the home she now shares with Ben Higgins. What. A. Blast. Working via phone, text, and email, we started with a few pieces she was obsessed with, like a beaded chandelier and some hand-painted watercolors a friend had gifted her, and went from there. We also took a few gambles, like putting an oversized Serge Mouille-inspired light fixture in a pretty tiny space. My colleagues and I flew to Denver in September, hired a crew of movers to help us unpack the zillions of products that Lauren and I had selected, and did a full install of new furnishings and decor in a single day before photographing it the next. I love how it all came together. Here’s a peek.

All photos credit Nicole Gerulat for Joss & Main

These pics and more were featured in People, Huffington Post, Architectural Digest, Glamour, Real Simple, The Nest, US Magazine, Yahoo!, POPSUGAR, Martha Stewart, and Style Me Pretty. Wowza. Click here to watch an interview Ben & Lauren did just after we revealed the space, and here's a Q&A that we ran on the site. 

Next up was style blogger Amber Fillerup Clark, a.k.a The Barefoot Blonde. Though her cute NYC apartment was already full of great pieces, I helped fill it out with new bedroom furniture, rugs, pillows, wall art, and decor from Joss & Main. Her husband, David, and her two kids were all part of the shoot, and they were just adorable.  

All images credit Nicole Gerulat for Joss & Main

Other late 2016 highlights? A profile in Huffington Post, quotes in syndicated articles by Marni Jameson and Kim Cook, a mention in the Patch, and a Q&A with Haute Living Boston, who wanted to know where I like to shop and dine. (Wal-Mart and Applebee's, obvi.) It was an insanely busy second half of the year.

Heading into 2017, I’m working on interiors for a few well-known athletes and a bedroom revamp for a Canadian celebrity. Oh, and there’s the matter of getting the book shoots finished up, the edits done, and having the whole thing designed.

Who needs sleep? Here's to another year of adventures...

Hearth Center: Our Marble Fireplace Plans

Due to the winter holidays, and the miraculous fact that we have no active construction projects in the house, my family has been spending a lot more time enjoying our sitting and living rooms lately.

Our parlor, in particular, was the center of our holiday universe. It’s where we hung the stockings and put the tree, and it’s the first room guests see when the arrive at our home. (Oh, and it’s where we stash the booze.)

It’s a small but fantastic space, and we love how all the details have come together over time: the vintage chandelier, the Louis-Philippe mirror, the bronze-hued curtains that our kids use for games of hide-and-seek. Dressed with holiday greens, the room just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy, and not just because of the spiced rum.

Come next winter, though, I’d LOVE to be able to add a roaring fire to the scene. That’s a tall order, and more complex than simply calling a chimney sweep to come spruce up an old fireplace that hasn’t been maintained.

First of all, neither of the original marble mantels in our house—one in the parlor, one in the bedroom directly above—has ever held a fire. From the home’s construction in 1860 until three years ago, when we upgraded the house’s heating and cooling systems, the “fireplaces” were essentially giant heating vents that distributed warm air throughout the house.

 Now that’s we’ve changed the HVAC system and run alternate ductwork throughout the house, these pretty surrounds and iron grates are just decorative.

Or, in the case of the bedroom mantel, they're unread-magazine storage. 

To get crackling wood fires into these rooms, we’d have to prepare the chimney with masonry work, a stainless-steel liner, insulation, and flues—likely a five-figure expense. The alternative is to put in gas fireplaces, which will still require some chimney prep for insulation and venting, but it’ll be less extensive (and less expensive), so we’re going that route.

We’ve found a Vancouver-based company called Valor that makes gas fireplace inserts in an arched shape, like this:

Source: Valor Fireplaces

I'm optimistic that these will fit within our mantels, but we’re still in the research phase and need to confirm. Then we have to purchase and have them installed. (Cha-ching!) So while we’re doing that, I’m just going to post some pics of fire-ready marble mantels similar to ours, and dream of the day when we, too, can toast ourselves (with heat AND bubbly) by a flickering hearth.

Enjoy the gorgeousness.

Image Credit: Robert Sanderson. Image via Ideal Home

Design: Roman and Williams. Image via MyDomaine

Credit: Lauren Kolyn via Apartment Therapy

Source: Sheila Bridges Design

Source: Sheila Bridges Design

Source: Vogue Living via A Flippen Life

Source: Beach Studios via Elements of Style

Obsessed With... Spotted Deer Hide

This post is a total procrastination tactic. The 50,000-word manuscript for my book needs to be done in 3 days, before I leave for a trip, and I am SO not done. But hey! Writing begets writing, and I’m feeling super-inspired by one thing right now, so let’s talk about it: spotted-deer hide.

