TBD Monthly Round-Up

Things we are loving right now…

I subscribe to Hans Lorei’s Differentiated Design and his latest email really resonated as he spoke about the chasm between how things used to be made or built and what is being produced now. It is such a succinct, clear message and felt very true to me.

Here is a snippet.

“There’s something special about vehicles from the mid-'80s and earlier, or homes built before the ‘40s. They’ve got a soul—an aesthetic grace that’s been swapped out for calculated efficiency in what came later”.

“There's clearly been a broad societal tradeoff: efficiency over aesthetics.

It reminded me: Design is not an efficient process.

It’s messy, time-consuming, and gloriously impractical. To nail a project, you’ve got to tinker endlessly, juggling elements until they click. Then, you weave every room into a cohesive story—a sometimes chaotic tango between contractors, owners, architects, and me.

It’s a craft that is hard to scale. You need to be obsessed.

And yet, design’s inefficiency is its magic.

I lose myself in it—hours vanish as I chase that perfect harmony of color, pattern, and form. You pull on a thread and make something out of nothing.

If you’re searching for direction, pay attention to what sucks you in like that. It’s a strong clue.

The reward isn’t just the outcome; it’s the plunge itself”.

-Hans Lorei, Differentiated Design #86

Wondering what we’ve been working on?

Our Cabin in the Woods project is wrapping up it’s first phase. We tackled the renovation of a 1942 original log cabin. The innate charm that comes from vintage makes a project like this extra special and our goal was to compliment the materials that would remain and add materials that felt like they could be original. It made for a fun design project and some pretty photos.

New and Noteworthy

We are heading to North Carolina for Market 2025 at the end of this month. We are excited to visit our favorite vendors, meet some new ones and sit and view all that is coming for 2025. We are excited to see what is trending (even though we don’t do trendy design), see furnishings, fabrics, art, lighting and vintage one-of-a-kind pieces. It is such an important trip for us to stay on our game and up to date with our industry.

A Tip From TBD…

Dan and I, try and spend as much time up in Sea Ranch as we can and one of my favorite shops is Salvarae. The owner, Bonnie, has the most fantastic beauty and natural health products. My latest favorite is her Deep Blooming Tallow Repair Balm.

I have tried other tallow products as they are all the rage right now, but many smell pretty awful. This one has been a game changer as it is light, has no unpleasant smell and has been magic with getting rid of sun spots. Even, Mr. Bell dips into it EVERY night! Who thought I’d have to share my beauty products???