Inside the Irvington Home Tour

Hey there! 

Haven’t you always wanted to be a fly on a wall? I got to be just that a few weeks ago, and it was really cool. I stood in the dining room and the primary bedroom of a house I know intimately, one we had the great pleasure of designing, as part of this year’s Irvington Home Tour. Over 1,500 people passed through that Sunday. Most of them didn’t know who I was, which was so awesome.

I got to hear and see the unfiltered reactions - the gasps, the wows, the curious side glances - what a rare gift. One moment, someone would be completely taken with a design detail; the next, someone else would whisper, “Well, I’d never do that in my house.” And honestly? I loved hearing all of it.

One gal stopped, gasped, bent forward a little bit, and covered her mouth with her hand. Her eyes were huge. Then exclaimed “I freaking love this room, I love this whole house!” Man, that felt so damn good.

We were visited by Chelly Whentworth (who worked with us on this design before going out on her own), Betsy Brandenberg, my business coach and Robin Fisher, former boss and current head of PCC Sylvania's Interior Design program and all dear friends!

It reminded me of something simple, but important: when a home makes people feel something, even something polarizing - that’s when you know it’s alive. That’s when design is doing its job. This year’s tour left me deeply inspired. Not just by the architecture (which was stunning), but by the individuality and boldness in every single home. None of them were trend-chasers. They weren’t designed to please or to perform. They felt honest. Clever. Sometimes even a little irreverent, in the best way.

All of the houses had their own vibes, but there was one home that stuck with me (aside from ours, of course), it was house #2. The house itself was stunning, but it was the way it was decorated that I loved. They had like 5 or 6 kids 🤯, but the house did NOT give that away. It was sexy. Not in a predictable way. The decor was like that older woman who knows who she is in the world, and when she walks in the room, she draws everyone's attention. You want to get to know her, sit and talk for hours with her as you sip a cool drink while your head bobs to some great old school funk, and you just hope some of the awesomeness rubs off on you a bit. This house was COOL!

Our Irvington Prairie Style Reimagined project — featured on this year’s Irvington Home Tour, in collaboration with Arciform.

There’s something incredibly generous — and brave — about opening your home to strangers. About letting people wander through and form their opinions, knowing full well they might not “get it.” That kind of vulnerability in design is rare. And beautiful.

Our clients worked their butts off to prepare their home for this and to give this opportunity to us and Arciform. Arciform, too, worked their butts off to bring it all together for everyone to have the best possible experience. These are the people we align with and count ourselves lucky to call friends, partners, and clients.

One thing I kept saying to people during the tour: “You couldn’t find a single one of these homes on Instagram.” And I meant it as a compliment. These weren’t algorithm-friendly houses. They weren’t trying to be digestible or replicable. They were real. Thoughtful. Specific. The kind of homes you have to feel in person. No AI could have imagined them. And that’s exactly the point.

Our home, our client's home, is so them. That’s why it didn’t bug me at all when people didn’t “get it,” and thrilled me when they did. Those who did so took away the essence of who our clients are. Kim and I are so lucky that we get to work with a wide variety of styles and great people. We don’t promote a look or a style. We have a point of view, of course, but we love projecting the best of our clients and who they are, and seeing people enjoy who our clients are was really, really heartwarming for me because our clients are super cool people. 

It’s not always easy to take design risks. But it’s the only way I know how to create something that lasts — not just physically, but emotionally. That day on the tour reminded me: safe isn’t always satisfying. And beautiful doesn’t always mean expected.

Diana Vreeland said it best: “Give them what they never knew they wanted.”

Take the risk, don’t follow the pack, get away from the boring algorithm, and just be yourself. That’s where home is, and it’s what people want to feel. At home.

Thanks for reading yet another one of these! Take care of yourself and each other!

‘Til next time,

Arlene