This week, I’m going to begin sharing our interior design process, which, as you’ll see, is like looking into a kaleidoscope—with each turn of the shaft, or, rather, each grouping of furniture and materials, you get a new pattern and perspective on how a space can feel. I asked Frances Merrill of Reath Design, our designer, how she thinks about things like mood boards, color palettes, and process when shaping the look of a house. Our conversation is below, including the amazing mood board her team put together, which became a road map for us all.

But first, two other updates.

Earlier this week, I chatted with Gretchen Rubin, the best-selling author, podcast host, and now writer of “Secrets of Adulthood,” in which she explores the wisdom people gain over the course of their lives. I shared a few of my own insights during our conversation—hope you’ll check it out, and sign up for her newsletter.

Also, in my last post I mentioned that Tad and I were feeling regret about not planning to have a tiny door in the shared wall between our offices, so we could ask questions/whisper sweet nothings to each other. We sent a late-in-the-game request to Barbara/Frances/Evan asking if it would be possible to add it on a small budget. The Bestor team hopped in with a quick sketch of how it could work, but it was clearly more complex than our budget would allow—not their fault, just the reality of building a mini door through a wall and millwork. Reath delivered the final blow gently: “Hi, chiming in: It’s a cute idea, wish we had considered it earlier! From having a couple of casual conversations with Tony [our millwork carpenter] and Armando [the site supervisor], it’s sounding like this will come in over $1,000. It would also create a snowball of delays for wallpaper, lighting, and potentially furniture installation. It’s not impossible to reschedule, but it’s a hectic time of year for our installers with the holidays approaching.”

Lesson learned: think of all the fun design features before the work has started. And on that note, onward to my convo with Frances!

Yours in still learning the secrets of adulthood,

Amanda ...