It has been such a great summer in California, and in a few days, we'll be heading back home. It's always a joy to come out here and experience all that the West Coast has to offer in design inspiration. Yesterday I tried to get in a few more that I hadn't already seen.

This newsletter is sponsored by West Elm, where you can find beautiful pieces for inside and outside your home.

Before we get into it, I just want to shout out Matt Ragland, who believed strongly in me and was very helpful in getting me set up and getting the newsletter off the ground.

Last summer, after being away for months, my wife and I walked back into our house and immediately said to each other: "What a beautiful home this is." We saw it with completely fresh eyes. Details we'd stopped noticing suddenly felt intentional again.

On Thursday, we drove along a gorgeous tree-lined street all the way up to the top of a hill in La Canada Flintridge to attend a party hosted by LUMENS & Architectural Digest at a 1973 Ray Kappe house.

We finally wrapped up our life for the spring and headed out to the West Coast for the summer. It’s become a cherished ritual, and it’s not lost on me how fortunate we are to do this.

This week, Todd Snyder opened a new store in Nashville. It's a brand I've always been drawn to. The store is a beautiful space. Concrete floors meet warm wood-paneled walls. Roman and Williams fixtures hang from the ceiling. It feels refined, but not precious—cool, but not try-hard.

Christopher Alexander wasn’t a starchitect. He cared about how places made people feel — and he spent his life trying to articulate why some spaces feel good, and others don’t.

This past week was nonstop.

Client deadlines. Brand shoots. Endless decisions that couldn’t be handed off — too many of them required judgment, taste, and a dozen micro-choices you just can’t outsource.

The most critical tool in design—and in any creative work—is taste.

Not in the precious, elite sense of the word. I mean your personal preferences. Your eye. Your gut reaction. What you think is beautiful, interesting, ugly, or off.

In a world of copycat content and algorithm-shaped aesthetics, taste is what sets you apart.

It’s also what people hire you for if you are a designer.

As a designer, few things are more exciting than a box full of potential—swatches, tiles, slabs, and hardware, all waiting to spark an idea. Recently, I had the chance to try out DesignShop, an online sample marketplace that makes it easy to order materials from top brands—all in one place.

I was thinking this week about what I’d do if I were a new designer starting from scratch. No clients, no portfolio, just passion and a desire to make beautiful spaces. It’s daunting. But here’s the thing: the best way to start is to start. Get your hands dirty, make something, and tell the world about it.

It’s surprising what you can accomplish in a single day—if no one interrupts you. But those kinds of days are usually rare.

Our houses often reflect what we believe about ourselves.

If you're reading this newsletter, I'd bet you're the type of person who doesn't just want a "nice" home - you want something that speaks to who you are and says something.

We're coming to you live from San Diego. Here for a wedding and just got to explore La Jolla Cove.

Our house has always had great untapped potential. While we have improved it enormously over the last few years, there is always more to do.

If you are a regular reader, I am sure you can relate.

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.

Spring has sprung here in Nashville, and it's my favorite time of year. It's beautiful, warm, and breezy weather, and everyone is out walking.

For me, though, it's the flowering trees. They're all the more special because they only last a few weeks.

I saw the photo below online and decided to purchase the book it was featured in.

It's The Lighting Book by Deyan Sudjic, published in 1985.

Apologize for the later-than-typical delivery. I was in Park City, hence the delay.

Such a gorgeous place. I had never been there, and I was so fortunate to stay at a friend of a friend's overlooking the mountains.