Life and Work with Jill McKee

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jill McKee.

Jill, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
As a little girl, I was always so excited when my mom’s new magazines came in the mail! My favorites were Good Housekeeping and Better Homes and Gardens. I would quickly thumb through them until I came to the home articles… anything to do with fixing, making, remodeling, DIY, etc. I looked forward to them every single month!

Fast forward to high school and I was sewing shorts for my cheer squad and rearranging my bedroom furniture often! My parents really encouraged my creativity and got behind all the things I wanted to learn to do. They always facilitated ways for me to do new things and helped me so much. We had a big family and home, so we were always busy doing something!

I actually went into the legal field in college, but always kept my love for interiors. I couldn’t wait to get home at night to paint, reupholster, sew, and make things!

After I got married, home was always my favorite place to be and I loved creating a space that was unique, cozy, and just right for my family. Since I was constantly working on projects in the home, I decided to start blogging as a way to record and keep track of all my endeavors. Blogging was super fun and I ‘met’ so many great people who had the same interests as me. It was fun to share and learn from so many creatives.

Blogging brought a really fun job into my life. I became a stylist assistant and helped get homes ready for photo shoots for Country Living and HGTV magazines. I did that for five years and got to see some of the most beautiful homes all around the US. I met so many wonderful homeowners and learned so much!

I had ALWAYS been interested in creating interiors that were warm, accommodating and inviting. Flipping homes didn’t really appeal to me because I wouldn’t be furnishing them, and that’s the part the was missing for me. My passion comes in families and friends spending time together, creating priceless memories and being in a space that allows them to just relax. That’s when I had the idea to have a cabin as an Airbnb. But I definitely needed a partner, and it needed to be someone that was cut from the same cloth as me. My brother, Ryan. As his older sister, I’ve always been able to talk him into crazy ideas…

I put together a list of five cabins for us to drive to Pinetop and look at as potentials. It was a cold and snowy day in February. As soon as we saw the massive windows of The 1975, we fell hard. We sketched out some quick ideas on how we could change it to add another bathroom, enlarge the kitchen, and create some more covered space outside. We were super excited about the potential and I don’t think I slept much until our offer was accepted. The day we closed, I spent the night there, by myself. I walked around for a long time imagining what it could be. I couldn’t believe a super big dream of mine was about to come true!

We worked for nine long months on the cabin. Our families did all the demo work. Ryan did all the framing, engineered a porch addition and massive metal staircase, and set up all the contracted work. I did full design from the top to the bottom… carefully selecting every finish, paint color, a piece of furniture, artwork, pillow and kitchen utensil. Our parents showed up time after time with their work clothes on and lunch, ready to help. We couldn’t have done it without them! Ryan and I would typically leave Gilbert on Monday mornings around 4:30 a.m. and work non-stop until Wednesday night, finishing our work up by flashlights before leaving for home. We would catch up with our families, jobs, real life and church, then do it all again the next week.

It was completely exhausting, but we both had an end goal in mind and we knew what we were creating. We finished the cabin the last weekend in October and started renting it out the first of November. It was a dream that was created through a lot of hard work, sacrifice and help from our families.

After it’s completion, my daughter and her husband decided to invest with us, so they are now also a part of our team and they handle all our marketing. All of our skill sets combined (construction, design and social media influencers/photographers) have magically come together to create this perfect working team, and we all feel really lucky and happy to be doing something we love!

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I wouldn’t say mine has been a completely smooth road. I’ve taken some knock-downs, and design can be a tough and very competitive industry. My advice would be to find your unique talents and do what you can to develop them, even if it means doing something different than the “norm.” You possess a specific skill set and you need to hone into what it is that you do that sets you apart from the rest. Listen to your friends and family when they tell you that you are good at something. And then find a way to use those talents/skills in a way that will benefit others.

Please tell us about getAwayFRAME.
We are in the business of creating cabins for people to go that need to relax/reconnect. We specialize in making our cabins luxurious but cozy. We have high-end furnishings, linens, and finishes, but everything is done with comfort and togetherness in mind. We want our cabins to be places where memories are made, and we have done everything on our end to set the stage for that to happen. Our cabins are fully stocked with all the comforts of home (and then some!) To set us apart, we provide homemade browned butter chocolate chips cookie dough balls in the freezer for our guests to bake during their stay!

Are there any apps, books, podcasts or other resources that you’ve benefited from using?
There are so many positive resources that I have learned from throughout my life, but mostly the example of others. I have wonderful parents that gave me a really good start and definitely taught me the fundamentals of how to work hard and give back. My friends have been a constant support of love in my life, and of course, my husband and kids have been my biggest cheerleaders. Always encouraging me and believing in me. I would say that the biggest positive resource in life has definitely been my faith in and love for God.

Contact Info:

• Email: getawayframe@gmail.com
• Instagram: @getawayframe

Image Credit:
@jacimariesmith

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