romance vs. efficiency
Yesterday, I was strolling through our neighborhood with my daughter, surrounded by charming historic homes and a few new ones.
She’s got a good eye, pointing out the stark contrast between the elegance of older houses and cars and the bland utility of the new stuff.
Clearly, she takes after her old man.
There’s something special about vehicles from the mid-'80s and earlier, or homes built before the ‘40s. They’ve got a soul—an aesthetic grace that’s been swapped out for calculated efficiency in what came later.
Who is doing this today? Somebody should; people would buy it.
There's clearly been a broad societal tradeoff: efficiency over aesthetics.
It reminded me: Design is not an efficient process.
It’s messy, time-consuming, and gloriously impractical. To nail a project, you’ve got to tinker endlessly, juggling elements until they click. Then, you weave every room into a cohesive story—a sometimes chaotic tango between contractors, owners, architects, and me.
It’s a craft that is hard to scale. You need to be obsessed.
And yet, design’s inefficiency is its magic.
I lose myself in it—hours vanish as I chase that perfect harmony of color, pattern, and form. You pull on a thread and make something out of nothing.
If you’re searching for direction, pay attention to what sucks you in like that. It’s a strong clue.
The reward isn’t just the outcome; it’s the plunge itself.
I observed the same thing in gardening and fitness—two other corners of my world where doing is part of the payoff.
Planting a garden or going for a run isn’t about saving time; it’s inefficient. It's way easier to do neither. But you fall in love with the process. Start running daily, and your pace improves fast. Tend a garden for a few weeks, and suddenly, it blooms and gives back abundantly.
Design is the same—dive in deep, and you will improve. If you put 30 rooms together, I promise #30 will be better than #1.
Over the years, I've tried many things, made plenty of missteps, and eked out a few wins.
But everything good in my life has come from two things: chasing what totally captivates me and building relationships with high-agency, high-integrity people.
Anything that ended up being a waste of time was always a result of convincing myself to do something I hated.
Inefficiency for the sake of passion eventually leads to the right place if you focus.
The great thing about the internet today is that there is an audience for anything you are really interested in. With focus, you can build your business around it.
The best way to take something seriously is to find what you get lost in.
Do that, and you’ll keep going longer than the rest, not because you have to, but because you can’t stop.
color palettes from anything
Overwhelmed by color and paralyzed with indecision? Most give up and default to neutral.
Want to explore new palettes and push yourself in your home and projects?
Start poaching colors from other areas of your life - you can get them anywhere.
I've talked about using your wardrobe before.
Another thing you can do is look at ads and put together rooms based on their palettes.
If it is good enough to have made it through a marketing team and into a magazine, it will probably work in your living room.
You could do this with a pair of shoes, a piece of art, or a floral arrangement.
What I love about design and creativity is the unlimited connections you can make across mediums and lines of work.
Keep pulling the thread, and great things can happen.
