My work.
I began my writing career at a start-up magazine called Budget Living. Our team was smart but scrappy, and to the magazine industry’s great surprise, we won a National Magazine Award for ‘general excellence’ in our first year. That job taught me the value of a small-but-mighty team, it also sent me down the path to writing about homes and garden. When my editor in chief saw my apartment, she gleaned that I might have a natural interest in design and gave me the DIY section of the magazine to edit.
In the years since, I’ve held staff positions as the home editor and lifestyle director at many women’s magazines, including Parents, Good Housekeeping, and The Knot. I often worked as a one-woman department amidst a sea of fashion, health, and beauty editors, so it wasn’t a big leap to go out on my own as a freelancer after publishing my first book, The Little Book of Living Small.
While I still write plenty of magazine articles, my focus has shifted to bigger, ongoing projects: Books and newsletters. In 2023, I started my own Substack newsletter called Living Small, which quickly became a best-seller and has remained one of the top 15 design publications on the platform. In addition to writing my own books, the past few years have also found me ghost-writing books and newsletters for other creatives. My first project as a co-writer, The Maximalist by Dani Dazey (Abrams) debuts in May 2025.
My writing has been published in Better Homes & Gardens, New York, and Real Simple magazines and leading lifestyle websites, including Apartment Therapy, Domino, and Food52. For two years, I covered sustainability in the home industry for The Business of Home. I’m also a regular contributor to Gardenista.
Selected Writing
New York Magazine, Living in a One-Bedroom With Kids—By Choice
Real Simple, The New Rules for Pantry Organization
House Beautiful, How to Renovate a Rental
The Washington Post, How Interior Windows Can Shed Light On A Small Space
The Washington Post, How to turn a soulless kitchen into a warm, inviting space
Curbed, Black is the New Black