Miracle of the Missing Art

In February, I had the opportunity to do a college campus tour with my high school senior daughter. The location happened to be near one of my interior design client’s home.

I was finishing up the design project and the timing perfectly aligned for me to do the final install for my client during the same trip as the campus tour. We were also blessed to be able to stay at the home of one of my dear friend’s, Lisa, which was only 8 minute drive away from my client’s home. What are the odds that my client would live so close to my friend?

It was a whirlwind, jam-packed several days. We arrived and I met my client for the first time in person which was such a treat because she’s such an amazing soul. I looked over all of the items that had already been ordered and arrived for the design.

I grabbed one of the art prints for the gallery wall, a yellow flower, so that I could take it with me to get custom paint color made to paint the frame mats a gorgeous green. I kept it in the orange mailing envelope from Shutterfly that it came in so that it would be protected and not get bent.

Later that afternoon, I shopped for a console table and rug that my client decided to add into the budget and design last minute. I had very limited time to squeeze in shopping for a console last minute. I had a very specific size and color/style that it needed to be and had no idea if I would even be so lucky to find something in store. Ordering something online was out of the question since it wouldn’t arrive in time for the reveal and photoshoot.

Lisa had told me there was a DownEast store just a few minutes away so I went there first. Lo and behold, I found the PERFECT console, the exact size and style that I needed and it was on sale. I sent a photo to my client and she loved it. Hurrah! A last minute win!

The next issue was the rug for the dining room. I had suggested a rug for under the dining table during the design planning phase but my client said she didn’t really want one for that space. After we brought in the console, she realized that she did want a rug in the dining room. So now I was in need of the next miracle, finding a rug in an uncommon size that would accommodate the dining room table size and I would need to find it in person since again, shipping would take too long.

The miracle happened. Not only did I find a rug at HomeGoods that was the exact dimensions to work with the table, it was in the color and style that would work for my client’s space AND it was on clearance! And we were able to squeeze it into my small sedan rental car!

When planning the design of the space, I also suggested a side table lamp for the living room. I had envisioned this specific alabaster lamp that I have saved in my sourcing library collection. When I shared lamp options with my client, this particular lamp was no longer in stock and no sign of when it was going to be available again.

My client decided that she didn’t want a lamp on the side table anymore. After I arrived at her home, she told me she had changed her mind and noticed that would be good to have a lamp there after all since it was pretty dark at night in that spot.

That’s when the next miracle occurred. While I was sourcing décor items at HomeGoods, I saw THE EXACT alabaster lamp that I was originally wanting in the design that was sold out everywhere online. And it was on clearance. I couldn’t believe my luck! The lamp was meant to be. Thank you universe!

I shopped at several stores to gather all of the remaining décor items to finalize the design. I was so excited to see that HomeGoods had décor theme full of items from India, which is where my client is from. I was able to buy several pieces to incorporate into her design that would reflect her heritage and her story.

The next day was all about my daughter. It was college campus tour day. I told her it felt like her birthday that day because it just felt like it was going to be a very special day for her. Little did we know just how amazing the day would be.

The rental car kept having issues synching with my phone so that I could see the directions on the car screen. Then I realized it was because my charging cord was broken. So enroute to campus for the tour, I asked my daughter to locate the next apple store so I could grab a new cord.

The store was about 5 minutes away from us, directly on our route. After I bought the new cord, we noticed there was a GAP store just across the parking lot.

My daughter had been in need of jeans/pants for at least 6 months and we had been searching for pants that would work with her body type in stores near us in Colorado with no such luck. So we decided that we would hop into GAP since we had plenty of time before the campus tour started. As we neared the store, we realized it was actually a mall.

We went into the mall entrance and realized across from the GAP store was an American Eagle store (which is where we normally buy jeans but hadn’t been successful with lately). Nothing worked for her in the GAP store but we were excited about coming back after the campus tour to try out the American Eagle store.

For lunch we grabbed some pizza, which my daughter was excited about since our Blaze pizza location had shut down and we had been missing it and we discoverd a location just across the street from the mall. We grabbed our pizza to go, ate a slice and got to the campus tour in time.

