Immediate Gratification
And by "immediate" I mean March of 2026
When I was an architecture student I once answered a casting call to audition for a show called Knock First!, a program about remodeling teen bedrooms. I wasn’t doing well in school and part of me was looking for a credible way to drop out. My inner voice was like, “well, the height of fame and prestige is Trading Spaces, and if I was half as successful as Ty Pennington or Genevieve Gorder I will be taken seriously for the rest of my life!” So I drove to New York and took my shot, which involved waiting in a sad, crowded hallway for a chance to enter a sad, crowded production office.
When it was my turn I was asked to freestyle ideas around redecorating a teen boy’s bedroom while three cameras filmed me from different angles. The table of producers sensed my bewildered energy and suggested I “amp up my personality”. This advice hit me like a frozen pizza to the face, and I completely forgot why I was there and what I was doing - I believe the technical term is “choked”. Unfortunately I was still aware I was losing the room, losing my chance, and my solution, (buckle-up), was to improv a scene where I advised putting mirrored tiles on the ceiling of this imaginary teen’s room. The teen (who was being played very dynamically by the casting director) was into this idea.
Gross and ew, but I was only 24 years old and I thought this was a cool and appropriate idea. Fast forward to the show not getting picked up, and instead of being bummed, I had clarity that I would never audition for TV again. Wasn’t built for it. Long-form, perfection-based, cream-of-the-crop interior design was the life for me!
Happily this experience didn’t put me off makeover shows. I never stopped loving them, even though over time I got cranky about how HGTV perverts people’s expectations around budget and timeline. Every episode of Love it or List it when prickly British Hilary makes magic with no dollars, I feel the need to rail about the accuracy. It’s simply not possible, even in 2011 suburban Canada, to pull off a structural retrofit, new kitchen, new stairs, new pool, new rec-room, and all new furniture for $100k. And everyone in my family is aware of this and tired of hearing it.
Then something started to shift. I read Ezra Klein’s Abundance where he makes the case that doing things quickly is its own reward. I redid my daughter’s bedroom to that cream-of-the-crop standard in four weeks. I watched Rock the Block (recommended by my friends Michelle and Barack), and saw my actual friend Alison Victoria absolutely crush the renovation of a basic-ass 5500 sq ft house in six weeks. I still take issue with the budget, but I’m at a point where I can admit you can do a lot, a TON, in a few months. Not everything has to take years. And I want to invite more of this energy into my life.
To that end, I want to do a six-month design project with someone. I’m calling it a Charrette Project, and the idea is to take six weeks to design, then two weeks to noodle and edit. Four months to shop, fabricate, scour, paint, wallpaper, sew, stage, and then six months from now, we install. We would need to trust each other, trust the process, trust that after 20 years I would never suggest mirroring anyone’s, especially not your son’s, bedroom ceiling. If this sounds interesting I have a few more questions, and a few ideas about how much it would cost. If you are curious click here…
In the meantime, I promised IG I would give a tour of my daughter’s speed makeover when it was done, and friends, it delivered! My husband described it as “the opposite of bang-for-buck” but it felt really nice to do something in my house that is up to the scratch of a RAD client project. And if, like Ezra says, there is value in doing things fast then this was actually a ton of value. Perhaps even, a ton of dime for the time? I can workshop this phrasing but I trust this crowd knows what I mean.
FEATURE: JUST ONE KID’S BEDROOM
Just one kid, but a very special kid! My 14 year old daughter, Lily. She’s a lamb-chop with a passion for stuff, and has always, since she was little, had multiple areas of treasure all over her room. Art, Lego, books, Woobles, gear, goggles, hats, sweatshirts, jewelry, shinguards, stuffies, it goes on. I once asked her to watch Marie Kondo thinking she might get inspired to streamline, and instead she went upstairs and hugged both of her "toilet paper roll collections" and told me with a sincere face that they sparked joy and she was unwilling to part with either of them.
So that’s who we’re dealing with. It was impossible to keep her room tidy, plus I think years of growing out of your clothes and shoes every nine months caught up with the closet. She was due for a purge.
The design phase was a dream, we treated her to real choices and drew elevations and floor plans that she approved. We used RAD Goods and got custom cabinetry, went from two hideous lamps to (I hesitate to say this because it’s so over-the-top) eight sources of task and ambient light. Most of which turn on at the new Forbes & Lomax switch bank, but the reading, desk and vanity sconces are switched at the unit. We went from 25 linear feet of storage to 75 linear feet. Storage is king, America. And we also saved. The mirror is from Urban Outfitters, the bed is from CB2. The Aalto table was from a sketchy guy on Craigslist.
So this video is a test to see if my children read my Substack. They subscribe, but something tells me they would never make it this far. If they do this will likely be taken down by tomorrow! But it’s cute as hell, my favorite part is the beginning where you can hear Andrew saying in the background “move that bus”, a callout to the OG most popular home show ever, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
Thank you to Ali and then Alex in my office for tag-teaming the design, the value engineering and the expediting. Andrew project managed and Chris McDermott was our amazing contractor who was sweetly willing to take on such a small project, and hit every single deadline. Anel Clay sewed the curtain liners and bed canopy panels beautifully. Can’t wait to work together again soon, the rest of the bedrooms in my house await!
FIVE THINGS: SPLURGE VS. STEAL
I didn’t invent the concept of high/low but I’m a real devout practitioner. To wit:
LOW: Dumb Trendy Mirror. I’m irrationally proud of this one, it’s so goofy and happy and feels like a teen! Without this the room could feel too mature.
HIGH: RAD Goods Wallpaper in Sunblock. I thought I would be getting a sweetheart deal but turns out the quality is quite high on our products, and even with my own discount I still count this as a splurge. n.b. it is also my number one needle-moving atmosphere sweetening pick on this list.
LOW: Used Marble Saarinen Table. At any given moment there are always a few Saarinen tables on Craigslist. Maybe today they’re not your preferred size, but within three weeks I predict yours will pop up. Be willing to accept some dings and do your own pickup and you can pay hundreds not thousands.
HIGH: Forbes & Lomax Switches and Outlets. This room was one of the last rooms in the house to not have F&L and it brings me so much joy to have these throughout, even in the closets.
LOW: Wireless Reading Lights. They say they’re from Sweden but you best believe they arrived from China. I stuck them to the wall behind the bed for directional reading, they recharge with a C-cord and they are 2700K temperature. They tap on and off and are totally functional and cheerful.
Who is jazzed about getting it done without overthinking it? In a predictable window of time! I am already planning my next improvement and welcome a conversation with anyone who might want to do the same.
Thank you as always for reading, if you want to support the MiniMag without much effort please click the heart! It helps with discovery. Love you all,
Last Word: A nip of my omnivore’s book club where I never tag the author because I like to let ’er rip on all books great and sleazy. Almost 200 book reviews of all flavors saved in stories
Obviously it had to be Abundance. I’m probably the 99th person to suggest it to you, but maybe the first to tie it to a decorating project?
I thoroughly enjoy every post of your minimag. Never know what personal revelations you’ll share and I always love you more each time. Would be fun to nominate myself for charrette but then that’d just be me gilding the lily. Kinda like the way I wear jewelry, I guess. More is more! XXOO
I hope Charrette is a success because in 2-3 years, it sounds perfect for us... Unfortunately, just not right now. Thanks for sharing your daughter's room, so inspiring.