Whether you’re moving into a new into a new space or rethinking your current one, deciding on a realistic budget can be a challenge—it’s by far the hardest question my clients have to answer. I love finding creative ways to save money in clients’ homes (and in mine as well)—and it’s actually easier than you might think! My general rule is to spend a little more on the most hard-wearing, used items in your home — your mattress and appliances, for example. Then, if you’re on a budget, try to save everywhere else.
How exactly do you save money when designing your home? There are a million different small ways (literally—Pinterest is full of them), but here are my personal tips for decorating on a tight budget…
I can’t stop thinking about the episode of This American Life I listened to a couple of weeks ago—one that originally aired in 2011—about middle school. The whole thing is wonderful, but if you are pressed for time, listen at least through the end of Act Two—which is spent interviewing 12- and 13-year-olds about middle school dances. For those first 20 minutes, I could not turn off the car. I was cringing, laughing, and at times feeling emotional imagining Hudson and Skyler in eight or so years.
Prompted by an email from a 14-year-old listener who wondered why TAL had never reported on the “whitewashed, brick-walled, iron-gated prison that is commonly known as middle school,” Ira Glass explains, “she wondered was it just as bad for other people as it was for them?”
Listening, it all came flooding back to me: Middle school! Oh my gosh—it’s exactly like it was and always has been. It’s absolutely so awkward. And it’s true that there’s very little that captures it. Aron and I were trying to name a show that really gets at the heart of that gawky in-between phase. We came up with parts of The Wonder Years and parts of Freaks and Geeks… and maybe a few scenes from Dazed and Confused, but middle school does get a bit passed over in favor of the high school genre.
But it struck me as kind of amazing how timeless these kids’ experiences felt. For all the talk about how ‘kids these days’ are so different, what struck me was how these ones were so the same!
You really have to listen to catch all of the nuances (and to hear their voices). There’s no way I can do it justice. But just for the sake of discussion, I’m going to try…
Last weekend we drove up to Tahoe as the snow accumulated around us. It was a nice surprise: first, we are grateful for any additions to the snow mass in California, and second, we got to wake up to fresh powder—which I haven’t had the pleasure of doing many times in my life. I’ve posted some photos below.
Now, after a rough week with both kids getting sick, we’re on the mend and headed back up. I imagine it will look completely different. (Here’s a visit we took one year in May.)
