2019 Year In Review + House Update
2019 Year In Review + House Update
I am writing this on one of the last days of the decade. Feels super weird to even say that. This year has brought some of the best things and some unforeseen very difficult things. There’s a lot I wish I could say that unfortunately I can’t due to ongoing litigation. One day maybe, or maybe never. Either way, this is the story of 2019 and all that it brought for StruckSured & our house! Buckle up… It’s a long one!
STRUCKSURED:
1) We worked on 21 projects this year!
What? Even just writing that feels incredible. Some of those were overlap from the previous year and some of them were repeat customers who had new areas they wanted to work on. Some big and some super small. This year we also did a couple commercial projects with the VA in conjunction with a local engineering firm. All in all, what an amazing year of projects. So what that tells me is we need to get better about photographing our projects!!
2) Passed the NCIDQ!!
This was one of the biggest accomplishments of the year for me personally. It was always a goal to pass this exam and be able to have the credential. Although it is not required in our state, it was still something I wanted to do for myself and for the design community at large! I am so grateful that I passed on the first go around! Cheers to that baby!
3) We secured a new office location — coming may of 2020!
We had been looking for a forever home for quite some time and I am so thrilled to announce it is coming!!! We had a long list of demands and requirements for a space and they included:
ADA compliant and accessible with direct access to outside
Bathroom & Kitchen included
Open floor plan with room to grow and shape the space as we need
Free parking
Views of the Gorge or access to natural light. This is a big one for me since I really need to be around natural light to be creative.
Be a space that feels inspiring and reflects who we are and where we are going as a company
Literally this space has it all. I almost cried when I toured it. We are waiting for the current tenant to move out in April so bear with our nomadic lifestyle until then. Also, I wish I could say that we have designed out the space and are putting a ton of money into it to make it perfect but, in truth, I am just excited to take the space as is and see what life comes to it with time. When I was in there it felt like a blank canvas (quite literally since it has bare white walls). I feel like I need to just dwell in the space a bit and really let the voice of this year come to light before I know what I want for this place. For now, it’s a place to call home and I am just so grateful.
2020 GOALS
I am a big fan of giving voice to our goals and putting them out to the public as a form of accountability and support. So here are some things we will be looking forward to implementing and trying out this coming year!
Being available for remote design. We have had a few inquiries over the past year for people out of the area. Up until now we have declined this type of work but feel like we are dialed in with our system to where this is an option. Are you outside the Gorge and looking for help? Reach out!
Develop stronger relationships with builders and GC’s both in our community and outside out community. As a design studio, we know that out referrals to builders is highly regarded and a reflection of our own work. We desire to be able to bring together good builders with our good Clients. It’s good business and good for our projects. That’s a lot of good. I know when we refer builders outside of the the Gorge that brings some mixed feelings. I get it. Truth is that the demand for work exceeds the amount of builders we have and sometimes the caliber of work that someone from Portland may bring will be a better fit for the project success. That is not true in all cases and we love the builders we work with locally. But if they are tied up and busy for 18+ months, we have to be able to help connect Clients to other options.
Host community events to help DIY-ers get the building blocks they need to be successful. We have A LOT of very skilled people in our community. The amount of projects we do where the builders are actually the homeowners is really high. I would love to help give the tools needed to help elevate your projects with some simple foundational tidbits that will bring your project to perfection. We love educating and I find that DIY-ers love to learn. It’s a win win.
Photograph our projects — both big and small. I know this is a silly goal to write but it is really hard to remember to do this for each and every project. Photographing it takes time but we understand the value of you being able to see what we do.
Update the studio — as needed. This is one that will happen late into the year. Like I mentioned above, I really want to be in the space and see how it feels to have our own design studio before I design it out. It feels like the most respectful thing to do. So my hope would be that we could get in there in May, live in it awhile, and update it as we hear it start to speak. I see myself sitting in there with it completely empty just sitting on the floor. I am really experiential and for whatever reason I need to feel the space before I can see beyond that point. It’s a strange feeling since I usually scan see the end result from the moment I get in the space. But, as I step into a new year, I am learning to give space for the new voices of direction.
Continue to serve our community through the services we offer. This is simple. We want to keep doing design for real people who have tangible needs for their spaces. It’s what we live and breathe and I am grateful to get to wake up and do it each and every day.
