Hey ya'll!

It's been a while...

For the last year and a half, doing segments for Rachael's show has kept me on the road, and as a result I've hardly SEEN my home let alone done any projects! Last weekend was a rare one as I was home for it, and my neighbor Al stopped in his car to chat as Scott and I were coming back from our hike with Floyd in tow. He was commenting on how quiet things have been on our side of the street and then said something that caught me so off guard... "We all miss the noise."

For the four + years that I did Design on a Dime, I painted things in the driveway, built things until all hours of the night (which meant running my compressor at 4 in the morning on a regular basis), and no doubt let out the occasional profanity at a clearly audible volume when these endeavors were not going my way. Point is, I spent the majority of those years assuming that when I came home the next day only to start another night of this insanity, there would be a note tacked to my door written and signed by the entire block, declaring their annoyance with me- the crazy design show girl that kept them up all night.

So I was always surprised when this neighbor or that one would stop to chat with Floyd and I while out walking their dogs. Perfectly happy to chatter away while I answered in half sentences between cuts or hammering. I, always frantic, always building. They, always supportive and excited to be able to watch part of the process. They'd comment on what I was making, offer their input (whether it was asked for or not!) and walk away with a sweet "I'll be watchin' to see how it turned out!"

In hindsight I realize that in the whirlwind of tackling a makeover a week, every week, for all those years, I sometimes forgot to pay attention to having fun in the process. Having an idea and then making it a tangible thing is one of the perks we get in life, whether it's painting a picture, throwing a party or knitting a scarf. And, I'm starting to realize, it's inspiring and contagious. Al and his wife painted their house soon after Scott and I did ours, and we started our landscaping overhaul after witnessing the transformation that took place in Darren and Patricia's yard, who we share a shrub fence with.

The good news is, in syndication you get hiatuses, which in non TV speak means that I wrap up season two with Rachael in a few weeks and then have the summer off. I don't tend to do well with sitting around and relaxing so instead, I'll spend my break keepin' upwith the Jones'- I'm gonna start makin' some noise again!

In the meantime, I type this in my hotel room in Indianapolis where it's freezing and far away from Scott and Floyd. On the upside, I spent all day at a body shop because I'm in the process of pimping out a minivan for a Tupperware sellin' mom. God, I love myjob!

From here, I head to NY to do my in studio with Rach for the minivan segment as well as a segment that I shot last week in Santa Rosa at the home of Guy Fieri (for those of you who don't watch Food Network, he's a host, chef, restaurant owner and a helluva lot of fun!) I'll post the air dates for these segments as soon as I get them.

A segment called DIY 911 will be airing on April 11th. It's a great makeover, and I was only able to pull it off because Keith and the rest of the guys from Prime Contractors (who did the big nurses makeover with me) drove all the way up to DC from Atlanta to tackle it - tools and all. In this business, I'd be hard pressed to find a better group of guys- it was like a high school reunion even though we all just saw each other a few months ago for a closet makeover.

And finally, in May HGTV will air an hour long Design on a Dime special hosted by yours truly. It's a best of show and I must say, I just saw a cut of it the other day and it's chock full of tips and clips from all of our teams.

Hope you all have wonderful summer plans ahead of you. Don't forget to put "tackle a project and light a fire under all my neighbors butts, and therefore change the whole neighborhood, maybe even the whole planet!" on your list.

Love, Kristan

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