For more than 20 years, I’ve been staging homes, helping to get them sold and/or rented super fast and for the desired price. I’ve also undertaken many personal home renovation projects, from updating exteriors to refurbishing worn-out home furnishings to give them a unique second life. I’ve never considering it “work.”
Now, as I continue restoring a dilapidated country cottage (mostly on my own but with a little help from my friends) hanging, taping, mudding and painting drywall, repurposing wood trim and heavy ceiling beams, plumbing, electric, tiling, cabinet/island and countertop making, and clearing land on nearly four acres in Pass Christian, MS, near the Gulf Coast, I recognize it’s high time to add these services to my portfolio of creative offerings.
My first big project was a mid-century home in White Bear Lake, MN. It didn’t need much. A little wallpaper here, a little tiling there, a fireplace mantle, and a glass block shower, but it was where I began. That love for home staging and revitalizing carried over to the next house, which was a century-old Dutch Colonial on historic Summit Avenue in St. Paul, MN.
While working on the Summit house in particular, friends hired me to help them revive indoor and outdoor rooms in their homes. I reupholstered furniture purchased from auctions and thrift stores and gave wood furniture new life and a new look. Some projects were intensive, others small but impactful.
I’ve revived spaces and staged homes not only in Minnesota but also Chicago, Atlanta, Southern California and Ann Arbor, Michigan.
One thing I know for sure, is that I’ve always been a “thing finder.” When I was little, I wasn’t a big reader, but I remember reading a Pippi Longstocking book, and she called herself a thing finder.
So I got a pillow case and started roaming the neighborhood alleys, hoping to find little treasures. I’ve pretty much done that my whole life and have never been disappointed.
Every house I have lived in as an adult has been decorated with little treasures I have found here in there, especially artwork. Some I’ve found for less than a dollar. One I purchased for $2500. It’s now valued at over $10,000, but nobody will ever know which is which, and that’s the way I like it.
Surround yourself with what brings you joy regardless of the price tag. Expensive isn’t always the most tasteful.
My project in Mississippi, The Hermitage Pass Christian, is by far the biggest challenge I’ve ever undertaken. If you’d like to follow along, visit my Breaking Mississippi page. I don’t think I’ve ever cried and laughed more in my life.
Rebuilding or giving something new life brings many invaluable rewards as well as lessons.
Work with me, and you’ll benefit from the lessons. And probably laugh a lot. I promise there will be no crying… Only tears of joy.
Coming soon – Shop one-of-a-kind furniture from The Hermitage Home Collection.