As we pulled onto campus and into the parking lot, I was overcome with emotion. Tears filled my eyes and I knew that this was the right place for my daughter. I could see her happy here and that it would feel like home for her.

We still didn’t know if she was accepted yet. It was Friday and they were announcing the admission results the following Monday, although we had been waiting 3.5 months for the results. We had toured a few other campuses but nothing really felt right until this moment.

The tour guide was bubbly and fun. She shared her personal experiences, including some of the genius outside of the box ways she was able to fund her international internships and study abroad. It was exactly what my daughter needed to hear as those were major goals of hers too. We could’ve gotten one of the other tour guides that day but nope, we got the best one for my daughter’s needs. Definitely not a coincidence.

After the tour, we drove back to the mall and my daughter was successful at finding 4 pairs of pants/jeans at the American Eagle store and also a really great swimsuit at a local store in the mall as well. Finding these clothes for her felt miraculous.

We were on cloud nine and we kept expressing gratitude about how such amazing things kept happening. Things just kept aligning. Even when things seemed like a set back, like my broken phone charging cord, it actually was the thing that led us to the other amazing blessings like finding the store where we were able to find the pants we’d been searching months for.

That evening, while were at Lowe’s, grabbing a few items for my client’s home install, my daughter received a text message from a friend saying that the college released the admission results early.

She opened the email right there in the store and we read the glorious acceptance letter together. We jumped up and down, shrieking and hugging and crying right in the middle of the aisle. Our minds couldn’t even handle the news. We were in shock. She wanted to go to this school so much but because it’s so competitive, we really didn’t know if she would be accepted, even as a 4.1 student.

It felt so surreal as we had just visited the campus that morning and now she got to know the same day that she got accepted. I felt pure joy for my daughter. It’s a moment we will never forget.

Then we were off to finish the night with a tour at a local water filtration company called Enevive. I had been researching water filtration systems for our home and discovered Enevive and their amazing products and values.

I met with Melanie and toured the warehouse. It felt so aligned to work with them and purchase their water filtration system for our home. We talked about me teaching some future community workshop classes there too, which I’m really excited about.

And get this, my friend Lisa, the house we were staying at in Utah, also had this exact filtration system in their home too and I didn’t even know that until we were staying there! Our hair has been awful due to our hard water since we moved to Colorado Springs and after washing my hair once in Lisa’s home with the Enevive water filtration system, my hair was completely different! It was soft, silky and easy to brush through using my same hair products. The difference was the water! I couldn’t wait to get it installed in our home!

The next day was design install day at my client’s home. We went to Home Depot first thing that morning with the flower print and got the custom paint color made for the frame mats.

Then we ran to a few other stores to grab some last minute décor items for the install. We were working like crazy to get the entire main floor installed before my clients’ surprise reveal that night.

It was a lot to get done with just my daughter and I but it felt like we had more help than just us. I put my daughter in charge of removing pricing stickers and cataloging everything into a notebook so we could keep track of each piece and price in case we needed to do any returns and to total up everything at the end.

There was a marble and brass tiered kitchen shelf caddy that I saw at the store while sourcing for install day. I felt drawn to it but I didn’t really know where I was going to put it. I decided to get it anyway and figured I could return it later if I didn’t have a spot for it.

As soon as I took it out of the bag in my client’s home, I looked at her kitchen and noticed something I didn’t see before. She had this wire shelf that she was using to hold her most frequently used spices and garlic. The shelf was not stable and the dishes would easily topple over on it. I smiled and thanked universe for telling me to get the marble caddy. It was THE perfect piece and size to replace the unstable shelf.

My client absolutely fell in love with this piece and couldn’t believe that I would think to replace this for her. Something so simple yet made such a huge impact in the function of everyday cooking now brings so much joy.

