Welcome back 🙂 The EHD crew had a much-needed break with our friends and family, away from computers and I was even pretty off social media, which always feels so thrilling. My family went to Colorado where I fell in love with Cross Country Skiing, The Ducks were destroyed at the Rose Bowl which was devastating to my Brian, and the rain might finally stop here (so glad we got away for a bit, it’s been unrelenting). We have a new Portland team member starting today (Hi Marlee!) and I’ve been in dreaming and planning mode, with some fresh New Year energy. So looking at the 2025 calendar is very exciting because it feels pretty well mapped out, with some bigger shoots/projects (fairly spaced out) and some great fun easier projects. I always think it’s fun (and nosy) to know what is happening in other people’s businesses and while I can’t tell you everything here are some things that the EHD team will be up to (and some hints of the secret stuff).
Finish The River House
We are almost done with this beauty and plan on shooting the living room, dining room, kitchen, and office/game room in February and March. Why the wait? Well, we are waiting on some furniture and decor that we’ve designed that aren’t ready yet:) Tomorrow you’ll see the laundry room and soon after, the primary closet (all shot in December) and we have two more bathrooms that should be revealed soon. But the main spaces are planned but we are in a waiting game on pieces.
Family Promise Decoration
In case you aren’t familiar with this, Family Promise is a hotel-turned-family shelter that houses up to 72 families and we have been collaborating on helping them with a massive renovation. They ended up getting some huge grants for the renovation which is awesome and we weighed in on some decisions. Now that phase one is done we have two big spaces to decorate (the playroom and the multi-desk social work room).
We hope to start these rooms in January with a reveal in April. We already 1/2 designed and installed four other rooms that are furnished/painted but need some styling so you’ll see those this year, too. While I had originally thought I would be more hands-on with the renovation and picking the more permanent finishes, the building company and their architecture firm were moving fast to make decisions and stay within a very tight commercial budget. Honestly, I was just mucking it up and complicating it too much. So we are involved in the decoration and furnishing which is my sweet spot anyway (turns out budget-friendly commercial design is very limiting!).
Our Garages
Well, I know we’ve been threatening to do this project for a while but we’ve needed to save money and honestly, mentally prepare for another big construction project on our property. My brother and his friend have started a construction business so they are tackling it (already demoed). The intent is to make it as functional/safe/finished as possible on a “budget” (LOL) mostly for storage, tool org, and projects (not for cars for us, but making them, of course, work for future car use). Once this garage is done we can move all of our props, rug, and furniture storage in here (plus have a project space) and get started on the other house on the property (you know, the one that is 200 years old and dripping with charm and asbestos/lead paint/mold/rot with no plumbing, electrical or HVAC – SHE’S A DOOZY). So this garage kinda has to happen for us to keep moving on rehabbing the rest of the property. It’s just the least fun way to spend money, but we’ll document it all for you. Hilariously, garage content does really well so that’s good!
Outdoor BBQ Area
When we first landscaped we knew that we were neglecting a proper BBQ area, but we simply didn’t know where we would want to grill/hang out and we were frankly so over budget we just had to call it and wait for phase 2. After living through two summers here (and rolling around a $100 gas grill on the sports court) we know exactly where it should go. So yes, we are putting in an outdoor kitchen as well as getting rid of a 1/3 of the sports court to have more natural landscaping areas. We are working with RTA on the kitchen and Dennis’ 7Dees on the new landscaping around the kitchen and near the hopefully finished pickleball court. Reveal by April, we hope.
Secret Product Line
This last year we’ve been developing a line we are excited to debut in March. We even did a secret trip to the factory to approve everything (which we LOVED). Our big shoot is in January for a spring launch. Stay tuned.
More Rugs And Maybe Even Lighting?
We are working on the next rug launch (going to be a nice pivot as well as more colors in the ones that we love). And it’s going so well that we are pitching a lighting line. A huge thanks to my team for being able to handle these bigger new collabs so well 🙂
New Emily + Brian Venture
Brian and I are launching a side business that is far more personal (not design-related at all) that we are so excited about – he’ll be running lead, I’m kinda working for him. More to come soon, but we’ve been working on it for a couple of months and it’s all happening 🙂
Stuff At My House
Last year I had a list of stuff to get done – the family gallery wall up the stairs, kitchen cafe curtains, pleated lampshades for the living room, painting the living room fireplace, stenciling the landing floor, repainting our bedroom, designing our custom bed so the one we designed for the guest room could move up there. Sure, I thought/worked on that a decent amount but accomplished none of them.
We’ll also be mentoring a local PDX family through a renovation (look for the application details this Saturday) and am excited to do a lot more vintage shopping posts (twist my arm), long-form educational design reels, and IRL problem-solving for friends and family.
Oh and yes many of you have asked about Jess and Caitlin’s MOTO (they are almost done, we swear!) and Gretchen is working on hers as well. We are shooting my friend Robyn’s living and dining room next week and another friend’s later this spring. OH, I FORGOT TO TELL YOU – we have to rebrand and rebuild the whole site (not a cheap and fast process, but I’m finally ready to do it with more clarity on what I want it to change into).
2024 was honestly such a good year (I can’t say that with as much enthusiasm about every year, TBH) and there were still a lot of holes, opportunities for change/improvements, and things to tweak – but all doable and fun. I’m just so excited to start the year with another awesome team member up in Portland to help us execute all that we want to and by doing so make room for some new opportunities while spending a lot of time with my kids since we are T-minus 7 years til they both graduate high school. I’m feeling so grateful to have an incredible team and that you are all here reading and caring. We appreciate the heck out of you. Now let’s go 2025 🙂
All Professional Photos by Kaitlin Green
THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED HERE.
