Designing Through the Chaos: Interior Design, Summer Camp Drop-Offs & Pickleball Glory
Let’s just say it: summer is beautiful... and also mildly unhinged.
One minute you’re lighting a citronella candle and sipping something that contains at least one sprig of mint, and the next you’re triple-booked between a wallpaper delivery, camp pick-up that “absolutely cannot be late again,” and a surprisingly intense pickleball tournament you signed up for on a whim.
Somehow, amidst it all, we’re still making beautiful spaces happen—and if that’s not a design miracle, I don’t know what is.
The Juggle Is Real
Summer in my world means interior design deadlines are mingling with sunscreen-stained schedules and rogue popsicles melting in the back of the car. While you’re dreaming up the perfect grasscloth for the powder room, your child is yelling from the backseat that they forgot their water bottle...again. And guess what? You're ten minutes into traffic and twentyaway from camp.
Don’t worry—your contractor also just texted that they’re “running early.”
Camp Brain + Client Meetings
There is a very specific cognitive dissonance that comes from discussing custom drapery pleats while mentally calculating whether there’s enough turkey left at home for tomorrow’s lunchbox sandwich.
You’ve got one foot in elevated transitional luxury, and the other in Pinterest lunchbox hacks. It's a vibe. It’s called “August Working Parent Chic.”
Pickleball Is...a Lifestyle Now?
I don’t know how it happened. One day I was recommending performance fabrics for sunrooms, the next I was getting slightly competitive over a plastic ball with holes in it.
Suddenly, all I want is a chic-yet-functional court-side cabana. Do I have time to design one? Absolutely not. Am I pinning them at 10:43 p.m. after everyone’s asleep? You bet.
Designing Through the Madness
Despite the chaos, I love this season of work. There’s something energizing about designing homes while clients are also living their full lives—traveling, entertaining, relocating kids to college, hosting spontaneous summer dinners. It forces us to be clear, focused, and yes...a little more fun with our choices.
Summer has a way of loosening everything up, which sometimes leads to more playful palettes, more confident choices, and a little less overthinking.
A Reminder for Us All
It's okay if your sample review is done in a swimsuit.
It’s okay if your Zoom has background noise that sounds suspiciously like SpongeBob.
It’s okay if your client meeting gets pushed 15 minutes because of pickleball playoffs. (Ahem.)
We’re all doing our best, and beautiful design can—and does—happen even in the middle of a sun-soaked, slightly sticky, joyfully messy summer.
xo,
Kelsey
