How I Came to Have A Studio Outside My Home

My clients are always a little curious.  Many independent designers work out of their homes in an effort to keep overhead low, especially in these slower economic times.  Unless there are several full time employees, most elect to carve a place out at home for this very.....”cluttered” business.

The acoutrements of a design business can be a bit overwhelming.  Tile samples, stone samples, drawings, fabric samples, catalogs, sample books, pieces of hardware, little metal finishes, pieces of patterned glass, wood finishes, you get the picture.  The more you work....the more you accrue.

And, you can imagine that with every new project......well, you need more. You simply don’t have that special sample of something unique that fits that particular client. When you get it, you hoard it, because you just know you’ll need it again....maybe....and that’s good enough.

I was once at a metal fabricator’s shop and was so excited when they let me pick up a bunch of their leftover bits of patterned sheet metal.  Quilted stainless, burnished brass, perforated metal pieces in various patterns.  It was like hunting for Easter eggs when I was a kid.  They were happy to oblige and sanded the edges down so I wouldn’t cut my fingers.  I still have those and I don’t give them up for anything. :)

You can imagine that this stuff collects in the nooks and crannies of your home....workspace, garage, dining room, hallway, living room....behind chairs, sofas, in decorative boxes, baskets, plastic tubs in the closets, and on and on. It multiplies while you sleep. I promise.

As a designer....these are your tools.  These are the things necessary for your work.  These are your collections.  

These are the things of inspiration. 

To know how to use them, you must see them first hand, touch them, compare them with something else, view them from far away and examine them in detail.

Organization helps, but really......it’s all about square footage.

Working out of my home was becoming terribly inefficient.  I couldn’t keep enough products and samples there to do me any good and there was so much in the way….everywhere!  I was driving all over Houston every time I needed a different stone material or tile sample.  The time I spent hunting down products was draining the profit right out of my business. It was all terribly frustrating.

My office at home in 2008. Honestly, I'm one of those people that knows exactly where everything is.

Not to mention how the stuff I had spread like wildfire throughout my home.  My kids would tiptoe in through the front door as the open floor space in the entry hall would be covered with materials.  I’m really not a hoarder...this is truly the nature of beast!

Then there were my dogs. Every time I got on the phone it seemed they would start barking at the squirrels outside. With an open plan house, that was a problem. My husband, who didn’t want me to spend the money to move the business out just said....”take the phone outside when you need to talk.”  ????? Oh  yeah, that’s efficient. I felt very unprofessional and it was just really hard to work.

My little Missy is a yipper.

Bear looks dead here, curled up next to his toy squirrel.  If he sees a live one through the window....look out!

I had other designer friends that told me that the best way to make a profit in this business is to keep overhead as low as possible. No rent. No employees. Being the optimist I am, I always thought my road would be different. I could do it. Things were so inefficient now,  wouldn’t I be able to cut my costs (time, because time is money) so dramatically that it would soon pay for itself?

It is difficult, judging when the best moment is to move out. When the recession hit, I thought for sure it would be another few years before the time would be right. I thought the dream of having my own studio, designed to fit my needs, would have to wait. And I’m not getting any younger, so I wasn't very happy about that.

Moving the business out of my home was my dream!  I had always wanted to relocate to a more professional environment, have employees, and everything I needed at my fingertips to make me more efficient and productive.  I’d been dreaming that dream for many years, visualized it, collected images of designer’s studios, and I was just waiting for the right moment.

Ah yes, a place for everything and everything in its place.

About 3 years ago, a local contractor approached me about opening an office within his new location.  He wanted to have a showroom of sorts, with a designer on site, to help him with his projects and vice versa.  It hit me right at the perfect time….I was so fed up with working out of my home.  He offered free rent and space for all my samples.  That offer was just way too good to pass up.

A reliable friend in the business had referred this contractor to me and although I hadn’t done business with him before, he had a good reputation, some of the people I knew in the area thought well of him. I liked him, his energy, his enthusiasm, his vision.  So….I made the jump.  I was so eager to get out of my house and I thought it was just such a good deal.  This was finally my moment.

I had a nice set up in the corner of the building.  I built my sample library, hired an employee, invested in furnishings, computers, everything but rent.

We remodeled the space that took it from this.......

to this.

See my nice sample room in the back!

Oh yeah, I was in there lock, stock, and barrel.

But this was 2009 and……there was a recession going on.  

