Monthly Archives: December 2019

Grand Finale: another decade down

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I can feel a little Charlie Brown about the end of the year. Oh bother, another one down. In full disclosure – I wrote the text for this cartoon strip, but it’s all Charles Schultz – with all his brilliant insight into the frailty of the human condition. Must we….really…do an accounting? Yes indeed we must.

live the dream?

This decade I sold my very first house. I bought it in the previous decade, but didn’t sell it until 2013, after three extensive renovations, and out of the wreckage of the worst financial crisis in any living person’s memory. It was hard and gritty, nail biting (if I bit my nails, which I don’t), and many a night’s sleep was lost – well over considering the possible loss of my job, my very first house, and a place to store my beloved shoes. Well, you can’t imagine the stress I was under – or at least I hope you can’t.

Gut renovation – circa 17

The decade followed along with the purchase of four more properties and the sale of three others. I experienced roof leaks, ground water surges, heat that didn’t come close to heating, a door that knocked me on the ass every time I entered or departed, leaving me to believe it wasn’t all that happy that I had taken up residence. Sometimes a building issues its objections louder than its residents, though mostly it’s a close contest. No one loves it when you begin construction. They only want it to end – resulting in the increased value of their own – no personal equity having been contributed to the cause.

It’s in the details.

I made bet after bet after bet, and traveled with my winnings, berating myself when I lost, and hung my head when others said I should have known. If I am leaving this decade with anything – it’s this thing…the amount we don’t know is enormous, the amount we CANNOT know – incredible. I’m in it for the long game, each property a piece in the overall portfolio. Some will be winners, some will be losers. Some of the winners will be due to my skill and experience while others will be pure luck. Some of the losers, I’ll have done absolutely everything right, with the information available to me, and they still won’t net a win. That too will be luck.

I’m sticking to the plan. I’m going to take the wins and the losses, analyze them with a detached clinical scrutiny, and strive to do better in the next decade.

All and new, custom and blue.

Happy New Year’s Eve.

Ever a Feather to Furnish: the sharing economy expands

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As someone that moves constantly….well not exactly constantly, but typically every two years, with bursts of increased activity which can result in interim moves of between five and six locations, so pretty serious moving. The idea of living like a millennial, which is to say – someone that takes their sharing versus owning, very seriously, is appealing. The freedom that goes along with a rental is, well liberating, particularly if that rental can’t be stuffed into one of two suitcases and carried away by ME.

Common . has arrived in Boston. Co-living.

Residential rental furniture seems to be the next wave in the sharing economy. Which should come as no surprise in the wake of the Air BnB and more recent Co-living craze (in case you missed it, this is furnished rental space that you can “let” for a week, a month, a year – in major cities. it’s just arrived in the Boston Area under the management of Common. You get your own room, plus a few amenities like toilet paper, cleaning service, olive oil – you know – the necessities, while you share the common space with others. Service compris). Now these newly minted home furnishing rental cos are targeting a bit of a different market. Think post-grads and young adults that have selected their city, are drowning in college loan debt, and yet, are ready to begin being. If they are anything like me, the beginning, without sounding too ungrateful, can look like a hodge-podge of undesirables and toss-aways, grouped together to make some semblance of a home. I once had a dinner party for two with a corrugated card board box covered in a cloth as a dining table. I kid you not. The indignity of it all.

Well, for those that are ready to get started with a little more style than that, ingenuity has arrived in the form of some pretty cool furniture rental companies. Or, I should say, almost arrived. The affordable ones appear to only serve the cities of NYC, LA, and Seattle – who knew. Boston cannot be far behind, and if Fernish, Feather or Everset don’t take up the challenge, I am certain others will. If I were a betting gal, and I am, I would say West Elm, who has been incredibly entrepreneurial for a big company – would get into this game.

Now I don’t want to ruffle Feather’s feathers, but the furnishings are not high style. No matter, they certainly will serve a market, as they offer a cohesiveness for the inbetweeners that is rather attractive. Rent it on a 3, 4, 6, or 12 month basis with an option to purchase. Throw in a design consultant, free delivery, set-up, and removal, and I am whistling dixie. How ’bout you?

