Hi!  Welcome!

We are so excited to have you following along on our crazy journey to create the life we love!  This is OUR story…and we’re super proud of staying true to that. It’s so hard in this world to just stay in your lane…to stay focused on YOU and to not compare yourself to your competition and feel less-than amazing.  We promise to always keep it real here…it’s kind of our thing. We don’t believe in sugar-coating…its not helpful…and it rots your teeth! 

So both Dianne and I have 4 kids each…and they are ALL under 12!  Crazy, right? So we get ALL the time…how do you do it all?! While that is a question for an entirely different post, I will say…we don’t…we can’t…and honestly, we don’t want too.  We set boundaries and priorities for ourselves and we hold each other accountable. Family first, period. We give and we take…even when we don’t want to do either. We are a team…we are family.  

It’s so funny to think back on how this whole business started…Dianne and I weren’t really friends…we truly started as business partners.   When we first met at a mutual friend’s photography class, we immediately had one of those conversations that takes you by surprise and you leave knowing it was something special…something providential.  Dianne randomly started sharing her dreams and visions for this business and her plan on how to get there (let’s remember that I was still a total stranger to her!) While I was in total admiration…I thought, “I already have a career…I’m a nurse.”   I had been a nurse at Boston Children’s Hospital for 15 years and had just had my 4th kiddo, so I wasn’t planning on a career change any time soon. However, I had been fueling my creative juices by decorating the homes of friends…and their friends…and I was loving it!  Honestly, the thought of starting a TRUE business seemed daunting and honestly, just too plain hard to do alone.  

Dianne had started OPD in 2015 and first asked me to help her out with a couple of weddings she was doing.  It made total sense, she took care of the flowers and I could help with the design and decor! We quickly saw that we made a great team and were stronger together.  We share the exact same eye for detail and design…which is pretty particular, so we still think this is exceptionally rare! Somehow, Dianne talked me into renting a little space in a consignment shop so that we could display our vignettes and sell our picks.  Wait, did we mention our crazy LOVE for picking?! OK, so it’s more like “pick’in” and it’s basically digging through barns full of junk (i.e. treasures) and turning them into one-of-a-kind pieces for your home. We’ll be sure to take you along on our next pick too!

Our little booth turned out to be so fun!  We were testing the waters and were getting great feedback.  We were just missing our fresh flowers…we needed a place to design and to meet with our brides.  Dianne was on maternity leave with her 2nd baby…it’s truly amazing how much you can get done when you’re on a countdown back to the corporate world!  So one day in the spring of 2018, Dianne decided that she was just going to pop into this little shop in Norfolk that she ALWAYS had her eye on…just to see what it was like on the inside and just “inquire”.  There was no “for rent” sign mind you…she was just being totally nosy! Well wouldn’t you know that the current tenants were moving out at the end of the month and the space would be available for rent! Seriously?!  I mean…what are the chances?  

So here’s the part where we keep it real.  I said, “no”…repeatedly. I felt overwhelmed, stretched too thin…like going to snap, thin!  I started having chest pain…to the point where I had to wear a holter monitor! I just thought…I CAN’T do this!   And that remains the truth…we can’t do this…alone. Dianne and I are pretty big faith people. We love Jesus and we look for the signs.  After some soul searching, I realized that THIS was a sign! Dianne and I were brought together for a purpose…I know that sounds a bit cheesy… but it’s true.  We opened the doors of Only Prettier Design in May of 2018. I am happy to say that I no longer have chest pain because I am confident that I am exactly where I am meant to be.  Dianne welcomed her 3rd and 4th additions to the family in September. While we still struggle to find balance in the chaos… there is a strange peace when you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be!

Thank you for following along on our journey…it truly means the world to us!  We are grateful to serve our community and excited to have this relationship with our supporters that goes beyond the casual smile and “hello”.