Chaletmomma Designs

Hello Friends this month my featured “Chat” is with Jessica Gordon Ryan a tastemaker, photographer, lifestyle writer, and all around fun gal. Jessica the face behind the Instagram account Gimlet Style. She is creative director of The Entertaining House, a blog that has garnered attention from brands, designers and celebrities around the world. Jessica my dear I’m beyond thrilled and thankful for your time to have a chat! Can you introduce yourself to the readers?

Hi Meryl I’m happy to be here! My name is Jessica, and I am an empty nester, a mother of three, a photographer, writer, and former publicist. I grew up on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, spent my summers in the South of France, lived in the UK for a couple of years before coming back to attend college in Boston. I have lived in various parts of Fairfield County, CT for over 30 years.

**Jessica with her mother Linda and grandmother Bettina**

In 2008 I launched The Entertaining House, a lifestyle blog with a once sizeable audience, to share my love of the arts, design and food, but as the world shifted over to social media, I followed suit. While I had (and still have) every intention of bringing it back to life, I haven’t quite found my mojo. Life is busy, you know, that and I’m verrrry good at making excuses, but maybe this will inspire me!

Ten years ago, and fairly newly divorced, I launched a boutique marketing firm,working with small local businesses in health, hospitality, lifestyle and design. It happened almost by accident. I was having coffee with a friend who owned a local restaurant and I casually mentioned that his restaurant’s social media was terrible, the way one would to a friend. I suggested some changes that would much better reflect the brand’s aesthetic. This was a stunning high-end, seafood focused restaurant located right on the Long Island Sound. It deserved to be the town’s Belle of the Ball.

I was given the honor of taking over the social as well as the PR efforts, and placed them in assorted publications throughout Connecticut and New England. I had been writing lifestyle pieces for assorted shelter, national and regional magazines for several years and was well positioned for this transition. Within a few months I would have a half dozen clients. I remain grateful for that first client.

Fast forward 10 years and the worlds of social media and PR have changed dramatically. Many local, specialty and shelter publications, and newspapers, have since folded. Social media has become the norm (though not always the preferred) means of small business promotion – much through influencers. Strategy and creativity turned into a game of “pay to play” and genuine authenticity and appreciation was slowly ceasing to exist. I was starting to get burned out.

A couple of years ago, shortly after I signed on a new client, my mother was diagnosed with AML, an aggressive form of Leukemia. Her prognosis was not good. Knowing that I would not be able to juggle the busy schedule of on-boarding a new business, while prioritizing my sick mother and my youngest who was getting ready to head off to college, I wrapped things up with all but one client. Two months later my mother passed away, and a couple of months after that, my youngest took off, leaving me with a very empty nest.

I had come to an unrecognizable crossroad in my life. Both parents were newly passed, and all of my kids were now on their own new journeys toward their future lives. I have no siblings and my mother had always been my sounding board, my North Star; I was charting new territory without a compass or map, and influenced by my mother’s resilience and to find the good in every situation, I did just that.

I had inherited a beautiful historic home in Newport, Rhode Island and I needed to figure out what to do with that first. For a very brief moment I contemplated putting the house on the market, but quickly came to my senses. What began as relatively straightforward paint job to freshen things up a bit, has turned into quite the lengthy renovation process, as often happens with older homes.

In the past two years I have:

Repainted the home’s interior.
Replaced the remaining 23 original windows (this excluded more recent additions which included the back of the kitchen, library and primary bedroom) upon approval of the Newport Historic District Commission.
Rewired the upstairs, living and dining and powder rooms that were still drawing power from an antiquated 1950s junction box to bring to current safety standards and modern day needs.
Replaced a hot water tank.
Replaced all kitchen appliances.
Added new custom cabinetry, replaced dated original cabinet doors with custom, replaced all kitchen hardware.
Replaced old cedar roof due to roof leak with new cedar roof (per requirement of the Newport Historic District).
Replaced ceiling and beams (from said leak) in the library.
Replaced ceiling in primary bedroom.
Replaced floor, sub-floor, support beams and joists in the office after discovering structural issues likely caused by water damage years ago that went undetected until we ripped out the rug damaged by said roof leak.
Remediated entire home due to existing and potential mold issues caused by said roof leak.
Replaced floor, sub-floor, support beams and joists in the office after discovering structural issues likely caused by water damage years ago that went undetected until we ripped out the rug damaged by said roof leak.
Remediated entire home due to existing and potential mold issues caused by said roof leak.

