Ch- Ch- Ch- Ch- Changes

Happy New Year, everybody! How did we all celebrate? I rang in 2010 with a midnight swim in the Gulf of Mexico (no lie) ... you see, Julie beat the nun -- okay, a woman dressed as a nun-- in Sacred Heart's Great Pumpkin Race and won a beach house for a weekend. And then she beat another group of REAL nuns for use of said house over New Year's Eve weekend: a Higher Power obviously wanted us to get hammered in pastel utopia. Plus it was a full AND a blue moon which meant Trevor and I were treating nervous Barbour-jacketed families to our a cappella "Bad Romance" cover and then to that little dip in freezing cold aqua vitae.

It was a fabulous way to begin the year because 2009 marked some serious changes in the life of your faithfully delinquent decorator. Time to turn and face the strain: As of today I am no longer in the employ of one Mr. Miles Redd, my boss and mentor and friend of 5+ years now. This was no easy decision, first of all because I adore Miles and owe him, uh, everything ... and there's that unfortunate Great Recession/record unemployment situation. But I'd be a traitor to my ME generation if I didn't feel entitled to leave a perfectly stable job and pursue true BLISS. Whatever that is. But I gotta be me!

So I'm officially hanging out my own shingle. Open for business. In 2010 I resolve to update this blog on the regular and get back to what brought me here in the first place -- high style decorating for folks who don't have a Mugatu-client-size budget. (But if you do, by all means hire Miles. He is the most creative, most original decorator working today and makes Fancy feel Cozy better than anyone ... in my biased opinion. And any shelter mag without his work is just a giant snooze.)

Back to business. Starting now I'm down to tackle decorating projects of any size and offering advice in person (NYC area) and via the interweb, so email me at nickolasolsen@gmail.com for rates. Freelance decor writing? I'm your man. Prop or event styling? It'd be my pleasure! I need to overhaul this bad boy into a real dot-com with a portfolio and press sections and ... get ready ... an online store. Jamie Meares, I'm comin' for ya! Kidding-ish.

It's going to be a crazy time (Hello, Saturn Return) but I'm excited. I've learned sooo much about making pretty in the past five years, about what makes a room, and about decorating deals and DIY disasters. Time to make it WORK!