Home Designer Retreat 2027
February 3rd to 5th, 2027 · Seaside, Alys Beach & Rosemary Beach, Florida
Three days on real job sites and some of the most celebrated streets in the US, in Seaside, Alys Beach, and Rosemary Beach, Florida. You’ll go home seeing yourself as a designer differently, with the confidence you’ve been waiting for in how you sketch, how you talk on a job site, and how you share your work.
What We’ll Do Together
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Insight Into Real Construction
This isn’t Pinterest. These are real job sites with real conversations, inside Arkon Group’s $9 to 15 million homes in Alys Beach and my own projects at Lafayette Park. You’ll ask the builders everything you’ve been wondering and leave with the kind of field confidence you can’t get from a screen.
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Design Sessions in Iconic Neighborhoods
We’ll walk and sketch the streets of Seaside, Alys Beach, and Rosemary Beach, three award-winning neighborhoods filled with homes by world-renowned architects and designers, breaking down firsthand the elements that made them so great until you start seeing those moves in your own work.
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Social Media Workshops
We start with a setup workshop, follow a three-day film and content guide, edit together in a hands-on session, and do a little homework each night, so you leave with finished, edited posts I’ve approved myself and your social already moving.
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Relationships in the Design Community
Most of us design alone. For three days you’ll be around a small group of designers who love homes as much as you do, trading ideas, feedback, and honest conversations over long lunches and a farewell dinner, and building friendships where you grow into something better together than you would on your own.
Day One · Wednesday, February 3
Welcome & Seaside
We start at the house with breakfast and a social media setup session, so your phone and your accounts are ready to turn everything you see into content you’re proud to share. Then we walk Seaside, the town where New Urbanism started. I’ll show you why these streets feel so good to be on, and it will change how you think about the way your own homes meet the street. That afternoon’s guided sketch session focuses on the details: the proportions of a porch and how the trim and rooflines are actually built. You’ll train your eye to see what most people walk right past, and you’ll start bringing it into your own work. We end with a sunset happy hour, the first of many conversations with designers who love homes as much as you do.
Breakfast & Welcome
8:00am
Social Media Setup
9:00am
Seaside Walking Tour & Lunch
11:00am
Guided Sketch: Seaside
2:15pm
Sunset Happy Hour
5:00pm
Day Two · Thursday, February 4
On Site in Alys Beach
A morning edit session on your homework shows you exactly where your detailing is strong and where it can go further. Then we step onto an Arkon Group job site, where the builders walk you through the structure, the masonry, and the details built to hold up to hurricanes. That’s where the drawings in your head finally connect to how a house goes together. When we sketch Alys Beach that afternoon, you’ll be drawing finished homes while understanding what’s behind the walls, and that kind of knowledge makes you confident talking to any builder. We close with a live editing session, and you leave with your first posts ready to share.
Breakfast & Edit Session
8:00am
Alys Beach Jobsite Walkthrough
10:30am
Lunch in Alys Beach
12:45pm
Guided Sketch: Alys Beach
2:00pm
Live Editing Session
4:00pm
Day Three · Friday, February 5
Lafayette, Rosemary & Farewell
A guest speaker joins us for breakfast, bringing a perspective you can carry into your own business. At Lafayette Park, you’ll walk my own projects under construction and see how design decisions hold up once they’re built, which is the same judgment you’ll start applying to your own drawings. Our last guided sketch session in Rosemary Beach looks at how homes handle height, shade, and privacy on tight lots, so you leave with solutions you can use on your next project. We finish with a closing session and a farewell dinner, where you’ll see how far you’ve come in three days, surrounded by a group of designers you can keep calling on.
Lafayette Park Site Visit
9:30am
Lunch in Rosemary Beach
12:00pm
Guided Sketch: Rosemary Beach
1:30pm
Closing Happy Hour
6:00pm
Farewell Dinner
7:00pm
The Details-
Fill out the short application and pay your $500 deposit. I review every application personally, and you’ll hear back within 48 hours. If you’re not accepted, your deposit is refunded in 5 to 7 business days.
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Once you’re accepted, your welcome email has your homework brief, packing list, and travel details. We’ll also send the booking details for our room block at The Lodge 30A in the next few weeks, so hold off on booking your stay until you have them.
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Your remaining balance, your retreat price minus the $500 deposit, is due January 4, 2027.
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Bring comfortable walking shoes, closed-toe shoes for the job sites, your favorite sketching supplies, and a charged phone, because everything you see is going to turn into content.
What’s Included
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Behind-the-scenes access to active job sites that aren’t open to the public, with the builders there to walk you through it and answer every question.
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Every session, sketching tour, and edit review is led by me, in a group kept small enough that I get to work with each of you.
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Local pastries, coffee, and fresh fruit at the house before we head out each day.
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Your driver picks you up each morning at The Lodge 30A, WaterColor Inn, or The Pearl and takes you to every session, tour, and meal, so the only thing you think about is the work.
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Long, unhurried lunches at local favorites I’ve been going to since I was a kid, the kind of places you’d only know about from someone who grew up here.
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A gift bag waiting for you with your name on it, filled with pieces made just for this retreat, including the film camera you’ll shoot the weekend on.
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Our last night around one long table, celebrating everything you saw, sketched, and made together.
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Your setup checklist, three-day film and content guide, and daily homework in one place, so you keep posting long after you fly home.
Not Included
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Fly into ECP, the closest airport to 30A, and plan to arrive Tuesday, February 2, so you’re rested for an early start.
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Lodging isn’t included in the retreat price. We have a room block at The Lodge 30A, and we’ll send the booking details in the next few weeks. If you’d rather stay at WaterColor Inn or The Pearl, we’ll coordinate your daily pickups there too.
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Airport transportation isn’t included in the retreat price. We’ll coordinate two group pickups from ECP on Tuesday, February 2, and once you’re settled in, every ride to our sessions, tours, and meals is taken care of.
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Wednesday and Thursday evenings are yours to rest, finish your homework, or explore 30A on your own. Our farewell dinner on Friday is included.
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All alcoholic drinks are on you, including happy hour and anything with lunch or dinner.
Planning Your Stay
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Lodging isn’t included in the retreat price, but The Lodge 30A is our home base and we have a room block there for the group. We’ll send the booking details in the next few weeks. If you’d rather stay at WaterColor Inn or The Pearl, we’ll coordinate your daily pickups there too.
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Fly into Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport (ECP), the closest airport to 30A. We’ll coordinate two group pickups from the airport on Tuesday, February 2, but airport transportation isn’t included in the retreat price.
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Plan to arrive Tuesday, February 2, so you’re rested for our first morning together. If you can, stay through the weekend and enjoy the coast.
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Once you’re here, every ride to sessions, tours, lunches, and dinner is handled for you, with daily pickups at The Lodge 30A, WaterColor Inn, or The Pearl.
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Comfortable walking shoes, closed-toe shoes for the job sites, layers for February on the coast, and your favorite sketching supplies.
Apply to Join
Three days touring the most architecturally relevant neighborhoods in the US with a local residential designer who grew up on these streets. The retreat is by application, and the group is kept small on purpose. Apply with your $500 deposit, and you’ll hear back within 48 hours. If you’re not accepted, it’s refunded in 5 to 7 business days.
HDA students and alumni: $2,800 through November 27
Everyone else: $3,200 through November 27
After November 27: $3,500 for everyone
Applications close January 12, 2027