Within 4 months, my contractor had moved out of the building under financial hardship, and I had to pay some of the rent to stay on just until the end of the month.  I was right in the middle of a bunch of projects that I was completely busy with and didn’t have the time to find a new space....and spend even more money!

My employee and I moved back to my house....that was soooo hard.  Not just physically, remember I had lots of samples, and furniture, and stuff, but it seemed like I was failing at this in just a matter of months!  Even the most positive of business people would feel like this was a huge setback.

Unwilling to give up and let the universe tell me to stay put, I found a new space…. in the same neighborhood as our first office.  I signed a lease and was going to be the first tenant in the new building.  Great location….first floor with lots of windows and natural light. I could design it the way I wanted and it looked a whole lot like how I always imagined it would. That's a good sign.

But that’s another story.  

For another day.

The great thing is, two years later....

I'm still here.

Getting Personal

Okay, I'm having a cranky day.  Just in a bad mood.  And I'm rarely in a bad mood.  I'm always optimistic.....devastatingly so.  By that, I mean I'm so optimistic that I plunge into things thinking everything is going to be fine and wonderful and sometimes they're not. And I'm always surprised about that.

I'm not much of a look before you leap kind of person.  

Well, I've leaped and haven't landed yet and now I'm scared up here in mid-air.

I'm going to be honest here. I've been working in interior design for over 20 years.  In my life BK, before kids, I worked at three different design/architectural firms.  My first job was a one person office, I was an assistant to a designer.  I learned a lot from her. She was a good designer, but busy with her growing family and finally stopped working to have another baby.  

My second job was at a large architectural firm.  We did large corporate, hospitality, and high-end residential projects.  It was extremely competitive and demanding....for very little money.  I spent nights at the office getting presentations ready.  It was like Mad Men....without the booze. (and in the 80's, not the 60's) It was so stimulating though. Lots of really great design was produced there.  I had so many opportunities to do some really great work and interact with the most creative people.  I worked on projects in Florida, California, even a house in Saudi.  I was flown on a private jet to a furniture manufacturer's facility once.  This job was real and it was pretty big.....for a small town Texas girl.  

But it drove me a little crazy too.  When I was pregnant with my first child I remember seeing my OB and saying something like, "I can't wait to have this baby and move toward a less stressful life."  He actually burst out laughing right in my face!   Okay, 2 kids later now I know why.

I took my next job 2 months after my first baby was born, I didn't go back to the architects at that point.  I went to a smaller office that I thought would be less stressful.  It was good for awhile.  This was the 80's and things were going south fast with all the S and L crisis. I bounced back to the architectural firm after a year, then after another year, back to the small design firm again where I stayed until I had my second child. 

Then I took a break.  I only made enough to cover my child care, clothes, and gas money anyway.  I know many of you think designers make a lot of money.....but they don't.  Every designer I've EVER known has struggled with income at some point.  Unless you're a celebrity designer in this business, it's hard make a buck.  My husband then had the opportunity to work overseas and we ended up being gone 5 years total with a year back in the middle. Within 3 months of moving back, my husband's company merger began and we knew we would be moving again soon. It took about 2 years, but we finally moved to The Woodlands, north of Houston.  

I opened a business about a year after I was here.  Very small.  I was kind of scared.  I'd been out of this business awhile, 10 years out of it by then.  I worked with my mother-in-law, Shirley, the fearless decorator from Brenham.  Honestly, she'll do anything.  She's totally unflappable.  We went around rearranging people's furniture in a day and did some window treatments and reupholstered some furniture for "clients".  Very small.  I was still very involved with my kids, teenagers, who really didn't want me around much.

I longed to do more and Shirley didn't want to work much anymore, so I proceeded on my own.  I wasn't getting much business though. I felt like more of a mom that just arranged furniture on the side. This is so sad.....okay, in my desperate need to do design I would go to Marshall's and rearrange their accessory shelves. :(  I did often wonder that eternal mom question....where I would have been if I hadn't taken the time off to be home with my children.  (Of course, I'm very grateful I was able to do that.)

Then I got a break.  My friend asked me to help her with her kitchen.  Unbelievably, when it was finally done, it was published.  Then I got another one, another and another.  

