Something many people don't know about me is that I grew up in a sort of constant state of construction. I say this quite literally as most of the places I lived in were active construction sites because my parents flipped houses.
For those who aren’t familiar with what it means to flip a house, it's the process of buying, renovating, then selling a home for hopefully more than you paid for it and all of the remodeling costs. My mom, an interior designer, and my dad, arguably the world’s best DIYer, made a pretty solid pair. For my parents, it was a shared hobby. One I inevitably grew to love.
The first project I remember was the Twelveth Steet house, or “The Blue House” as I called it, in Seaside, OR. I was just over five years old at the time, far too young to actually contribute much of anything to a home remodel, so my parents paid me to pick up nails around the site. They handed me a sand bucket and said they would give me a penny for every nail I picked up. At the end of every day, I would walk away with a dollar, or two if I was lucky, and I felt like the richest five-year-old alive.
As the house was starting to reach the finish my parents surprised me with the little room under the stairs. They granted it to me as my own and said I could decorate it however I wanted. We ran by the paint and floor shop, and I picked out a bright yellow paint and a leftover scrap of carpet. I ran back home and immediately got to work on my hideaway. God only knows how much time I spent in that tiny room under the stairs. I’m not sure my parents realized the fire they had started in me.
Over the years, my passion for design has grown with every new undertaking. As I got older I became more and more involved in each project, learning handy work from my dad and design practices from my mom.
Now, my parents and I look towards our newest project, the Tryon Street house. This project is even more special to me than previous ones because this time, I am the one (largely) in charge. You see, the tough thing about wanting to be a young interior designer is finding someone to trust you with their house, time, and money. I am fortunate that my parents are allowing me to take the reins on this project so that I can begin to build a portfolio of my own work.
Follow along with my blog as I document the process of the Tryon Street renovation.