If you’re looking for an escape, a staycation, or an oasis in a beautiful space located somewhere away from it all, Jamie Gordon Brust ’03 may have just the place for you.
Gordon, an interior designer who is also a real estate agent, used the interior design skills she learned at Moore to renovate and decorate eight architecturally significant properties in the greater Philadelphia region, creating a portfolio of luxury vacation properties she calls Harlow Grey. She created the company four years ago after helping to grow the Philadelphia real estate firm Space & Co., founded by her wife, Brigit Brust.
“We named all of the homes after iconic women who either remind us of that home or have something to do with that home,” Gordon said. For example, an all-glass cabin with a pool on a 75-acre lake in Greenwich, NJ, is called Townsend for Mae Townsend Pease, wife of businessman Henry Pease, who once owned the home.
Guests can reserve the gorgeous spaces through vacation rental sites like Airbnb and HomeAway. In addition to vacations, the properties are rented for bridal photo shoots and by Instagram influencers who use the inviting spaces to stage product shoots.
Gordon said her main challenge early on was that most of the properties she purchased were in a state of disrepair.
“It takes a long time to renovate them and do them right,” she said. “We want it to be right, from every nail that gets put in every stud, down to the furniture that we have custom-made every time.”
For those who want to start their own businesses, Gordon advises that it is not for the faint of heart.
“You end up working more hours than you probably would working for somebody else, but it is 100 percent worth it and so much more gratifying at the end of the day,” she said. “As long as you have the drive, you won’t fail.”
See the beautiful homes Gordon has renovated at harlowgreyhomes.com.
Photo credit for Jamie Gordon pics : Jen Woodruff