Jessica purchased the pink wooden candelabras from Dunes and Duchess and it sparked the quest for new paint and I think she’s hit on the perfect shade.

The painting above the sofa is of her grandmother Bettina with her dog Ballyhoo sitting in her wheelchair. Bettina contracted Polio at age 28 and was paralyzed and she owned several wheelchairs - one for travel, dress and casual. According to Jessica her chairs were very much her accessory. Bettina designed homes in Rochester, NY, Paris, Cannes, London and Great Haseley (Oxfordshire). Each home was photographed for various publications, including Maison et Jardin, Elle Decor, Interiors, House and Garden, Country Life to name but a few and Jessica has copies of every magazine and book the homes appeared in.

DININGROOM

Jessica loves color just look at the design of the kitchen - green walls (her favorite color) and look at the striped ceiling!

KITCHEN

**Jessica on her recent birthday celebrating in her bright green bedroom**

UPSTAIR BEDROOMS

Jessica I know you still have a To Do List at the house. Yes, I still need to replace the furnace which will take place this summer and repaint the primary bathroom and renovate the original upstairs bathrooms. We ran out of time before the start of the summer season and renovations will resume next fall. I can now focus on getting the primary bedroom and office back together after their “deconstruction” and continue with the things I enjoy – the decorating! And just in the last few weeks unfortunately the A/C broke! It’s been crazy. I’m in the process of getting it repaired.

Outside I have:

Trimmed, thinned and taken down sickly trees.
Replaced old shrubs with new ones.
Planted new hydrangea and laurel behind the house.
Planted a White Ash Oak in memory of my parents.
Planted boxwoods behind the pool to hide an old chain linked fence – While the pool doesn’t need to be totally fenced in the property does for insurance and liability purposes.
Relined the pool with new concrete and tile after discovering a slow leak last summer.
Replaced the old dated concrete decking around the pool with bluestone for an updated and elevated look
Created a walkway from the house to the pool with bluestone stepping stones
Replaced old worn pool furniture for a more elevated look

I still need to replace the old French drain system underground that pulls water from the ground near the house to the fields in back. After this, the “big stuff” should be done! I do want to add some more plantings outside this summer, especially out by the pool area.

Golly that’s quite a list but I know my dear you’ll get it accomplished beautifully as you have been doing so far! We haven’t even touched on the fact that up until your mothers passing you’d been living full-time in CT. You still have a condo, business acquaintances and many friends there. Yes I still go back and forth and I have no plans to live exclusively in Rhode Island - not yet… maybe not ever.

During the 2020 lockdown Jessica turned her attention from client work - because it was well - lockdown to her own photography. She sold works directly through her website and had a gallery show of her work once the world opened up. Jessica I really hope you’ll pursue this again because I want a piece of your work in the Chalet.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JESSICA

Two years have now passed, and while I have formally shut down my business, I keep busy with the odd photography assignment and oversee the social media initiatives for Rooms With A View, a spectacular charity-driven design event based in my hometown of Southport, Connecticut. This weekend of design has taken place every November since 1995, when it was founded by the late Albert Hadley. I like to say that I have two passion projects, this as well as my 99 year old Newport home.

So Jessica I’d love to know Who or What has been the biggest influence on you?My two biggest influences were unquestionably my grandmother and my mother. My grandmother was left paralyzed from polio, which nearly killed her when she was just 28. When she was finally released from the hospital, after struggling with getting around in her own home, she designed her own, wheelchair accessible, then hired an architect and a builder to bring it to life. The home, in Rochester NY, was recently listed for sale. It remains mostly unchanged and her style and aesthetic are still very much part of the house today. She went on to design and/or renovate and restore half a dozen more homes in the US and abroad, Paris, Cannes, Oxfordhsire and Umbria. She didn’t believe in the term “handicap.”

My own mother was extremely career-driven and headed up the public relations departments for The Museum of Modern Art as well as the Whitney Museum (back when it was at the Marcel Breuer on 75th and Madison.) I thought her job was so glamorous and I loved visiting her at work as a child. Back then, it was rather unusual for women to have careers.