Now my life is a little like Mad Men again.  It's kinda crazy.  My projects are on the small side though, more medium range budget.  My business is kind of right on the edge, a one person office with interns.  I'm so busy I can't see straight and need more help, because I have to do all the busy work too, but I can't really afford it.  I feel like I'm constantly running on a wheel and can't get off.  I love what I do, but I need a better quality of life....now.  I need to be able to make more profit so that I can get the help I need so I can attend to the big picture stuff, not the deliveries.

So, if anyone is still reading this, (and if not, that's okay too....this is for me) here's the deal.  I can't seem to break into the high end luxury market.  I set my goals about 4 years ago.  I reached my first one, literally days before my goal date.  Yeah.....I'm fanatical about goals.  My second one is due in a little over a year.  I'm thinking that one isn't going to happen.  I'm not even going to voice my goals here because you'd laugh like my OB did.  I totally believe in them, but I know time wise that it's pretty unattainable right now.  You see, I know I need high end luxury projects to be able to get to the goals I set for myself. IF I can get one and IF it goes well and it's a good representation of my work, then it could take 1-2 years or maybe more to complete.  My time is up.  

I recently had a conversation with another designer of high-end luxury interiors.  She said that no one in the luxury market would hire me if I put pictures of my work/their projects out there and wrote about them on my blog.  Well, that's a problem.  I never reveal locations or names unless they are first names of my friends with their approval.  I always get a signature on all my contracts that allow me to publish photos of my work.  If someone requested I remain totally private about images and not release them anywhere, then I would oblige.  Of course, my fee would be higher, because I have to be able to market myself for the next job.

Nonetheless, I'm under a time crunch.  

When I went to my marketing guy, Brad, the Virtual Biographer, with my frustration, after listening to all my commentary and reading my notes and thinking about things he made this suggestion. I should ditch going for the luxury market.  He thinks I need to focus on what I'm doing now and exploit every avenue available within this market.  This group of possible customers who want to do more themselves, who don't have the money to spend on needless luxuries but want to spend their money wisely, who are internet shopping savvy, should be my focus.  He thought I should stay where I'm at with regard to level of project...but reach out further, beyond my backyard.  After all, I've already made some headway with this blog.  

So, I listened to him......not much at first.  I thought, hmmmm, I'm just gonna let him think he knows what he's talking about, but I'm still going to go for luxury, high-end jobs.  Just build the website.

After awhile though, I came around to his way of thinking.  It took a long time, but I do see the logic. So, here I am, redirecting my course.  I'm about to put myself out there in a big way.  There's no turning back.  I'm really nervous about it and I'm tired of thinking about it. If this doesn't work what am I going to do?  Sit in my studio and sulk and keep running on the wheel until I die? I don't want to even think about that.

So that's where I am today. Kinda out in mid-air...hanging here. Grouchy. 

I must say......I feel better already.  

Thanks for listening.  

I seriously can't believe I even wrote this.  Probably not good PR. :/

And yes, Brad, I KNOW it's too long.

Mother's Day

Houzz.com asked me to write something about my mother for an article they are running this weekend about interior designers and their moms.  

After I submitted it, they asked me some additional info about aging in place and planning for physical challenges in the bathroom. I have no idea how it will be edited or how those remarks will be included in their piece, so I'm publishing it here the way I wrote it.  

I was really happy to be asked to contribute and actually had been thinking about this for some time......how to tell my mother thanks for something that I hadn't even thought of as a real gift for all these years.

The minute I received the request I sat down and started writing and it just poured out.

As your children grow up, you remember things that happened at those points in your life when you were that age.  Since my children have gone off to college, I've often thought about my mother and father and how they sent me off into the world.  

Here's what I submitted.

A lot of designers come to this profession later in life, after they’ve had their “real” career, their career that they knew would give them a good living and sustain them financially.  As time goes on, they realize that life is just too short to be wasted doing something you don’t love, no matter what the income level.

I knew early on in my life that I wanted to be a designer.

When I was in junior high, we had to recarpet some areas of our house and my mother let me pick the carpet for my room.  My first design project!  I loved it. After choosing some new bedding, I pulled a color out to use for the carpet and paint.  When the carpet was installed, I moved furniture around, created little vignettes, hung momentoes for an art wall, and fell in love with interior design.

I came from a family of teachers. 

