I’m not really sure how to pin point when my obsessions began. I think it might have been when I moved to Houston to attend high school. After years of pleading, my mother finally let me paint my room navy blue and I accented everything with hints of gold. Follow that up with a “New Year’s eve dinner party. Cocktail attire.” — for high school students…you following me here? Yep, that might be the tipping point. From there, I went to TCU (Texas Christian University) and began a love affair for interior design, found objects, great stores, delicious food and entertaining. My college roommates teased me when I went through my “silver spray painting phase” and stopped me just short of painting our old wood grain television. They loved to rearrange the knickknacks in the living room just to see if I would notice. Of course, I’m sure you can guess the answer to that one.

I grew up in a very normal loving family with parents from two small towns in Kansas. My mother isn’t much in to interiors but growing up she was constantly rearranging the living room. My brother and I were always coming home from school to find her moving furniture around and then we would get sucked into a three-hour redesign. Food around their house is typically delicious comfort food (insert my love for food here, thank you mom). My father is a real character and has always been a carpenter and a whittler. He’s very talented and I attribute much of my creativity to him. My life growing up grounded me and was quite distant from my city girl life in Dallas.

My upbringing and career as a graphic designer have brought me to a point where I am passionate about all things related to design and high style. From cool old barns to modern museum like spaces and everything in between, I find myself fascinated. I am self admittedly addicted to chairs. It’s a problem. But they are always so interesting and such great projects to tackle. I love furniture and all things home. I love textures. Home tours make my heart pound. Flea markets, sample sales and antique fairs are opportunities not to be missed. Entertaining and party planning get my mind racing…there’s no such thing as too much or too over-the-top. Food and the latest restaurants are just something that I can’t seem to get enough of…seems like there’s always a new one popping up or an old favorite to revisit.

All that being said, I started this blog. I have a real job that I love as a graphic designer and am beginning to venture into interiors. I am the owner of  a small boutique Dallas-based design firm, SWOON, the studio, that focuses on all things luxury. We work on everything from retail to performing arts to football. Sounds like a wide range but at the end of the day we focus heavily on conveying our concepts through typography, tactile qualities, impact and a beautiful sensitivity to overall aesthetic. We work with an amazing team, have the best clients and consider ourselves very blessed.

Hope this blog finds you well. And that you allow yourself to take time to enjoy life, share stories and places with good friends and feel fortunate for the opportunities that we are all given. Now back to swooning…

xo,

Samantha (Sam) Reitmayer Sano