So here are a few questions I like to pose - Where is your happy place? As a child it was Cannes. My grandmother had designed the most spectacular house in the hills overlooking the Mediterranean. I was fascinated with design long before I understood that a well-designed home was something special. Her house, which used the outdoors as its focal point, the pool area in particular, was magical, elegant and designed with entertaining in mind. Two sides of the main living and dining areas featured massive, long and thick glass doors that when fully opened disappeared magically inside the walls so it was as if you were outside all the time, even in inclement weather. For this reason storms terrified me as the lightning was brighter than anything I have seen since, and the booming thunder echoed and reverberated around the mountains.

Now, it’s Newport and the home I have inherited from my parents that I have been restoring for the past 2 years.

What is your personal style? Both in how I dress and how I decorate – is a mix of classic and traditional, with some whimsy tossed in. There’s a lot of European influence which stems from spending so much of my youth in overseas. I am definitely a “high-low” girl. I love my inherited antiques as well as those I pick up from antique shops and yard sales. I also a huge fan of places like Home Goods where you can often find really good “dupes” for less. I recently found some beautiful rattan accessories there as well as Walmart. Yes, Walmart! I also like to support my local design-forward shops both in Connecticut and Rhode Island. There is no reason why something beautiful and elegant from Tiffany’s, Baccarat and Sferra can’t live beautifully on your dining room table with something whimsical from Marhsall’s or Michael’s! (A girlfriend made the most stunning napkin rings using “faux” flowers from Michael’s for most magical tablescape!) I adore color – all color. I like my spaces to be filled, well lived in, and a reflection of my personal interests. I’m not a maximalist but I am also not a minimalist, by any stretch of the imagination! I’m a home body by nature so I like to surround myself with things that have meaning. I love a bargain, when someone compliments something I’m wearing or in my home and they learn that it’s not a luxury piece but something I picked up for practically nothing. I’m good at styling things to make them appear luxurious, and sometimes that does mean pairing them with something that’s more high end, but most often they don’t. It’s all about pattern and fit, both on me and in my home. When I was younger and just starting off on my own, my mother would give me tips to find things that looked “more expensive” a phrase she used all the time, decades before the younger Millennials and Gen Z kids started using this term on social media, and decades before they were born!

What is something you try and do every day? I make exercise a priority- it’s definitely something I try to do everyday.

Tell us what is your guilty pleasure? My guilty pleasures is a funny term because I have no guilt when I indulge. Life is short – You should indulge! I have a ridiculous sweet tooth. If I’ve eaten dinner at home I will settle down with a bowl of ice cream. I’m in my coffee espresso chip era! Just a scoop or two, now more. I used to have a nightly glass of wine to end my day. I’ve traded that in for this and frankly this is just so much better. It feels like a reward and we all deserve a reward!

Jessica has an (The world’s best) Eggnog Pound Cake recipe on her blog. I made it friends and it’s so rich and beyond yummy! Jessica thanks so much for sharing. Oh Meryl happy to!

Equipment:

Stand mixer with paddle attachment (or hand mixer and large bowl)
12-cup Bundt pan or tube pan or two large loaf pans, 6 small loaf pans greased and floured

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter
3 cups (525 g) granulated sugar
6 eggs
3 cups (339 g) cake flour
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup (240 ml) eggnog (I always use light eggnog)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoon golden rum or rum extract (But you could add more!!)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 325° F/165° C.
Cut butter into chunks and cream. Gradually add sugar. Add eggs one at a time.
Stir together flour and nutmeg. Alternate flour and eggnog: one cup flour, 1/2 cup eggnog, one cup flour, the rest of the eggnog, and then the rest of the flour. Keep the mixer going slowly, scraping down the edges as necessary.
Stir in the vanilla and the rum (rum is optional)
Pour into prepared pan(s) and place on the cookie sheet in the preheated oven. Bake for 90 minutes (in bundt pan, 50-60 minutes, loaf pan, 30 minutes cake pan.)
Allow to cool 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve

Friends when I opened this interview I mentioned Jessica is one fun gal and I know from personal experience - after a few years of chatting through Instagram and one failed meet up - we finally met last fall at the Terrain Store in Westport, CT.

**Jessica and I at Terrain in Westport, CT - November 2025**

After a bit of shopping we ended up at Nomade for dinner and it was one of the best days ever! I am so lucky to have made and met amazing friends through the crazy world of Insta and I count Jessica as a dear one.