My mother was an elementary school teacher, my father a principal, and my sister ended up becoming an elementary music teacher. After winning a local design competition for high school students in my area, my fate was sealed.  I wanted to major in interior design in college.  My practical, teacher parents could have advised me the way most parents would......”How are you going to make a living at that?” or "Do you need to go to college for that?"....but they NEVER said anything like it.  They just let me make my own decision, blessed my path with their love and money, and off I went, never having any doubts or worries about my career choice. 

Having had children of my own in college recently, with one as a photography major and one as an engineer, I have looked back on the way my parents approached my decisions about my life.  I am so grateful for their support and absence of negativity. 

I have no doubt I was born to do this.  Anything else would’ve been so unfulfilling.

Over the years, after my father passed, my mother has moved a few times.  Each time she looked for me to help her make the home hers. I’ve done so with much gratitude and love.  It’s been a small return on her investment and belief in me. In her present home recently, we made her bathroom more accessible with grab bars and wider doorway which have come in so handy.

She’s so proud of me, with some of the magazines I’ve been published in gracing her coffee table and newspaper clippings hanging on the frig.  I just can’t express what that means to me and how her love and support influenced my life.

One of the things I feel is a parent’s biggest responsibility is to help their child find their passion and calling in life.  My mother did just that, by providing opportunity for me to explore my career path, for supporting me financially to achieve that dream, and for respecting my decisions and blessing them with her love and pride. 

On this Mother’s Day,  I hope she knows how big this has been for me.  

Much love and thanks, Mother.

(Look how pretty she is!  In her 80's!)

Carla

Sketches

There has been some discussion lately by designers about the preference of sketching or hand drawing vs. CAD drawing. As a designer, one of the best ways to show a client your ideas is to provide drawings. We are taught in school and many of us use drawings as a way to think through a design and develop concepts. These days, both methods are taught, but the age of the interior designer has a little something to do with their preference. :) We didn't have CAD when I went to school! I enjoy sketching up my projects and will lay color down as well to help a client visualize their space. It's usually part of the schematic design phase of the process. I do have a younger assistant who prefers CAD, which is undeniably the best method for handling revisions. However, in this day and age of all things computer generated, I find my clients really appreciate my hand drawings. Sort of like a hand written thank you note vs. an e-mail sent from your phone, it's just more personal. I thought I'd share some of the drawings that I've done on various, unrelated projects.

Some drawings are done in elevation, some as a floor plan, others are a perspective sketch.

Elevation of a girl's bedroom showing a new window seat and shade.

Perspective sketch of a living room to show architectural features and tile layout.

In this sketch for a kitchen remodel, new finishes and a new pantry door were highlighted.

This elevation sketch shows how the color on the wall, hood, backsplash, and counter will blend together to break up the wall of white cabinets.

The master bath above is being remodeled now. I can't wait to see it finished! The tub is absolutely beautiful!

This furniture layout visually shows how the color is balanced around the room.

A drawing like this shows how all the elements and details work together to make a certain visual statement.

I like to label up my drawings with notes, so that my clients can refer back to them and remember what I tell them at the presentation.

Drawing is one of my favorite things to do as a designer. I prefer it to shopping!

My New Office

My New Office!

We've been moving in since the end of February and are really settled in now and feeling quite at home in our new office space. We're located at 26202 Oak Ridge Drive in The Woodlands, one block west of the southbound feeder of I-45N, south of Woodlands Parkway and north of Sawdust Drive. It is convenient to the freeway and for running down to Houston and still very accessible to The Woodlands.

The exterior of our building! It's brand new and there are businesses still moving in. It's a nice group of people and we all love it here. I'm down on the first floor with all those nice windows running down the length of my space. It's very accessible for us, being on the first floor. We have ample, close parking and can zip in and out easily with samples and shopping bags all day long.

Here is the view looking down to the back of my space. I wanted a loft type look, nice and open, with lots of lay out surface and open storage. I got to design my space and they built it to suit, so it's a designer's dream.

Here you are looking up to the front of the space with the conference table in the front room. I have no closed offices, which is a nice way to let all the light in through the whole space.

This is my front reception/conference area. I used all creamy white to have a nice light backdrop for all our work. I love my floors, a special concrete finish that lets me roll my desk chair around my work space and is easy to keep clean.

Here's my sample area and a coffee bar. We have all the major fabric lines and are well stocked with all kinds of products and catalogs. Our clients love visiting us here for meetings and to work with us on their projects.

We love it here and know this was a great move for us!

Call us to stop by and have a look! 281-364-6633