2022 update: after a successful  first course in the fall of 2021, I am re-launching this course in the early spring of this year. thank you for your patience with me!

 

stop taking “what’s your style?” quizzes.

 

The answers are within, not without. If you’re stuck, confused, disheartened about how to make your home the way you want it - or if you’re confused about what you want your home to be in the first place, let’s approach the house differently. Let's look within, and build it out from there.

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I wrote Love the House You're In: 40 Ways to Improve Your House & Change You're Life, (Roost Books)in 2016. Throughout my time on HGTV, and in 10 years of conversations with homeowners as professionals, I was tired of hearing just how upset, discouraged and confused homeowners had become. More images, TV shows, magazines and "inspo" had not made it easier to have a beautiful house for so many people. My first book is an introspective approach to the house - asking readers to look within to get clear on who they are, in order to begin to think about what the best home for them might be.

 

I offer a 6-week course loosely based on the book and all that I've learned since it's publication: How to Build a Personal Aesthetic for Your Home  Creating a personal aesthetic is much more powerful and personal than simply "choosing a style." It's about mining the answers that are within you, with your life story, and developing a way of creating your home that is personal and authentic to who you are, how you live and your goals for your family. This is absolutely not about about applying something from a store or catalogue - it’s about creating something that you can use for the rest of your life - wherever you live. I hope you'll join me!

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I know your pain. Instagram is perfect house after perfect room after perfect family after perfect vacation, in an endless stream of time-sucking inspiration. But it is inspiring you? Or giving you a case of perfection paralysis? To inspire literally means “breathe life into.” All the perfection, gloss, unattainable & unlived in homes we see online do not breathe life into us. They can stifle us and confuse us. Or we may decide we need do do exactly what someone else has done - to reach for what they have - in a version that fits our budget, skills & time. But copy & paste doesn't work in the home - certainly not for the long term.

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Maybe you have waited a long time to make changes to your home - whether you are picking paint colors or redesigning your kitchen - if we go back to the endless stream - are the answers there? Should I do what those people are doing? Which is right for me and my family?

 

There. Is. So. Much.

 

Perhaps you believe that if you had enough design knowledge or skills, you could make better decisions. Or maybe you think that if you just see enough pretty spaces online, you’ll be able to know what style suits you and stick with that. Perhaps if you just had a professional designer tell you what to do in your home,  that you’d be on your way. While professionals have their place - lacking self-knowledge & clarity on what you want makes it even hard for a professional to serve you well. This is a key component - knowing ourselves and what we love, how we live and what we want from our homes which an essential dimension of the creating a house that we love.

 

What we need is to look inward

And to get clear on who we are, what we prefer, what makes us comfortable, our ideas about beauty. We will need to put down what others think and how others are doing it - meaning, to build an aesthetic means we no longer assume there is a “how to have a pretty house playbook,” that everyone else has. We come to believe that we can build an aesthetic based on our who we are.

 

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Once you’ve built a personal aesthetic, you can:

• Make decorating and design decisions with greater ease

• Resist the marketplace’s constant drum beat to “buy new” and “refresh”

• Grow in confidence in your ability to create your home

• Grow in gratitude and appreciation for what you have

• Understand and grow in the ability to go your own way in your house - to take risks and do things that aren’t what everyone else is doing

 

 

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You may say, “I’m just not creative” or “I am not good at decorating” or “I’m not good with colors.”

 

Having worked with private clients in my business for over ten years, I can tell you that most people say this out of insecurity, because they see how different their homes look compared to what they see in magazines and online. Also please understand that the marketplace is set up to undermine your confidence and keep you wondering if there is a better option around the corner - ALL THE TIME. With greater confidence you can make choices and move on.

 

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I am offering this course: How to Build a Personal Aesthetic because I hear from people every day who are struggling with the work they want to do on their homes. They are either in a million different directions - buying, deciding, regretting, fretting - or they are in a total state of paralysis. Either way - they are very unhappy with the results. It doesn’t have to be this way - but I can’t snap my fingers and I can’t do it for you - there is work to be done - to build & clarify what you want, and how you want to do it. There is a process that can improve all of this and make you feel empowered and clear so that you can build a path forward.

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DETAILS:

The course will have 6 classes - 6 consecutive Wednesdays. There will be a morning group and an evening group. Each class will last 60 minutes. I will begin each class with a talk, take the group through an exercise and open the group up for questions to end. We’ll also have a private facebook group so I can post recordings of each class and distribute class materials, take additional questions and build community to support eachother on the house making journey in a respectful way that helps you. (This will not become a giant “what do I do with my house” forum.) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have been in the design business for a long time - I started on HGTV before I had my children, and have been working with private clients all over the US ever since. I have heard such distress, frustration, even agony, from people that I realized we are really missing something in the interior design world. We are so busy selling furniture and paint colors and offering new trends but people are getting lost. Their stories, their feelings, the real work of the home - some of this just does not fit neatly in the trends we see everywhere, these days, is getting lost. And what’s more - there has been an increase in pressure - an alignment between one’s self-esteem and what our homes look like - that has lead to many people just feeling bad about the state of their homes - and as a result, the state of their lives. I first put my "stop, listen, look within" philosophy into my first book in 2016. Since then I’ve continued to hear the same problems and concerns from home owners all over the world. We live in a media-dominated world. This isn’t likely to change - but we can better prepared for the media-driven marketplace. We can arm ourselves with confidence, clarity and intention - eliminating self-doubt and giving us the tools to move forward to the real business of home - living and loving.

 

After this course you will:

• Know your aesthetic. You’ll see things in the marketplace that match it. 

• Delight in the process of creating a home within your aesthetic

• Feel more confident in buying decisions.

• Have a clear path forward for your home.

• Develop greater appreciation for what you have, and grace in waiting for what its to become

• No longer allow the marketplace to dictate what you do in your home.

• Move on to the real purpose of the home: living & loving

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The price for the course is $100

 

My hourly rate for working with a private client on their home is $150/hour. This course will over 6 hours of live time with for $100. I am offering this because I want to reach more people and I don’t want financial barrier to be an issue.

 

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FAQs

• Can I just watch the recordings?

  • Yes absolutely. You can buy the course and then watch the class recordings on your own time. You can also watch the evening sessions in the morning and vice versa. 

• Can I switch from morning to evening?

  • Yes, please let me know ahead of time so I know to expect you!

• Can you tell me which couch to pick out? Can you direct me one-on-one in my pressing design dilemmas? 

  • No. This is not the course for one-on-one couch-purchase coaching....you can ask any questions, any time, but I am not giving out blanket design advice in this course - I’m giving you the skills and a framework to make these decisions yourselves.

 

I  am very excited about this course. Its been on my heart for a very long time. I originally planned a beta live event before Covid and I think it’s a blessing that we’re in the time of Zoom - most people are used to using it and learning from it. I want homeowners, and specifically home-creators to be more confident, more equipped, and more marketplace-resistant. I know this is possible because of my private client work. Thank you for your interest and I hope to see you in class!