Someone I love called me the day he found out the marriage was over. He had a month to find somewhere to go. He was looking at Airbnbs that felt cold and temporary — not a home, not a place his kids would want to visit. I helped him find a place. Then in three weeks, I built it into a warm and vibrant home.

When we sat down for our first planning session, room by room, I asked something that genuinely surprised him — what do you actually like? He'd spent years in a home decorated around someone else's taste. Nobody had ever asked. We went through Pinterest together and found a style that was completely, authentically his. And for the first time in a long time, something felt like his own.

I asked his kids to snap a few photos of their bathroom — their shampoo, their face wash, their products. So when they came to stay, it was all already there waiting for them. No friction. No awkwardness. Just home.

In less than three weeks, the place was fully set up — furniture, kitchen, tools, bedding, art, all of it. The kids came over and didn't want to leave.

I've since done this for a close friend who lost everything in the Palisades fires and had to rebuild from nothing. I've done it for families arriving in this country with nothing but a suitcase. Each time, the work was different in its details and the same in its heart: find the place, build the home, be the person who picks up the phone.

At some point I realized this wasn't just something I did for people I loved. It was something that people desperately needed — and that nobody was offering.

That's 2nd Story.

— Dana Colwell, Founder