There's a Hidden Meaning in the Tiles I Chose for My New Kitchen.

This time, my boyfriend can't dump me and keep the tile!

Photography by Sara Ligorria-Tramp and Tessa Neustadt

I’ve decided to break up posts about my new kitchen into different categories and stories. Today I want to talk about the tile and the decision making process that went into making my selections. The tile all comes from Fireclay, a company I have worked with numerous times and love. I’ve even toured their central coast workshop and seen how these tiles are made (all by hand, it’s pretty fun to watch!).

But there’s a backstory to my kitchen’s tile that I thought would be good to share. Many moons ago, I moved in with a boyfriend (let’s call him Matthieu) and helped him renovate his condo. I was already working in content creation (ie sponsored content) so I had hookups that allowed us to renovate the condo for a lot cheaper than it would have otherwise been. We got a lot of stuff, including the tile, for trades with brands. I did this because it was fun and because I wanted to. And because I didn’t have a home of my own where I could use the products brands were offering.

I definitely don’t regret doing this. Relationships are not guaranteed to last forever and I think people are best served by approaching them with optimism. I’ve always kind of felt lucky that brands want to work with me on projects like this. And when I get something (home furnishings in exchange for content) I’m usually more than happy to gift it forward to people in my life.

When Matthieu dumped me, I was sad to leave the home we built together. But it was weirdly, ultimately, a positive experience that helped propel my personal and professional life. When I had to move out, I realized I’d done a good job designing the home. That I actually knew what I was doing when it came to design. That I had not only made that place a lot more enjoyable to live in, I’d also added a considerable amount of value to it in the process. Previous to that I’d had massive imposter syndrome about my design skills so this was an important lesson.