Like all of you my year has been full of highs and lows, memorable experiences and learning moments.  As we approach the start of a new year and decade I thought it would be nice to reflect on 2019.  What a year it was!  A lot happened this past year professionally and for my family.  We started the year celebrating my brother’s engagement!  I’m so happy for him and my future sister in-law, they are planning their wedding in Italy for August of 2020.   We can’t wait!!  My sister got married in May to her high-school sweetheart.  It was the most beautiful wedding!  Ben continues to grow his own business Rise Marketing Group this month he hosted his first holiday dinner for his team.  I’m such a proud wife!  We feel so blessed to both be doing what we love! Both kids are now in school full time!  I’m so proud of them too, they honestly enjoy school.

 

Top Blog post of 2019

I kind of can’t believe that my top post was THIS one all about how to decorate a home with wood trim.  My other sister bought her first home (with wood trim) this year and I wrote this post for her, to give her some ideas on decorating her new place!  I’ll have to show you all some of the after photos and update this post because her house is looking so beautiful!!

 

Top 9 Photos of 2019

It’s no surprise that my front door made my top nine photos multiple times.  You guys truly love seeing how I decorate that door every season and it makes me so happy to come up with different ideas to share.  It’s fun to see what Instagram posts you enjoyed the most at the end of each year.  If you want to see what photos of yours were the most loved go to topnine.com and enter your Instagram account name!  It really is fun to see.

 

Reflections

Look, things don’t always work out the way you think they will.  Even as a grown adult and mother I’m still learning this lesson.   This year I had a taste of failure with a business I was trying to help build.  Once it was being led in a direction I didn’t believe in, I walked away.   It’s a good reminder that your business ethics might not always align with others involved and to stay true to yours (always).  Sometimes in business good ideas don’t work out and failure is part of the process.  It’s not something to be ashamed of or to keep hush, hush.  If you have a passion for something and don’t at least try to see it succeed how will you ever know what it could be?  If it doesn’t work out it could be for many reasons, not the right time, maybe not with the right people, etc.  But I’d rather try and fail than always wonder…  

 

Professional Highlights of 2019 

This past year 2 exciting moments and opportunities happened for me that I would have never anticipated.  In April I hosted a Design Night Event at Simon’s Furniture in Franklin, MA.  I worked in partnership with Comcast Spotlight (now EffecTV) to decorate a showroom in my style for the event.  Below is the promo poster for it.  It was surreal to see myself on this AD with so many other amazing businesses.

Since the event took place in April right around Easter, I went with a spring floral theme.  I created this faux wallpaper (removable) wall with digital vintage botanicals prints.  Next I styled the glass cabinet with collections of kitchen items and the dining table with lots of fresh florals to keep with the spring theme.  I really felt like I brought this furniture store showroom to life!

Commercial Shoot

After my event with Simon’s the team at EffecTV asked if I would be interested in shooting some home related spots for them.  I honestly really didn’t know much about this process at all but I love the team over there and I knew if they believed in me to do this that I had to give it my best.  The commercial shoot day with the EffectTv was a huge highlight of my year.  Our beach house was the star of the commercials, I thought.  It was a full day and way more exhausting than you might think.  In front of the camera you have to be ON x 10000 for each take and we did a ton of takes, back to back.  Here are a couple of the promos below:

I was a bit nervous at first because I had never read a teleprompter or done any camera work.  However, I knew that the adrenaline would kick in and help me through my nerves.  It was so cool to watch the crew set up all the lighting and angles and work their magic.  I’m still so grateful for the experience and for being able to use our beach home for the backdrop.  I know filming there helped ease my nerves. I’m still waiting to learn more about what businesses might pick these up to use in 2020.   So you may see them on local tv (fingers crossed!)  The experience was so fun and it totally pushed me out of my comfort zone!   More behind the scenes shots:

Ending 2019 & Looking Forward

Speaking of the beach house. I’m finally sharing this news and I know that putting this out there to you is going to make it real and I can start to move on. So here we go… This fall my parents decided to sell the beach house (it sold in a week). It was a bit shocking and disappointing all at the same time. Ok I won’t lie, I may have sobbed in my pillow a little. That may sound silly to some, to be so upset over a house. But for me having spent so much time and effort, literally pouring my heart into this house, it feels a little like a loss. Not to mention the great times we enjoyed as a family there, too. It’s hard to let go of something that was so special. When I’m designing a home I think about it 24/7. Through the building process I was there to help them with many, many decisions which is probably why I feel an even more personal connection to it.

With out going into too many details, this completely made sense for my parents and I understand why they made this decision. Their happiness is all that matters to me and they are so thrilled to be living back close by to their kids and grandkids. Eventually they will probably buy again when the time is right, maybe closer to retirement. I love Cape Cod and I love all the summers and memories we’ve made down there. They’ve reminded me so much of my own childhood. Now that our kids are older, I’m ready to explore more, too. Maybe check out some other summer destinations.

Saying goodbye to this property and all the different ideas I executed (or yet to execute), things I learned and things I’d do differently, it made me realize that I really want to have our own vacation rental property. I’m not sure when this will happen, we’ve actually been talking about it for years. I want a little place to work on and fix up that is our own, that I can rent out and share the process here on the blog and on Instagram. So as the beach house chapter closes, I’m really excited about the future and the possibility of new properties that could use my TLC. I’m also really thankful for the blessing of helping design this home with my parents and the two amazing summers we enjoyed here. I’m starting to look ahead and I know that this is definitely a new path we are on. I’m excited for the promise of a fresh new year and decade. I cant wait to see what it has in store for us all!

Thank you for all your love and warmth in 2019. I’m so grateful for this wonderful community and great friendships that have come from it. With love and cheers to 2020!

Jordan