Q. Describe the most common types of jobs you do for your clients.
A. Common types of jobs are working with people who already have an idea of what they want in a room, they just need someone to help them aquire that dream by giving them steps and filling in the gaps they might not see. I help communicate the visual in words that they can take to partners and/or stores to make the goal of the space come to fruition.
Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A. Make sure you interview your designer. If you don't connect with them, don't hire them. If I can't read a client and hear what their needs are, then I can't do a good job.
Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?
A. If I was a customer wishing to know something secretive about designing interiors I would ask if all designers have homes that look like a magazine spread.
My answer would be- not my home! I live in it with my kids, husband and pets. This always adds up to over 6 kids rambling through my home when friends pop over to play! Legos, Nerf Gun Bullets, Pet Hair, Homework papers, Single Alone Socks on the floor. Do I try to manage that organizationally? You betcha. That's the fun of design. Decorative containers are my best friend as a mother.
Q. What important information should buyers have thought through before seeking you out?
A. Ah! That's the nice thing about hiring a designer. We should be able to read a floor plan, estimate costs of materials after we measure a space and also suggest whether or not your ceiling requires painting!
When I come to have our consultation I hope that you have thought about your likes and dislikes in color, furniture and what items including accessories that you have already at your home that could be used - just in a new way, or new area.
I'll bring with me tools to measure, questions to ask, color options and a plethora of ideas through pictures and experiences! If you bring a challenge that I can't answer during our consult because it's beyond my expertise, I will contact my network of contractors to find out what realistically we can obtain. That's the fun of design - always learning new ways to do things!
Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?
A. Every single designer stands out as we are all unique and talented. We each have our own experiences to give to a space. However, knowing who I am and where I have been in my experiences, I know that I will work diligently to maintain professional practices, listen to what the client is asking for, while also adding a splash of whimsy to my designs when opportunity strikes!
Q. What do you like most about your job?
A. I have worked in various postions through out the design field including sales, textiles, workrooms and staging. What I like most about owning my own design business is following my path of creating beautifully balanced spaces for clients to live in and doing it in a authentic manner. I also enjoy communicating the visual aspects that many clients cannot always see.
Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A. Question posed: What do I do with this space
My answer: Talk to me about this space, and who you are.
Many times, the client knows what they want in a space, they just can't communicate it visually. My job is to listen, perceive and hand ideas out to initially solve what their goals/dreams are. Then we look for issues that need to be resolved to get us to that balanced place of lovable, livable space!
Q. What do you wish customers knew about you or your profession?
A. It's not just about picking colors, buying whatever furniture and accessory and moving on. Like life, every thing scaffolds on top of one another. Layer after layer is built upon to create a whole healthy space that looks like a million bucks - but might not even need $100 bucks spent! (Except for my consulting fee of course!)
It's hard work and takes time, talent and people skills to work with clients needs.
Q. How did you decide to get in your line of work?
A. I Dream Of Jeannie's purple bottle. Wow! Was that not a cool space.
Then Brady Bunch would come on after. I mean really - who wouldn't want to re-design that orange and brown family room!?
I had a friend who was going to be President of the United States. He said I could be Secretary of the Interior. Ha!
Would play with Barbies all the way up to Junior High. But it wasn't about the role playing, it was all about their fashion and their rooms I created!
I create. Can't get around it.
Q. Tell us about a recent job you did that you are particularly proud of.
A. Lutheran Family Services asked for a designer to work on a receiving home for kids that would get pulled out of their homes in the middle of the night, stay in this home for a bit and then move onto a Foster home.
I was given a bedroom for pre-teen to teen age. Multi gender needs based on who might need the room.
The delicacy of providing a child a nurturing space full of love with out their birth families stung me and drove me to create with passion all the way down to the details of books and tools used to cope with anger one might have while living in that space.
Very proud of that bedroom.
Q. What are the latest developments in your field? Are there any exciting things coming in the next few years or decade that will change your line of business?
A. Through the years, you can always expect new designs in products such as lighting, kitchen gadgets, furniture and art, etc.
However, technology is surely changing everything in the field! This also has allowed a DIY to actually do it themselves! From AutoCad from 20 years ago to online ordering of fabrics to portfolios places on a website instead of carried around and IPad type readers that allow magazine's. My clip art ideas will eventually be digital only!
For right now though, because I am an artist first - I love hand drawing and drafting and there is something about having a file cabinet full of books and ideas on paper that can be touched!
Q. If you have a complicated pricing system for your service, please give all the details here.
A. My pricing is not complicated, however I have found that 90 minute to 2 hour consults work best. This time frame was not allowed on this site. So really you are looking at $75 - $100 for a complete consultation with advice, tools and information to get you started living in your space with renewed energy and focus.
