October 2025 - Home Updates
On October 1st, I grudgingly started to decorate for Fall and Halloween. I typically try to prolong summer for as long as possible and just deny the fact that it’s inevitably getting colder. While taking out my fall stuff, I went into deep organization mode and ended up finding unused gift cards from West Elm, CB2, and Lowe’s. It’s safe to say, all of my favorites, will be transferred to the checkout bag. My monthly shopping didn’t end there. My mom and I went antiquing again, and I purchased two Ethan Allen gold accent sconces. I’m currently using them to hold 6 flower pots in my living room, on both sides of the TV. For the past 2 years, we’ve had a local, women-owned cleaning company come to our home twice a month, and it’s one splurge I genuinely look forward to. Typically, while they’re here I’m putting away all of our clean clothes for the week, it’s become a routine. The not so fun news, is my Article bed frame arrived to the facility with factory defects and there is no restock date, so back to the drawing board for that… With the bed frame on hold, I started to look at mattresses. I want to make sure I’ve done as much due diligence as possible before purchasing because we need a comfy bed. Of course, that naturally led me straight to comforters, duvets, blankets and sheets. For the last ten years, I’ve always had all white bedding because it just feels clean and fresh. Now, I have an entire new color scheme planned with new textiles and throw pillows. As an interior designer, I’m drawn to brands that reflect similar values, goals, quality and that enjoy partnering with small businesses. The brands I’m currently looking at are- Avocado, Leesa, Boll & Branch, Saatva, DreamCloud, Brooklyn Bedding, Brooklinen, Parachute, and Ralph Lauren. Realistically, I’ll probably hold off until purchasing until the Black Friday sales start.
As for the outside of my house, we are finishing up making the deck railings and steps. I’m also planning to custom build a pergola with all of the new tools we just bought from Dewalt. You can bet my future pergola already has its own Pinterest board. In the meantime, to no surprise, another new project is underway. I bought a breeze block mold a few years ago that matched the ones I found on Facebook Marketplace, and now I finally get to use it. I also learned how to drill, screw, and attach metal sheathing to cinderblocks before coating everything with cement. I’m genuinely excited to see how this hardscaping project turns out.
With Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach, I started hosting local open houses listed upwards of $750,000. I attended several BHHS meetings, online and in person. On the property management side, I’ve been preparing for my third annual HOA meeting of the year for one of my luxury single family home communities in New Hope, PA. This community was looking for new landscaping contracts to see if better pricing was available, so I reached out to four local companies for proposals. Each came in just under $100,000, and after comparing all of the options, the community decided to renew the current contract. I’m also lucky enough to manage a second community in New Hope, a condominium complex conveniently located right down the street. Here, I’ve been coordinating with contractors and engineers to finalize plans for a $300,000 bridge project, which will be a major improvement. The planning and coordination have been in the works for months between myself, the board and the engineering team. It has been a month.
“Visualize what you want. See it, feel it believe in it. Make your mental blueprint, and begin to build.”