Source: Etsy

I’ve been calling this one for, like, 2 years. Seriously, my poor colleague Alex has been patiently listening as I rant incessantly about why none of our go-to area-rug companies are doing what I TELL THEM TO and producing this lovely pattern of white dots on a field of toffee brown for everyone's floors. Zebra? It's out there. Cow? It's everywhere. But deer hide, or its close relatives, Axis deer, antelope, and fawn, has largely remained in the world of the upscale and the strangely cool.

Things seem to be changing, however. I think deer hide is finally ready for prime time, a.k.a. the rest of our houses, now, too. Here I present the mounting (ha) evidence:

Erin Gates called it out on her great blog, Elements of Style, back in 2013. This was one of the rooms she highlighted—the apartment of designer Nicole Hanley Mellon. 

Source: Vogue, via Elements of Style

Sue De Chiara of The Zhush posted pics of her awesome antelope runner last year.

Source: The Zhush

A couple of months later, I spotted it (someone please stop me) again and again at High Point Market. Fawn print everywhere.

Credit: Donna Garlough

Textile powerhouse Thibaut recently debuted a fabric called “Gazelle.” Even better, it’s a Crypton fabric, which is crazy-good at resisting stains. 

Source: Thibaut

Jayson Home's fall catalog? Oh, look what's here!

Source: Jayson Home

Check out this Karastan runner posted by Nicole Balch of Making it Lovely this week. This is HAPPENING, people. 

Source: @makingitlovely

Oh, and I dressed up like the deer Snapchat filter for Halloween. Obsessed? Nope, not me.

Source: @donnagarlough

Here are my picks in this great inspired pattern. It's the perfect not-too-wild animal print, is it not? 

1. Honest Beauty Everything makeup palette, $35, Ulta. 2. French Axis deer arm chairs, $2,195 for two, Chairish. 3. Antilocarpa carpet, price on request, Stark. 4. Fawn wallpaper, $3/sq. ft., Wayfair. 5. 1838 spotted Axis deer print, $35, Etsy. 6. Velvet fawn spot pillows, $429 for two, Chairish. 7. Axis deer hide, $309, Etsy. 

Coming Soon: Self Styled, the Book!

I have waited SO LONG to share this news, but it's official: I'm making a book!

I say "making" because this project has been, and will continue to be, so much more than writing. This process has been an all-encompassing, occasionally interminable-seeming endeavor, from my first email to an agent to the months I spent crafting just the right proposal. There were trips to Manhattan, publisher meetings, and anguished calls with my agent, followed by a million contract revisions. (I don't think I reviewed terms this closely when I bought my house.)  

But it's finally real, and that has me feeling all:

Had to swing by my publisher's (squee!) famed bookstore while in NYC. 

Signed, sealed, delivered. 

What can readers expect from SS in book form? Put simply, it'll be a sort of self-help book for the home: A lively guide to finding your style strengths, overcoming your weaknesses, and filling your home with the furniture, decor, and details you love. 

This is not a guide to decorating the "right" way. Sure, I'll offer some rules of thumb that can make a space feel more or less functional or balanced, and point out ways to work through some common decorating challenges. But this will be an enthusiast's guide, and if you read it, my hope is that you'll end up more inspired, less intimidated by design, and having learned a little bit about your yourself by making your home your own. 

My amazing photographer is Joyelle West (check out her incredible interiors work!), and the two of us have spent days and days invading other people's homes to zuszh and tweak and photograph their stuff. None of the homes we're shooting are the work of professional interior designers; instead, they're spaces that reflect the real lives and personal style of the people who live there, and who found the confidence to make it theirs. We've done about half of the shoots so far, and will continue shooting into the fall.

This lady has this incredible ability to make herself FLAT against the wall in order to get the widest shot. She's like Gumby.

A cute and quirky little guest room.

"Katie, can you just get a little farther under the sink with that reflector?" 

I'll also be working with an incredible graphic designer, Laura Palese, on the layout. She recently worked on gorgeous books by Chrissy Teigen, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Laura Prepon, and I'm looking forward to seeing how she turns my humble text into coffee table-worthy magic.

Source: Laura Palese Design

I'll be posting updates as the book progresses. My manuscript is due December 1, which in reality means I'll have to finish it before Thanksgiving. Wish me luck...

Why Throwing a Party is the Best Thing You Can Do for Your House

Mayhem. That's the best way I can think to describe my home life for the last three weeks. I’ve been riding a mounting wave of panic and chaos, culminating in hours of absolute madness last Saturday morning. People were running. People were yelling. There were cuts, and bruises, and heavy things being dragged across the floors. At one point people were wearing PROTECTIVE ARMOR.

And then…. a celebration.

Worth it. 

You see, back in early April, my husband dropped me a line. An innocuous line: “Hey, honey! The folks at the Preservation Society are looking for houses for this year’s historic tour, and they asked if they could take a look at our place. That’d be fun, right?”  

