We love a fresh start, and this year is no different! Rather than resolutions, we like to choose a word of the year to focus on. This year, the word is…
In This Post
Hello, 2025
Happy New year! We hope the holidays have treated you and your family well and that you’re easing gracefully into 2025. We were lucky enough to take some time off and spend quality time with friends and family over the last few weeks. We’re diving back into work, feeling ready for what the new year will bring our way! In years past, we’ve always outlined a specific set of goals that we’d like to work toward and achieve in the coming year. This year, we’ll be taking a slightly more casual approach and opting out of an official list.
Keeping it Casual
One of our specific goals from last year was Allow ourselves the grace to pace. We intended to ‘Be more present. Focus less on what we haven’t completed, and give ourselves the grace to take the time we need.’ We feel like we did a pretty good job with this goal and we’ll be bringing that energy back for 2025, but with a slight twist. We’ll be keeping it a little more casual around here and we’ve chosen that as our word of the year. Let me explain…
What Casual Is
Casual is cool and comfortable but still energizing and engaging. We’re thinking about casual the way we think about hosting gatherings in our home. It’s the freedom to push perfectionism aside, to not allow it to be the enemy of progress.
It’s the warm fuzzies you feel when you approach the day with an open mind. It’s a friend inviting you over to brunch with one rule: wear your pajamas. It’s approachable and friendly and community-driven.
Often, we’ll hop on the group text prior to friends coming over and specifically instruct folks to dress for comfort. We’re usually not breaking out the fine china (we don’t own any) or babysitting a roast all day (although fancy gatherings are fun too!); we’re usually making Skyline dip, ordering pizza and spinning records while the kids have an art party upstairs in the family room. We want the time you spend interacting with us on our platforms to feel as much like hanging out with us in our living room as possible. Casual is breezy.
What Casual Isn’t
Casual doesn’t mean that we won’t push ourselves to be great. It doesn’t mean that we won’t take our work seriously. It doesn’t mean that we won’t continue to create content that we’re proud of. Casual is NOT not learning, not growing, not feeling. Those will always be fundamental to the people we are, and the way we view the world.
We’ll remain as selective as we always have about the brands that we partner with, the products that we collaborate on and the projects that we share with you. We remain passionate and particular about our work and the way that we share it with you. In fact, you may see more of our inner personalities emerge, as we lean into the casualness of the hangout.
Ready for What’s Next
We’re excited for the new year and already have a few projects in the works! We’ll also, as always, remain flexible as opportunities arise and projects shift and change. That’s one of the most exciting parts of this job and we can’t wait to see what’s next. Follow along, won’t you? Casually.
If you’re curious, you can have a look back at our goals for 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021 here.
I think of casual as approachable and relatable as well … your projects have always been “ real” to me, you make renovation seem attainable while inviting us to stretch ourselves.
We couldn’t be more grateful for this kind community that leans in to learn and grow with us! Thank you, Michelle!
great choice, especially the way you describe the meaning.
I love your word of the year, the concept inspires me every year too. Casual sounds like you are being real (you always are!) and are inviting us over in our pajamas (greatest example!). It’s not sloppy or messy, casual is just honest and genuine. My word of the year is “let go” and it means that I will give up the tightly held, unhelpful expectations and be more real and casual. Let’s go 2025!
We got this, Julie!!