Over the years Dana Pickup's vision has transformed her own homes. From converting a one bedroom 900 square foot pre-war apartment in Brooklyn, NY to accommodate a growing family, to adding charm and warmth to a newly built 5,000 square foot home in the country, to gutting, adding on to, and re-configuring a 1950s Cape Cod in the Philadelphia suburbs. Renovating varied personal spaces has given Dana a depth and breadth of experience reinventing homes of all different scales. Neighbors, family, friends and passers-by saw what Dana was doing and reached out to her for input on their apartments and houses. It was realized that Dana's friendly suggestions and network of resources were helpful to both homeowners and to the builders doing the work. And thus, A Pickup Project came to life. 

Our Crew

DANA PICKUP
Founder, Principal 

Dana has been a re-imaginer of space since she can remember. She’s been around both design and construction since her childhood. Dana’s the daughter of serial renovators and the niece of a self taught home designer - maybe it’s in the genes. Dana established A Pickup Project (APP) in 2014 after a career in marketing and sales in the educational publishing industry. All the while she was doing everything from tweaking to gutting her apartment and homes. Friends and family repeatedly asked her for home reno advice and builders she hired for personal projects said, “you know what you’re doing.” It became crystal clear that it was time for Dana to pivot her career focus to her passion for reinventing home spaces. A Pickup Project was born and quickly grew to fill the niche of residential construction project management. 

Dana is the mother of three growing children who entertain her to no end. Her husband is a creative, developing video content every outlet imaginable. Dana’s house is her canvas - always evolving to suit the needs of her family members’ ages and stages. As a perpetual re-imaginer of space, she’s never without a list of projects to tackle - typically involving a wall coming down or going up, re arranging rooms and changing up salvaged furniture, and/or testing out ideas to use with clients on their future projects. When not working on the APP client renovations, Dana can be found dreaming about and planning adventures in travel, art, music, food, and sports - all of which she loves to share with her family and friends.

AMY LOVING
Lead Project Manger

Amy Loving is a natural at whatever she does, the quickest study, and a jack of many trades. Her lifelong personal and work experience led her to A Pickup Project where she continues to sharpen her client and business skills. Amy's varied professional experience includes: a first job at a local family business; many years in the optical industry as an optician, sales rep, and buyer; her own artful, high-end optical shop and her partnership with her husband running their thriving personal training studio. Dana thinks of Amy as “my better work half” and “boss” and leans on Amy’s skills at every turn. 

A Pickup Project combines all of Amy’s personal and professional worlds. In every house Amy has owned in the Philadelphia suburbs and Cape May, walls have come down, rooms have been repurposed and redesigned, and interior/exterior upgrades have been creatively and economically tackled. But, it's what she’s always done with gardening, landscaping and hardscaping that are most impressive. When Amy isn’t supporting clients and APP’s trusted builders and trades with her skills, she can be found digging deep in the dirt at her backyard farm, making seasonal plant containers, cooking restaurant quality meals at home, and laughing with her music-making son and husband.

CRISTI SAUSER
Lead Designer

Cristi Sauser is a designer, educator and potter. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband, two teenagers and their labradoodle. She recently went through a major renovation, adding a level to their townhome. Not an easy feat during a pandemic in a big city. But it was all worth it.  Designing for A Pickup Project is the highlight of her day. She loves taking a clients vision for a space and bringing it to life with a 3D rendering of a floor plan and with mood boards. Cristi also enjoys tinkering with apickupproject.com.