Rising Stars: Meet Ally Kusznikow of New Jersey

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ally Kusznikow.

Hi Ally, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I started sharing our home on Instagram almost organically. The real story starts in the summer of 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, when my husband and I bought a piece of land that nobody wanted. My husband was our general contractor. I was the designer. Neither of us had done anything like this before. I was just documenting what we were doing and people started to connect with it.

The build, that property story, our process — it’s what Oak Ave House start as. It’s what people started following. And five and a half years later, I’m still sharing it: the garden I obsess over, the seasonal transitions, the recipes I’ve made for years, the real behind-the-scenes of building a home and a life from the ground up. We’ve gone from building a house to making a home and I’ve learned so much along the way. It grew into a community I’m so proud of.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Beyond the build, growing on social media is its own kind of grind. There are weeks where content performs really well and it feels like momentum, and then stretches where nothing lands and you start questioning everything. The algorithm changes constantly. Some of my most involved posts get the least traction and something I threw together in minutes takes off. You learn not to take it personally, but that takes time. One thing I never stopped doing is showing up.

The thing I’ve learned is that staying consistent and staying genuine, even when it’s hard, is what builds something that lasts. I’m not trying to be perfect. I’m just trying to be real about what our home and our life actually look like. Real life does happen here and although I choose to keep my channels light and refreshing, I never want anyone to think that’s what it is like all the time. This space became my outlet to disconnect with and I know a lot of people, creator or not, can relate to that.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a home and lifestyle content creator, but I think what I actually do is document a real life being lived in a real home. I think that distinction matters.

Everything I share comes from our actual house. The garden I obsess over from spring through fall. The seasonal transitions I look forward to all year. The recipes I’ve been making for years. The design decisions, the renovations, the things that worked and the things I’d do differently. None of it is staged or styled for someone else’s idea of what a home should look like. It’s ours: warm, lived-in, a little nostalgic, and constantly evolving.

I’m also deeply, genuinely crafty and that side of me really comes alive this time of year. October through December are my favorite four months for this, and a huge part of that is getting my hands into everything. I’d rather spend an afternoon painting pumpkin buckets than buy something already finished from a store (even if I spend the same amount of money on supplies). Even if it’s not perfect. That’s the whole point. There’s something about making things by hand that store-bought just can’t replicate, and I think that philosophy runs through everything I share. Homemade Halloween, handmade wreaths with dried hydrangeas from our own yard. If I can make it, I’m making it.

I think I’m most known for a few things: my hydrangeas (I have over 50 bushes and I talk about them probably more than is reasonable), my approach to seasonal decorating (always high impact, low effort, low spend) and my garden, where I’ve landed on a chaos gardening approach I swear by. And every year without fail, my 15-foot Christmas tree twinkle lights go viral. Some things just work.

What I’m most proud of is the community that’s formed around this. I never set out to be an expert. I set out to share what we were doing and figure it out as we went. The people who follow along aren’t looking for a perfect showroom. They’re looking for something real and achievable. That’s what we’ve built here, and it’s the thing I protect most.

What sets me apart is probably that I can’t separate the home from the story behind it. When I share a corner of our backyard or a fall tablescape or a hand-painted pumpkin bucket, there’s a whole life behind it. That context is always there, even when I’m just talking about my favorite fall recipe.

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
The thing that worked best for me is finding your people and genuinely showing up for them.

When we were in the middle of building our home, I connected with other accounts who were doing the same thing. There was a weekly series where a group of us would each post about something we chose or learned during the building process and anyone following one of us would discover all of us. It was organic, it was honest, and it worked. Those people I met five years ago are still hustling beside me today, and I give them so much credit for where I am.

As my page has evolved, so has my community. I’m in Facebook groups of people who just love sharing their homes, creator or not. I have a group chat with a handful of girls in the same space as me where we support each other through brand partnerships, answer each other’s random day-to-day questions, and make sure we’re showing up for each other’s posts and ads. It sounds simple, but that kind of consistent mutual support is genuinely hard to find and incredibly valuable when you have it.

My advice would be: stop looking for a mentor above you and start finding peers beside you. The rising tide really does lift all ships in this space. Engage with people in your niche, comment meaningfully, reach out, share what’s working. This isn’t easy work (it looks effortless from the outside and it is absolutely not!) and having people who actually understand that, who are in it with you, makes all the difference.

Knowing when to ask for help is part of it too. This year I’m finally bringing on management, something I probably could have done a year or two ago, but I always felt like I had a handle on it. I still do. But there’s a difference between managing something and seeing how far it can actually go with the right support behind it. I’m excited to find out.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://substack.com/@oakavehouse
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oakavehouse/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oakavehouse

Image Credits
Ally Kusznikow
Alyssa Mancini – https://alyssamanciniphoto.pic-time.com/portfolio