10 Years (and counting)

This December 9th, we celebrated our 10th anniversary over here at Open Envelope Studio. It's crazy to think back to when we started, Matt and I were working out of our bedroom (no extra room in the house for an office), I was newly pregnant with our 2nd child, Matt was both designing and building, and our only employee was our Operations Manager, Shawn Latta. We graduated to our detached office with an office manager and designer, Damon Faulkner (once we finished building it), and have now been at our Design office on south Airport Blvd for just over 2 years. We have 6 people working out of it. We also have 9 on our Build crew, working out of our shop on north Airport Blvd and on our project sites. Projects have run the gamut of small interventions to larger and larger projects with pools, small detached offices or pergolas, and outdoor kitchens and fire features.

While the makeup of what OES looks like on the inside has evolved, there has always been a touchstone for all of our projects, big and small: heart. We do what we do because we truly love the designs and want to create outdoor living spaces that our clients will grow in, enjoy events with friends and family, spend downtime on weekends, work through hard times, and generally enrich their lives. We sacrifice expediency for quality (we take a little longer than the average installer because we really want to get it right). And overall, we want the design-to-installation experience to be not just enjoyable, but exciting, and safe. It can be a stressful experience because it's an investment, and we've heard everyone's horror stories (and have a few of our own being on the client side), so we pride ourselves on communication and being able to listen. None of that has changed, and we've found that with the experience we've gained in the last 10 years, we're able to better set expectations of all the ways the project could unfold over the course of the build - all the while with the end result of having a yard they will love. The sweet note below was sent in December as we finished out our last big project of last year:

I updated our project video to show all projects we've worked on over the course of the last decade (2011-2021):

Music by Berm and Swale/Matt Norton, a song called "Missing One Another."

Photos by Angelica Norton/OES/Client except:

Project 47: Casey Dunn

Project 72: Charles Davis Smith

Project 73 and 74: Reagen Taylor

Project 120: Sergio Garza

Landscape architecture and installation by OES; our design-only projects by other installers are:

Project 57 and 72: Brodie Builders

Project 71: Kentfields Customs (project management by OES)

Project 94: Blackshear Elementary Fine Arts Academy PTA (project management by Angelica)

Project 130: FitzCare Landscaping and Build

Thanks much to all of our employees over the years, clients who literally built our business, and friends and family who provided support, encouragement, and love. (I can't tell you how good it feels to see OES shirts in school photos, instagram posts, and on zooms to catch up).