In 2008, I bought the worst house on the best block and knew I would transform it. For over ten years, the garden, tenants’ apartments and exterior of the house have been brought back to life. My own apartment on the first floor…well…as friends and family can attest—it’s a hot mess. But it’s time.

The Plan: Over the coming months, the first floor is returning to its 19th century floor plan. The quirky all baby blue 1950s bathroom remains and gets light and the influence of Mama Kitty, my grandmother’s sense of style. The kitchen will combine practicality and ever changing artwork. The library will evoke Victorian lushness with wood, leather, warmth and comfort. The living room will be the airy formal space for intense conversation over drinks and take-out. The office will be my homage to James McNeill Whistler’s Peacock Room. The studio’s tumbling always in process projects will framed in glass. The hallways will be surreal—an enchanted forrest and glittering disco. The bedroom will be a quiet nest.

There are Pinterest boards, scrapbooks, mood boards, instagram posts, paint chips, tile samples, books and binders of plots and plans. There’s a budget. There’s a hoard of stuff collected over the years. There is also house and people history to tell the story of one house in a small American city.

If you know me, you know it’s not going to look like anything else. If you don’t yet know me—get ready.