The Everset . The Ellen . 5 piece set $28.00 a month

My final thought here, and perhaps its not an original one, but I dare say, there are others like me out there – well, not exactly like me – I’m rather unique, but like, in the way that they abhor moving, and marvel at the thought of someone taking care of it for them. Further, I would guess that there are others, like me, that have a hankering for change, that want to investigate different styles, and colors and moods. I know from personal experience that this changing of the mind thing is rather pricey, so here’s my thought – One King’s Lane should launch a rental division….look out 2020.

Fernish . The Roxbury . $261. a month

Decisions . Decisions

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Down to the wire on your holiday preparations? Or like me, you’ve decorated, but haven’t even purchased present number one. Feel stuck? Paralyzed by the sheer number of decisions that need to be made before the 25th rolls around? Let me add a little more pressure by saying that there are others in your life that work on a different timetable, and if you haven’t missed it already – you will soon.

Holiday chaos….will it matter to my happiness next year?

I arrived at the last appointment with my hair stylist before the holiday with no gift, and I spend more time with Briana every year than I do with my boss or my boyfriend. There were others too that have slipped by to date. I have in my mind some Type A organizational bandit that has all the most important people in their lives – birthdays carefully cataloged with notations about the type of present, the time of purchase, the accurate address, and have scheduled the purchase well in advance. They probably have pre-selected wrapping for the same. Me, I’m more like an old teddy bear running around town, with fluff falling out in small tufts everywhere I go. Granted, they are billowy, pretty little puffs of fluff – pale pink – but still, if I don’t collect them and stuff them back in, there will be nothing left of me when I arrive at the Christmas finish line. Now that won’t do at all.

Tara Westover and Educated – brilliant . inspirational .

I had the very distinct fortune to have attended the MA Women’t Conference on Thursday. The largest in the nation, 12,000 women in 12 men convene for what is a day long tournament of inspiration, intellect, and EXTRA-ordinary women. It began 17 year old Amanda Southworth. An iSO Developer and mental health and human rights activist, and went on to feature Yara Shahidi, Tara Westover, Malala Yousafzai, Megan Rapinoe and more. If you don’t know these wildly talented women – begin your exploration now.

One of my very favorite things to talk about…we all have a story,
make it a good one. Yara Shahidi

Today I want to talk about Annie Duke. Annie was a breakout session speaker, a World Champion Poker Player and an expert (cognitive scientist) on the subject of decision making. See where I am going with this? Today, I’m going to give you some of the basic facts about how we make decisions, waste time, and the cost of that approach to us personally and professionally, and in a future post I am going to show, how in the somewhat high stakes game of house flipping it applies – so you can apply it to your own life. While I am not an expert yet – these were my takeaways from her talk:

Over $4M reasons to believe she’s a pretty good decision maker.
  • Average person spends 150 minutes a week deciding what to eat,
  • Average person spends 50 minutes a week deciding what to watch on television (not actually watching – just deciding),
  • Average person spends 90 – 115 minutes deciding what to wear each week.

Annie’s framework is based on the idea that we spend a whole lot of time deciding about things that aren’t going to increase our happiness in the long run. Yes, it might ruin your lunch in the moment, but tomorrow, you’ll get to choose again. In most cases you are troubling over something that you can’t know anyway. Like poker – it’s a bet. You’re betting that the fish will be better than the chicken. When the stakes are low – you’ll have a chance to do it again – just decide, then incorporate the information into future decision making.

Luck + Skill + Life

I like this idea very much. Today, as I launch out with my list of people that I care deeply about, and whom make my life what it is, the pressure to be perfect will be dulled a little. After all, next year, God willing, I will have another whole chance to buy and try again. Annie did make $4.2M during her career, so I’m going to bet she knows a little something about decision making.

Hooked on the Holidays: Decorating without damage

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Mybellastoria – instagram beauty!

As you all know, because I’ve carried on about it ad nauseam, I have been working tirelessly to make this little lemon of home into a golden pear. It’s taken some doing, but this week I had my own little Christmas miracle in the form of Bruno Guerriero Construction Inc. Double emojoi hearts, and a huge namaste to this stellar crew. I am mustering all the light that shines in me, and am spraying it out in sparkling bursts of happiness onto YOU Bruno. My home is finally water tight, my wall is finally, well, a proper wall, with paint and everything. Hallelujah!

