The Journal
Notes from the studio.
Quiet, practical writing on the craft of a well-made home — choosing a designer, building a mood board, working with paint and light, and the long, slow art of getting a room exactly right.
Hill Country Living
Designing a Texas Hill Country Home Around Light, Stone, and Wood
How to let limestone, warm wood, and strong Texas light guide the colors, fabrics, and furnishings in a Hill Country home, from Boerne to Fredericksburg.
October 2026 · 4 min read
Seasonal Styling
Seasonal Decorating for a Hill Country Home: From Fall to Winter
How to carry a Texas Hill Country home from fall into the holidays with one natural palette — pumpkins and dried grasses that make room for greenery, ribbon, and candlelight.
October 2026 · 6 min read
Hill Country Living
Indoor-Outdoor Living in the Texas Hill Country
Ideas for connecting your living room, porch, and patio in a Hill Country home so every space feels comfortable for everyday life and gathering.
October 2026 · 4 min read
Room by Room
How to Style a Texas Hill Country Living Room
A room-by-room start with the living room: how to balance stone fireplaces, wood beams, and big windows with comfortable seating, layered textiles, and personal pieces.
October 2026 · 6 min read
Seasonal Styling & Entertaining
Holiday Decorating for a Texas Hill Country Home
Simple ways to decorate a Hill Country home for the holidays using natural greenery, warm textures, and the stone and wood already in your rooms.
October 2026 · 4 min read
Room by Room
Room by Room: Styling a Hill Country Kitchen and Bedroom
Warm wood, honest materials, and calm color: practical ideas for styling the kitchen and primary bedroom in a Texas Hill Country home.
October 2026 · 6 min read
Seasonal Styling & Entertaining
A Welcoming Fall Home, from the Front Door to the Thanksgiving Table
Simple fall decorating ideas for your Texas home: a thoughtful entry, layered textures, seasonal florals, and a Thanksgiving table that leaves room for gathering.
October 2026 · 4 min read
Seasonal Styling
Why I Order Fall in July: Planning Your Autumn Decorating Early
Silk florals, garlands, pumpkins, hay and cornstalks — all of it gets ordered in July and August so the decorating can start in September. Here is how I build a fall palette and a schedule that actually holds.
August 2026 · 7 min read
Living Well
Creating Peace at Home: Designing a Sanctuary You Can Rest In
August in Texas asks us to stay inside and slow down. A room-by-room guide to designing for calm — light, order, texture, and the small rituals that make a house feel safe.
August 2026 · 7 min read
Outdoor Living
Porch Season: Making the Front Welcoming and the Back Cozy
Which plants actually survive a Texas summer, the textiles worth investing in, and how to turn a front porch into a welcome and a back veranda into the place you read and drink your coffee.
July 2026 · 8 min read
Entertaining
The Fourth of July, and the Wonderful Feeling of Entertaining
Design isn't only homes. It's events, florals, tablescapes, graphics — anywhere beauty makes people feel welcome. A Fourth of July gathering is one of my favorite places to prove it.
July 2026 · 6 min read
Color
Why Choosing Paint Is So Hard (and What the Light in Your Room Is Really Doing)
The same paint color reads warm in one room and gray-blue in the next. A guide to the way light works — and how to test a color so you actually live with the one you love.
June 2026 · 7 min read
Design Process
Building a Mood Board for Your Home (Without Falling Down the Pinterest Rabbit Hole)
How to translate a stack of saved images into a real direction you and your designer can use — and how to know when a beautiful idea isn't right for your life.
June 2026 · 7 min read
Working Together
Choosing an Interior Designer (and Why It Matters More Than You Think)
Hiring a designer is part interview, part chemistry test. The questions to ask before you sign anything — and what to listen for in the answers.
June 2026 · 6 min read
Also in the Studio
Hill Country Modern vs. French Country
A side-by-side designer’s guide to two of the studio’s specialties — where they overlap, where they differ, and how to blend them in one Texas home.
Read the guide →