We’re about halfway through the last month of the year and as an old boss used to say to me, “I’m good there.” I gave myself permission a few years ago to not cookie bake, to not send out cards and to not have the shopping done early unless, of course, I had the inclination. The urge to be domestic for your family is incredibly strong and it will wear you down. It’s not possible to work full time, take care of the kids (or kid in my case) and then add in the other stuff that goes with the holiday without it getting to you. I do like to decorate (shocker) so that always gets done.
I thought I’d share a highlight reel of this year’s site visit photos with you. I think it’s important to look back over the things you accomplished or did in a year. This year didn’t feel as big or as important to me as other work years have and I felt better about 2022 after going through the photographs.
Gorgeous quartzite waterfall edge! This is a home where I saw a black fox asleep on a neighbor’s roof in the snow (which was a first for me). And, it’s also a home where the family cat was accidentally rescued by another client of mine.
This was taken in an attic stairwell in an over 125 year old home in Denver that I worked on in the first half of this year. This home had a “vibe” and workers had stories of odd electrical events and tools moving on them. I definitely felt an atmosphere every time I was there.
I had interior photographs taken of this Greenwood Village home this past year. This is from a quick site visit before the shoot to see what we needed to bring for styling. I love the exterior wreaths this client puts out every year!
I always have a lot of photos like this on my phone. This is from a home that’s just been completed but was in the early stages in mid-February of last year.
Soapstone selection with a cute helper makes the time go by fast. I love soapstone and I’m glad that it’s in style right now!
I participated in Denver Public School’s mentorship program with a middle school student who expressed an interest in Interior Design. This is a trip to The Floor Club, a tile shop I use in Denver.
Another site visit in March to the “atmospheric” older Denver home in Cheesman Park. This is the original stained glass window and note the beautiful original stair.
From a photoshoot we did in the Spring. Photoshoots are physically exhausting; they consist of moving things in and out of the home, in and out of the shot and in and out of different rooms. We usually don’t stop and eat, we just power through.
This is from a smaller job that I consulted on. Before you ask, the brick was exposed when I got there. I’ve learned through the years that people have strong opinions about brick. Anytime I post a photo of brick on Instagram someone will helpfully tell me not to paint it, or, if it’s painted they will write “You should never ever paint brick.” If it’s exposed on a wall like this, I inevitably will get “Why would you do that? It will be so cold.” Sometimes things have already been done to the brick before I get there. How’s that for an autobiography title??! I love this way this old brick looks with the quartzite countertops and the brass faucet.
Here’s a new laundry room that’s in a brand new addition of a very old home in an historic neighborhood in the Highlands area of Denver. Now this is brick that I did select. We selected this color and style to go with some of the existing brick in the home. I am a big fan of brick floors. This is real brick that’s 1/4″ thick from General Shale.
I had the extreme pleasure of visiting New Orleans this Spring with my daughter. There’s something magical about that city and I came away feeling inspired. I still think about things I saw and experienced on that trip. This is a classic mosaic tile with our feet shot. I’m the fuddy duddy in the New Balance shoes.
Here’s a VERY small bathroom (with a shower!) that we managed to cram into a closet. It’s also partly under a stair. My designer friend Emily nicknamed this floor tile color “rental car red.”
An attic bathroom in a very old home.
More exposed brick that was already there when I found it. I like the way it looks with the black cabinets and the brass. This is a small kitchenette in an old home that was converted to apartments. Before you ask, it was converted to apartments probably in the 1960’s. We just helped update them.
This home was just recently finished. They had a water line fail right after the kitchen was complete and had to move backwards in order to move forwards again. I’m going over to see it soon and am really excited about it!/
This is a basement bathroom in an old Denver square remodel in Congress Park we finished this year. I used some tile favorites here – Montauk black slate and Victoria subway tile. This home had the original knob and tube wiring which was actually really interesting to see!
This is a pretty taupe kitchen in a ranch house remodel we finished in Littleton this year. The client acted as the general contractor on this one and it went really smoothly despite my initial skepticism. It helps that both dad’s of the husband and the wife were GC’s.
I love the way this graphic marble mosaic tile turned out in this shower! And how pretty are those windows in the background?
For my last photo – I’ll leave you with me in mid-May of 2022. Who doesn’t love wet snow in May?
I’ll post Part 2 of my “retrospective” next week This week I end with a quote from one of my favorite books I read this year This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub.
“Maybe that was the trick to life: to notice all the tiny moments in the day when everything else fell away and, for a split second, or maybe even a few seconds, you had no worries, only pleasure, only appreciation of what was right in front of you.” ― Emma Straub, This Time Tomorrow
Laura is a Denver Interior Designer who runs an Interior Design Studio based in sunny Colorado with a strong commitment to livable and interesting interiors. She also runs The Colorado Nest, a Denver blog about Design, Art and Life in the Mountain West and co-hosts the book podcast "The Inside Flap" on iTunes, Stitcher and Google Play.
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