The Potted Boxwood

It was a whole three homes ago when I last had a Christmas tree and I miss it. The holiday season is one that I typically dread. It’s like the death march for me. Beginning in September with industry award season, it rolls right into Thanksgiving with a host of architectural open houses, and holiday galas that have me flitting around town every night of the week – and I mean every night – like I were Holly Golightly and it was my business to entertain – oh, it is my business. Any who, it can be exhausting, and I find myself just praying I’ll make it to Christmas day and can hide in my cozy bed all day after the presents are opened.

Magnetic Wreath Hooks

Not this year. I love the holidays and want to celebrate and decorate this festive season. I’ll hibernate January through March, but after all the work I did to get this zesty citrus twisted into shape, I sure as heck don’t want to deck it out, only to find holes and stripped paint patches left behind, so I embarked, in typical Falla – la – la – la fashion, on a research expedition on how to avoid just that. I found some simple, but pretty good recommendations that I am happy to share with you.

  • Magnetic Wreath Hooks: great for adhering to metal objects or double them up on the inside and outside of a window to get that clean, floating wreath look,
  • Command Hooks: you can purchase these inexpensive temporary hooks for use indoors or out. I even saw a really smart tip about leaving the tape in place for the following season – as long as its location isn’t somewhere visible to the eye – next year will be made that much easier,
  • Binder Clips: while I’m not suggesting you raid your office supplies, I bet you’ve brought a handful or two of these home over the years and they come in handy when you are attempting to get the light placement on a garland just right,
  • Glue Gun: Every now and then you need to take a little bit of a risk. I for one am not going to be placing anchors in the brick wall exterior on my home, so I’ll glue the lights around my door to the brick using a glue gun. Warning – monitor your own risk level before attempting – painted brick and/or stucco could lift off when you remove that lumpy glump of glue, post holiday. That is what we are attempting to avoid here.
Chronicles of Home

Lots to do to get my place decorated for my holiday cocktail get together Tuesday, so I will sign off. Happy Holiday weekend.

Unhinged: hidden doors

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With the holidays suddenly, oh so suddenly upon us, becoming unhinged might seem imminent. As a bit of a control freak, I find that during times like these – that is … massive amounts of disruption to one’s normal schedule…if you take the opportunity to just put a few things in order, it can make a world of difference to your mental health.

left: FritzJergens Pivot Hinge. Right: Soss Hidden Hinge.

Me, I like things to be clean, in their proper place. I know my boss will get a kick out of this when she reads it, because my office is typically a disaster. I’ve got stacks of priority stacks, emergency stacks, stacks that must be attended to before I leave for my next evening outing. I’ve got baubles, bells, lights, and ribbons, quotes, and mementos, inspiration photos and post-its full of ideas. My office is chaotic. Marie Kondo would have a fit – Lisa is kind enough to mostly leave me to it – even if – it – isn’t exactly what she had in mind. It’s a process.

In plain Site – a whole other room behind the bookcase.

So too is one’s home. Part of that process for me, has always been the hiding away of things. They call it a facade for a reason – it’s hiding something, even if that something isn’t a stack of magazines or dirty dishes stowed in the oven until the unexpected guests take their leave. Everyone has something to hide, which is why I love secret doors and compartments. It adds to the air of mystery that surrounds a person. It hints at the layers, their depth, the intrigue. Just when they (all those people in your life) think they have you all figured out, they discover, that that book shelf of yours, is actually hiding a passageway to a secret room.

The French knew – all those years ago. Curved door, curved molding, hidden hinges.

How you go about getting that hidden room, or door that looks like a wall, was initially, a tightly held secret. I knew that it could be done. I’ve seen the Oval Office, well not in person or anything, but on tv, and in movies, and the doors look like they are part of the room – no visible hinges. What a wonderful trick. For my Charlestown place I had to settle for a flush mount door with beveled molding, and visible hinges. Even though I hated conceding to a visible hinge , the door looked pretty good.

Even ship lap gets into the trend.

Today, hiding is made so much easier with pivot hinges. Concrete, tile, wood, whatever your material challenge, there is a hinge that can handle it. Soss can take on doors up to 1100 lbs, they’re pricey but that is a pretty big door. HD has options at a much more affordable price point, and there are many others in-between. Slap a little molding on an inexpensive flush mount door and paint it, and you have a work of hidden art. Add wall covering and you’ll really have them fooled.

Just think, if the holidays get really tough, you’ll have a place to stow away for a few blissful hours – drama free.

Birds of paradise…dare to dream there’s an en suite bath on the other side of that door.