Erin

Our belief in the others ability is why we are such a strong team. While Matthew has always been my “handyman” he was never an official member of team KH because he worked a full time job and did DIY renovations when he had free time. He didn’t play any other role in the business, he had his own career. Then in December of 2019 his world stopped. I won’t go into the details of the incident because that is his story to tell. But ultimately Matthew was forced to leave work after suffering an event that triggered PTSD. I have known my husband since 2006, watching him go through this was excruciating. There was nothing I could do to help but be there for him while he worked with a physiologist to heal… and honestly, I didn’t recognize him for a very long time. All of this was going on when March 2020 hit, and as we all know the whole world stopped. So here we were, two young kids, now distance learning and no daycare, my husband going through an enormously painful transition suddenly home every single day after our entire relationship of being apart more than we were together. Me mourning the still fresh passing of my Mother and trying to support a growing and thriving business. If ever something was going to break Matthew and I, it was going to happen in 2020. that year was HARD. But instead of breaking we leaned on one another. Communicated more than we had before and worked together to make life stronger in all aspects. It was a turning point in our lives in many ways. Then, after two years of working to be rehabilitated to go back to work, the decision was made, by the powers that be, Matthews condition was deemed permanent. Meaning he was not going to “get better” to the point where he could ever return to work. After 22 years in the fire service, his entire adult life, he was now retired at 40. He had come to terms with it by this pint. His physiologist made it clear it was an unlikely return. He was ready to close the chapter and let go. Once he was officially retired, the decision was made that instead of getting back into the work force in a different field we would go “all in” on this business of ours, Kismet House and see where it takes us. So welcome to the latest chapter in our story. It’s going to be good one.

But here we are six years later and you’re reading our story. A year into owning our fixer and building Kismet House’s social media presence, we turned our party of three into a party of four, when we had our daughter- Tallula. Life was chaotic. My hobby had become a job, I had a newborn and a 5 year old, Matthew was still working non-stop… life was go-go-go. Then my world stopped. I got the call that my Mom had cancer, stage 4, very aggressive. From diagnosis to her passing was just a short 116 days. It was life changing, soul crushing pain. My Mom is the “why” behind my love of design. She was masterful at it herself and taught me so much. I remember going shopping with her, looking through magazines and dreaming up pretty spaces from a very early age. She was so proud of me and knew I would become “someone” in the design world. Losing her changed me. It also changed my design. My tastes after her passing began to change. My desire to have warm and cozy, more traditional spaces overwhelmed me and my design choices… this was so her. I feel very close to her doing this work; I just wish she was here doing it with me. Sorry to share such a heavy note, but it’s a very important part of my story. Anyway that’s enough about me, this is a design team after all. So what role does Matthew play? Well he is, and has always been the builder of my ideas. His handyman skills blow me away constantly. His attention to detail and precision are so impressive and I cannot image working alongside anyone else. 

A business built from one fateful decision to purchase a fixer upper in 2016 and share the renovation process online. We are Erin and Matthew, a husband and wife team working together to build homes, not houses. Kismet House was originally just an Instagram page created by me, Erin as an outlet and a way to connect with other adults. Matthew worked full time (and a crazy amount of overtime) to climb the ladder in the fire service; being gone for weeks was standard practice. I was at home alone raising our son Finnegan craving human interaction beyond playdates. Living in a town three hours away from my nearest family sent me to Instagram for an outlet. When Matthew was home he and I would work on projects I had dreamed up and designed for our fixer. Then I would share that slow and steady work online. Soon enough people took notice and followed the journey. Soon after that brands took notice and wanted to participate in the ride. When I started the Instagram page, becoming a content creator wasn’t something I knew I could do; in fact it seemed nobody around me believed I could do it either. There was a lot of speculation and accusation. I was treated by many as a naive bored housewife “wasting time”. 

Welcome to
Kismet House