OUR HOUSE:
This year was the year we had hoped to be in our house. Through long delays and work that had to be redone (sometimes three times…..) we knew it just wasn’t going to happen. So instead of letting that defeat us, we channeled it for purpose and tried our best to bring light back into the house. There were days where the work we poured in felt very therapeutic and brought tremendous healing. Here are some of the moments in 2019 that brought us to today:
1) drywall repairs
I had no idea how much I could enjoy filling holes and gaps and making clean lines around our black windows. I think it took me a whole weekend to do one room. We ended up hiring someone to come help finish but I felt so proud that I at least tried and succeeded in doing some of it.
2) Vacuumed and mopped every inch of flooring (several times)
This is another one of the things we didn’t know we would have to do but needed to anyways….. It was hard and time consuming and tedious but cleaning it all felt like we were wiping away all the wrongs that had happened and that we were starting with a fresh slate.
3) Final selections of all materials in the house!!
Yes!! Thanks to my girl Heather for tackling the most difficult client yet (me…).
4) Seeing the flooring, window sills, and box beams go in
The clean lines and simplicity really, really started to make it feel like home.
5) seeing our fireplace properly installed & the mantle above it
Seeing the slimline frame and how clean it looked just made my day.
6) pouring our concrete hearth with my Dad and Stepmom and stamping in the year
There was a part of me that changed after we did this. It was almost like I let go of all the injustice and anger and proclaimed this was the year to come. We will move in and we will have our house.
7) taking our family photos this year in the house
Also therapeutic because it felt like we were genuinely happy to be there and take them after everything we have been through. I can see it now. I see us living in there. The vision may look different today than we thought it would look at the start, but somehow this one feels just right for us. Imperfect and flawed but resilient and strong. This is our year for this house.
As we think about all the things to come for the house in this year, it will take nothing short of a miracle to get it done. The losses were both emotional and financial and it will take a lot to recoup the amount we had to invest into the repair work. But, we are hopeful and rest in knowing that miraculous things have happened to us this year and we live in the hope of knowing it’s possible again. The end is in sight and the race has been run.
personal:
This is one of the areas of my business life I am going to change up a bit. For a long time I was of the belief that it is not good to let people (mainly Clients) into this area of my life. I am REALLY good at compartmentalizing and putting different areas in my life in neat little boxes. But, the longer I own StruckSured the more I have come to realize that people want to know me. They want to know Heather. They want to know who we are and why we do what we do. They want to know about our families and hobbies and really just about anything. Conversations flow from politics to Jordan’s Cidery and my son and how he’s doing. Really, we are a radically inclusive community and I am committing to opening that box within my business and letting you all into that. You will see more transparency and truth. You will see the good and the difficult. Is it less “professional”? Maybe. But, is it more human? Absolutely. I am convinced that being more human is vastly more important as we transition into this new year. We design spaces for humans who have human problems and human families. So we ourselves have to show we are human. Anyway, that is why you are seeing more and more stories on IG about us and what we are up to. Wanna know more about us, reach out. I’m always up for coffee and a good story session. We are all in this thing called life together. Beautifully woven into the global quilt of humanity. So here’s a bit about our world over the past year.
1) Granger is 4 and loving his new bi-lingual preschool
We continually have great feedback on how nice he is at school and we love hearing that considering he tells us he’s “mad on us” on a daily basis. But, he is amazing and funny and so stinking smart.
2) Jordan transitions jobs… and careers!
Jordan is back in school working towards a BCBA Master’s Degree. In brief, he will be a Behavioral Analyst who helps kids on the spectrum develop positive behaviors and lifestyle skills. While working towards that, he is working under a BCBA as a Behavioral Technician for PlayWorks in Hood River. Seeing him thrive in such an amazing company is really neat to see. Also, considering that he never wanted to change diapers before we had G and now he does that at work, is literally the best. He keeps a lot of what he does under wraps due to patient-client confidentiality but it is always sweet to see messages from friends who take their kiddos there and see him working. Wish us luck as he has another 18 months of school and work.
3) Cider is good!
Still making it and still trying to figure out what the long term goals are with it. Are you someone who knows brewery roadmaps/business strategy and wants to help us out? Help us!!!
All in all we are all doing good and looking forward to the year to come. Now that the noise has settled and we feel like our heads are above water, I think that the visions of what is to come will become more and more clear. But, since I am such a planner and feel the need to see far ahead, I am also embracing the unknown and trusting that no matter which way we go, will will get to where we need to be.
Cheers!
Sam