Good lord, I thought. “It’s in September, right? Think we’ll have everything finished up by then?” I took a look around. Our petite patio had been half-excavated, and only a portion of the stone and brick had yet been replaced. We had a death-trap of a door leading out from our kitchen onto nothing—a safety hazard, to put it lightly. We hadn’t yet put up the balcony on the back of the house, or begun to design the railings and stairs that would lead down to the garden level. We had just swapped out our thermostats, leaving patches in need of spackle and paint in every room. Boxes of backsplash tile, bathroom wallpaper, and light fixtures were stacked in the hallways, waiting to be opened and dealt with. Rooms were full of furniture pieces I hadn't had time to replace.

We said yes. Because, number one, we are optimists. Number two, the event raises money for a really great organization that helps keep the history of our Boston neighborhood alive. But the third and most compelling reason was one I learned fairly early on in this renovation journey of ours: how important it is to have milestones along the way, and to give yourself reasons to celebrate your own hard work. It’s like buying yourself a new outfit when you're halfway to your weight-loss goal. You need to pause and appreciate how far you've come.

To that end, at several points in the past seven years of residential upgrades, we have sent invitations for parties that our under-construction home was in no way prepared to host. These deadlines gave us a reason to stop and declutter, to organize, to decorate what we did have, and to enjoy our space for one evening. For one blessed night, there would be no ladders to be seen, no drill bits on the dresser. We’d arrange flowers, light candles, get catering. It was always a scramble to tidy up, but it was always worth it.

This advice doesn’t just apply to renovators.  For anyone with a busy schedule and/or crazy little kid-monsters running around, it’s easy to just let things pile up in corners, or to say “What’s the point? We’re just going mess this up again.” It’s easy to put off hosting a grown-up get together because your home is “in transition.” I say: All the more reason to host a party.

Now, I’m not saying you MUST dress your house to have people over, or that you can’t have just invite your friends over for pizza amid the dust. You should do that. But when you take a bit of time to stage your own home so that you’re proud of it, you not only gift yourself with a few lovely weeks or months of not feeling like everything’s a mess, you also gain some perspective on what’s working and not working in your space. You can see what you actually have, and stop stressing about what you don’t. All you people pinning “dream house” pictures online while lamenting the fact that your space looks like crud? Maybe it doesn’t. Maybe you just need to invite all your friends over for cocktails, and spend two days rearranging your stuff so it looks nice. Maybe all you need to make your home feel welcoming is a new pillow or a new lamp, but you don’t know it because you’ve written off your current space off as a permanent mess. Why not give your house a chance to shine from time to time?

So… the house tour. We spent the last part of the summer marking off items on our gigantic punch list. We had our new fence built, joining forces with our neighbors who all wanted their fences replaced at the same time. We finally had the balcony installed, and we leaned on our stonemason to finish paving the patio. We ordered new furniture, a sectional that would make the space truly cozy.

Look, ma, no rails (yet).

Dave and I came up with our own design for the railings, and shortly after Labor Day, they went up, too.

When your husband geeks out with Google SketchUp.

Part of them, anyway.

It takes five (or more).

As the day grew closer and we started to see our hard work coming together, Dave and I decided to turn House-Tour Day into Party Day, and we sent out invites to a bunch of the neighborhood parents in our kids’ classrooms to join us for cocktails after the tour. After all, why waste a clean house on a bunch of strangers?

The week before the tour, we combed through bins of old books, clothes, photos, and college notebooks, figuring out where we could consolidate and donate. We got rid of old kids’ toys, rusty paint cans, and catalogs. Dave touched up all of the walls and changed the window latches to brass. I had some vintage prints framed and hung in the hallways, hung art in our master bath, bought plants for the back patio, and put a new bistro set on our balcony.

Wee gallery wall.

It came down to the wire. Twenty-five minutes before tour guests began lining up outside our front door, tickets on hand, metalworkers were still scrambling to install the new railings on our new balcony stairs. A guy with a mask and blowtorch fused metal outside while I arranged flowers in the dining room.

The morning of the house tour.

The day was a smashing success. Over 600 ticket-holders came through the tour houses that day, and while house-sitters managed the crowd at my house, we got to spend a few hours snooping around other families’ quirky old abodes. After the visitors left, our kids ran circles around their suddenly spacious-seeming, clean bedrooms. In the evening, our friends filled the kitchen, drank cocktails under the patio string lights, and had a legitimate, ear-splitting dance party in the living room. I couldn’t have asked for a better reward.

Our gift for participating: A watercolor of our home.

My house is by no means finished yet. I still have a mud room that doesn't open to the outdoors. There's cracked plaster in the stairwells and skylight. There are closets we intend to build and fireplaces to restore. Heck, we want to bust through the ceiling and build a roof deck at some point way, way in the future.

But for now, I have a home I'm ready to push "pause" on and enjoy. The work we've done is looking its best. I love my home, and it's worth it to create that feeling every now and then, if only as an excuse to throw a dance party.