As we were painting the mats, we couldn’t find the yellow flower print to go with the other 5 flower prints. We looked everywhere for the orange shipping folder. It wasn’t in the client’s home, our rental car and Lisa said she didn’t see it at her place either. We started freaking out because we were running out of time and the art print was missing. We couldn’t think of where it could be.

I was going to photograph the home the next day, so we decided we would just reveal the home to my client’s that night and I would keep looking to find the print and just install the gallery wall the next day before taking photos.

My client’s LOVED the reveal and how the home looked. They kept saying how their house finally felt like a home now. They said that their home looked better than the model home. They had just been living with only the 2 sofas in the living room and a dining room table with chairs for several months since they moved into their new build home. I designed and helped them furnish the entry way, living room, dining room and some kitchen items.

Exhausted after an intense install day, my daughter and I started heading back to Lisa’s home for the night. We kept trying to figure out where the missing art print inside the orange envelope was. My daughter said that the only thing she could think of was that it was still at Home Depot in the orange shopping cart. Perhaps she missed taking it out of the cart because it blended in with the cart.

I looked at the time, it was 9:50PM and Home Depot was closing at 10PM. The store was 17 min away. I knew there was no way they would let us in at 10:07PM, after closing time. But I just had this feeling that we needed to go there anyway and just trust that something would work out. It was supposed to snow the next day and if the art print was still in the cart in the parking lot overnight, it would get soggy and ruined.

We pulled into the empty Home Depot parking lot and parked. The lights in the lot were off and the store exterior lights were off too. We saw two guys near the entrance of the store. One was taking care of the carts and another older employee chatting away to the cart dude.

Gabby guy saw us approaching the entrance and kindly yelled “we’re closed” in our direction. We explained our situation and that we were desperately trying to find this missing art print envelope. The cart dude asked us what the envelope looked like. I described the size and color. Immediately he reached over to the trash can that he was standing next to. He tossed a few coffee cups on the top of the pile out of the way and slid his hand down the interior side of the trash can. Just a few inches down, he pulled out an orange Shutterfly envelope.

We shrieked in utter shock and delight that he knew exactly where missing art envelope was! The envelope was in almost perfect condition. No coffee spills/stains and it wasn’t bent. The print inside was in perfect condition. Our minds were blown. There are no coincidences.

I had listened to my intuition that told me to drive to Home Depot even though my logical brain said there’s no way it would be open or that we would even find the print. And the only reason the cart dude was still there was because gabby guy kept chatting with him. The cart dude was the ONLY person that knew where that print was.

The print could’ve been tossed in the trash inside the store by someone else and we never would’ve seen it again. But no, it was there, in perfect condition, surrounded by leaking coffee cups at the top of the trash can right next to the cart dude. It also could’ve been folded in half to fit inside the trash can lid easier but it wasn’t, it was just slid down the wall of the trash can to stay intact. It was a miracle.

Exhausted but completely exhilarated, we drove home that night with the miracle flower art print in hand.

The next day was photoshoot day at my client’s home. It was supposed to be a dark and gloomy day with a snowstorm, which isn’t ideal for a photoshoot. The entire trip thus far was so aligned and everything kept working out for the best. I decided to trust that the lighting was going to work out for the photoshoot and all was going to be ok.

As I installed the gallery wall, I told the miraculous story of the missing art to my clients. They loved it and we all will never forget the special story of how it all came to be. Right as I finished the gallery wall install, the clouds parted and the sun came out. The lighting was perfect for the photoshoot right at the right time for me to photograph the rooms. Another miracle, thank you universe!

My clients loved every single piece of the décor I bought so I only needed to return a few things I had overbought (but didn’t install in the home) so the returns were easily managed. I was running down to the last minute before needing to head to the airport and still needed to pack up my suitcase, so my sweet friend volunteered to fill up my gas tank with my credit card I gave her. Such a blessing!

My daughter and I kept reflecting on how amazing this entire trip was. It was packed full to the brim with stuff that needed to be done and we were blessed with everything working out in the best way possible, each moment of the way.

I have never experienced such an aligned trip like this before and am filled with such gratitude. It’s a trip my daughter and I will never forget.