Wow, this year has been fuuuuulll and eventful! Like every year, it had a lot of ups and downs starting with

January

Ah January.  The month when the holidays are over and I’m ready for winter to be over too.  But alas, I live in New England which means it is only gearing up and there are about 427 more days of it before we get pretend spring for 2 days followed by the need for an ark or a canoe.

BUT, we had a lot to look forward to and hit the ground running with both new and ongoing projects in January, like this garden inspired library on the drawing board…

February

In February I escaped the cold and attended KBIS (the kitchen and bath industry show) in slightly less cold Orlando, Florida…fabulous show…extremely sketchy hotel choice 😂.

I had an opportunity to visit with longtime friends that had moved to Orlando, and got a chance to meet up with design friends from all over the country.

I also got to see all the latest  trends and new products for kitchens and baths.  You can read all about that HERE.

We also added more projects to our roster including some fun virtual ones.

March

In March, my parents got the long awaited call that an opportunity to purchase a unit in their chosen retirement community had arisen. We drove to CT to see it…it was described as a ‘fixer upper’.

Which was good news to me because it meant we could tailor it to be exactly perfect!   And the natural light and ceiling height, the two things we couldn’t change, were wonderful - we couldn’t have asked for a better option!

With the move-in date in May, the planning, selections, and renovation documentation got underway at lightening speed! A peek at the kitchen planning process for that project HERE

April

April brought hope for spring and of course snow because. New England.

…And a flurry of activity with local projects including this fun breakfast room, and supervising the ‘in house’ reno for my parents new apartment from afar.

We also celebrated my dad’s retirement. Again.  He’s retired from a number of his various jobs over the years…he IS only 90 after all… 😂. He may not be working in an official capacity any longer, but he is still working, ministering to everyone in his path and bringing hope and encouragement to the lives of everyone around him.  He is my hero!  

May

May…still working feverishly.  With our ongoing local projects in high gear and trips back and forth to CT to check on progress…alongside an assortment of family medical emergencies - all resolved successfully, thankfully, but not without some extended time to ponder the need for good design in medical waiting rooms!

The very end of May we said goodbye to the house I grew up in and drove my parents to their new home in CT.

June

We and the furniture arrived in CT to an unexpectedly not-yet-finished apartment.  Various labor delays at the new place meant the move-in was not exactly to plan and was most definitely not uneventful!

What was supposed to be 2 or 3 days of unpacking and getting my parents settled turned into a full week of whip-cracking to get the apartment finished.  Pretty much everything that could go wrong did go wrong (read about it HERE).

But we had a busy but fun week anyway with the bonus time with my parents and sister.

Then is was back to Boston for my Dad’s scheduled valve replacement surgery, and FINALLY…back to CT again to move them into the new apartment with everything *almost* done.  Workers would come and go for the next 2 months finishing up kitchen tile, and shower doors, and shelving, and touch up…but it was at least livable.

All’s well that ends well and it all turned out beautifully and, most importantly, my parents are loving it! A peek at the finished space HERE

July

July involved catching up on client projects and installations, and sneaking in some more time outside.  I am definitely a summer weather kind of girl!

August

In August, I attended the Design Influencers Conference (formerly the design bloggers conference) in Atlanta and had a lovely few days catching up with design friends from all over.  We learned from and were inspired by talks from a roster of luminaries in the design biz, and were treated like royalty by the organizers and vendors.

I came home armed with new ideas and… apparently a pesky case of covid.  I was blessedly not really sick for more than a day or two, though a negative test so I could rejoin the land of the living was not forthcoming for a full 9 days.

Quarantining is not my cup of tea, and I’m an introvert!  I wish I could say I used my isolation to accomplish all the things I SHOULD have been doing, but my restlessness and lack of motivation instead led to an addiction to a really inane coloring book app on my phone…it was all I could muster the energy for at the time.

September

September, the unofficial start of the year, was back to business as usual with more projects as well as my first foray into doing my own official project photography. 

I have many projects overdue for photography, delayed for various reasons, and I was pleased with the ability to use what I had learned from Linda Holt’s stellar iPhone photography for Interiors course to produce quality shots!

Here is a look behind the scenes at my first attempt…

September is also birthday month in our house and much cake was consumed, including our new favorite chocolate cake with mocha Swiss buttercream. Recipe HERE

October

October saw more projects and installations and more project photography!  Like this fun guest bath (see more HERE)

and these farmhouse powder rooms (see them HERE).  I was honored that Schumacher picked up my photo that featured a powder room with their wallpaper and asked permission to use it.  Color me proud :)

November

In November between consults, projects, and photoshoots (like this kitchen project, more HERE)

we paused to celebrate and be grateful for all the year had brought.  We hosted Thanksgiving with our extended family - the last one I will likely get to celebrate with everyone since my daughter moved overseas two weeks later.

December

December is always remarkably crazy. It really shouldn’t be a surprise since it happens every year.   

With some projects finishing up in the nick of time for the holidays, and all the usual holiday decorating, and cooking, and entertaining, and shopping, the month feels a bit like a runaway train!

My daughter moved to Germany the first week of December and it hit me with an unexpected wave of grief that life would never be the same.

Christmas was different this year with my family scattered, but we made new memories, and I am so thankful for health and happiness of all our loved ones  and for the miracle of technology that allows us to stay connected.

With 2023 just around the corner, we are looking forward to sharing more new projects.

We have a host of design projects at all phases from just starting up, to in progress, to ‘ready for their close up’ photo shoots.

In the works also is a cookbook compiling all the favorite recipes I’ve shared here over the years along with some new ones, and a website redesign I am really excited about.  So watch for those announcements in the coming months!

I’m profoundly grateful for all I have, but most especially for the relationships…with my incredible family, with my dear friends old and new, with my wonderful clients, and with my readers!

I am blessed beyond belief!

Wishing you all a 2023 filled with abundance, beauty, and joy!