gates, gardens & glass

This week's sponsor is McMillan Floors. Whether you need LVP, Laminate, or Engineered Hardwood, they have beautiful colors, a high wear rating, and are built for busy homes.

Our Arrington Woods gate is coming along in a big way this week. It's looking terrific. The block houses the whole mechanical apparatus for opening the huge, heavy gate. It's a little wild to see this because not long ago, it was just a mediocre sketch.

It's a reminder that you can do things.

We're feeling great about this development and the design of our first home. Another house that had a similar courtyard style layout just sold for way over asking nearby. The area is growing rapidly, and it's gratifying to see that some of your instincts years ago were correct.

When we started conceptualizing Arrington Woods, I saw the following product repeated over and over everywhere in the area: flat, treeless neighborhoods from converted farmland with giant boxy 2-story McMansions that were a bastardization of classical architecture.

The concept we created was the opposite on both fronts: a compelling, naturally beautiful landscape with lots of topography, vistas, boulders, and trees, paired with gorgeous homes nestled gracefully in the landscape - all of it built in a muscular transitional style that respected the land.

Maybe I will eat my words at the end of this process, but I think many people don't know what they want until they see it. If you are a creative, your gift might be the ability to see those things before the masses do.

My friend Zach Pogrob, who is building a beautiful vibe-heavy running app called Aura, said the following, and I think it's true, but not just for social media.

Creativity is just fusing parts of the past and present together to create something novel and beautiful.

I am overwhelmed at the amount of opportunity today for really interesting one-person businesses, whether it is software, physical goods, or a service.

Aura screenshot. More software/apps should feel emotional & magical instead of just technically efficient.

I had lunch with my cousin Henry yesterday. He's a partner in Moon - they make these portable shades for vans and RVs.

We were talking about the explosion of garden content and interest in gardening, and how there is a strong audience overlap with people who love RVs & camping.

Interest in the outdoors, botanical life, camping, gardening, and plants keeps growing in proportion to our removal from the physical world by our technology.

Whether it's homesteading, farming, cooking, flowers, landscape design, pools, saunas, lighting, or food, there is so much opportunity for brands and individuals to lean in.

It seems like there are more farmers' markets than ever before in our area. Given the increased consciousness around food quality and agriculture over the last few years, I know many (not all) folks would love to buy quality food & goods from faces they know and trust.

Maybe that face could be you? Something to chew on.

Even just presenting products/photography outside instead of indoors in a studio is compelling in and of itself.