I’m thrilled to announce a very special and exciting partnership I’ve had brewing for some time: The Westport Project! Beginning this spring, I will be partnering with The O’Dell Group on a unique “Net-Zero” Smart Home build at Compo Beach in Westport, CT. I will be creative directing the project, and working alongside ODG to reimagine the new construction home in an elegant, elevated, technology-forward, and wellness-focused way. Not only will this mark my biggest step into the home design space to date, I will also be paired with a long-time love of mine: video.

As we build this house, I will be documenting the entire project in a web series called The Westport Project! Think HGTV, meets Love It Or List It, meets Southern Charm. The show will be airing on YouTube in real-time– as we invite viewers along for the journey. To stay in the know, make sure you’re following The Westport Project on Instagram! I’m excited to share some more details on this fun project below:

THE WHO:

Those of you who have followed my blog for a while probably remember that Chris O’Dell and his team renovated my first Westport home. The process was a delicate one, as the home was historic and we wanted to maintain (and upgrade) a lot of its unique charms. We also did a complete landscape reno as well as a big addition that had to seamlessly blend into the existing structure. Through that process, I really came to admire the work of Chris and his team of workers and artisans. Chris’s wife, Mary O’Dell, was our skilled architect and helped blend it all seamlessly together. I was really impressed by Chris’s dedication to his work being the best it could be, and when something would go wrong he was the first one on the scene to make it right or come up with a solution. His team became friends, and people even my kids grew to feel so close to. The whole home reno took two years, and after making it through that challenging but rewarding process without hating each other (LOL), we realized that we’d like to team up at some point to bring both of our areas of expertise together.

THE WHY:

To put it simply, Chris and I both believe that our homes should be doing more for us– especially if we build them from scratch! It has been a dream of The O’Dell Group to put their full resources into a home that is all at once design-forward, technologically innovative and responsive, eco-conscious (we are aiming for Net Zero!), and wellness-focused. It is possible (and preferable!) for a new construction to be more than four walls and a roof. It should help the individuals who live there to be the best, most integrated, versions of themselves. It should speak to, and protect from, the modern times we live in. It should feel like it supports the most modern lifestyle. It should be easy to live in! And of course, it should be absolutely gorgeous.

I am beyond ecstatic to begin the process of building this unique property in a town that has become my home, and that I truly love so much.

Filming this show blends my two loves: design and video! I think it’ll be really awesome to allow viewers to follow along on this build, give their opinions, and hopefully get inspired by the innovative choices we make along the way!

THE WHEN:

We will begin building this spring, and the show will start at the same time! Make sure you’re following along on Instagram for all the updates, and some videos we shot of Chris and I discussing this partnership in more detail.

Let me know if you have any questions in the meantime, and I will do my best to answer!

Photographs by Julia Dags | Copyright © 2025 Happily Eva After, Inc. All Rights Reserved.