Today I want to hear from YOU. What are you working on in your home? What’s been a challenge? Are there issues that have you totally stumped (small space, big space, weird windows, crappy sofa, mixing patterns, storage…)? If you could have me write about anything, what would you want to read?

Leave your comment below!

Image is from a budget project I did last summer (post is here).

Hey loves! Thanks for the kind comments on the Things I’m Afraid to Tell You post yesterday. I think I’ll be sharing more later. It was scary to even just proclaim “I’m not perfect!” but there are way more weird things that I could share, haha. Anyway, today is my birthday! I’m now 27 (that’s been another thing I don’t over-publicize because I get chided for being “a baby” in the blogging and design world).

A few weeks ago I found my 25 before 25 list. I still hadn’t crossed off 14 things! And we crossed that 25 bridge a while back now. So I’m giving myself three years to do a new 30 before 30 list – thirty things that I want to do/try/accomplish before my twenties are over. Ten things a year, give or take. Sounds do-able, right? And I’ll try to share updates along the way when I cross something off.

Here we go:

1. Take an art class. Maybe painting, watercolors, or pottery (I used to love throwing on the wheel but haven’t done it for 9 years!)

2. Write (and finish!) a short story.

3. Get a massage (I’ve never had one, sad.)

4. Splurge on pretty personalized stationary that I can reorder.

5. Make an actual livable wage from being self-employed.

6. Invest in a real piece of art that I’ll have my entire life.

7. Feel comfortable with how I look (this sorta includes an exercise routine and not eating as much cheese).

8. Go to Italy.

9. Go on a U.S. roadtrip with Ryan.

10. Practice meditation.

11. Dance without being self-conscious.

12. Get married.

13. Learn another language.

14. Be ok at a sport (we’re starting with zero skill here, people).

15. Have a cleaning schedule for the apartment.

16. Go to an opera and a ballet every year.

17. Keep a journal (I do this anyway, but I want to remain more consistant with it, since it tends to go in fits and spurts).

18. Have a few recipes that I know by heart and can improvise from, especially a roast chicken. I have spaghetti sauce from scratch down, but poultry is a challenge.

19. Have a real savings set aside.

20. Be in a print magazine.

21. Practice living in the moment.

22. Learn a few new songs to sing and figure out how to accompany myself (the main reason I gave up singing about 7 years ago was that singing was my ONLY musical skill, but now my voice is a little rusty too.). Guitar? Piano? Hmm.

23. Stop procrastinating (as much…)

24. Become more comfortable going places by myself.

25. Find a great local charity to volunteer for.

26. Make more time for reading (one of my favorite hobbies).

27. Beat Ryan at putt-putt. Just once!

28. Develop a smart and attractive wardrobe with only pieces I actually wear and feel great about.

29. Stop comparing myself to others.

30. Take more chances.

(The photo is from my Instagram – on Saturday we spent the day doing things I love, like eating Top Pot donuts overlooking the city. It was such a clear day that you could see all the way from the mountains in the east to the mountains in the west, and THE mountain (Mt. Rainier) to the south. We spent time walking the beach on Alki, had lunch and did a bit of antiquing in Georgetown, and had a yummy dinner and drinks with some of my best friends on the back patio of The Innkeeper in Belltown. Pretty much a perfect day!)

Meg asked me if I’d join in a second round of Things I’m Afraid to Tell You posts (a movement inspired by Jess, started by Ez)… and I have to admit, it was a hard decision to agree to participate. I think because we ALL want to be liked and admired, and in the case of a business blog, hired!

But the idea behind the movement is to eliminate that need to appear perfect in blogland. Yes, in general blogs are “positive” places and personally, I don’t like to bring a lot of complaining or negativity to this space. But in the process I’ve probably missed an opportunity to connect on a more personal level. So in case you had any lofty expectations of what I’m like, brace yourself!

1. My home doesn’t always look perfect. Far from it, in fact. I’m kind of messy and tend to leave things lying around EVERYWHERE. Add in the fact that we live in a pretty small (700ish sq feet) apartment and I’m home most of the time… well, it doesn’t always look picture perfect. My messiness is probably why I’m a chronic unclutterer (I am constantly purging crap because it’s sitting out where it doesn’t belong). Plus, we moved here in August and I’m not done decorating. I’m not even close. I don’t have a huge budget and I don’t get free stuff just for being a blogger (occasionally, but I always divulge that info, so you know it hasn’t happened a lot!). It may be another year before I wrap this up. No one-day-makeovers happening here, even in the home of a decorator.

2. I don’t always look perfect. In fact, as I write this I’m not wearing makeup, my hair is frizzy, and I’m still in my pjs. It’s 11 a.m. I don’t have a closet bursting with cute clothes. Most of the time I’m in jeans and a tee. I wish I dressed cuter, but here’s the other part… (deep breath!)… I’m not at a weight I’m comfortable with. I put on some pounds in college and out of a love for food and a loathing for exercise I haven’t been able to shed them… so I feel frumpy any time I try to look cute (and dang it, I WAS super cute in high school and early college!) I have great taste in clothes, I just hate putting them on But I’m the maid of honor in my bff’s wedding next summer so I think that’s enough time to get my ass in gear and find a workout routine that I enjoy. Because let’s face it – I’m no dieter.

3. Business is not booming. Ya’ll, starting a business is HARD. I knew that it was going to be a lot of hard work going into it, but for some reason that doesn’t really mean anything until you’re in the thick of it. I’ve been getting some work, but MOST of my working hours are spent in marketing, networking, and coming up with activities to draw in more clients (um yeah that’s just more marketing). I could stand to be about 3x as busy as I am now with design work. Money is tight (hence the slow decorating of my own place) and I’ve considered getting a side job to keep the bills paid. I’m enthusiastic and confident about 70% of the time, and the other 30% goes from discouraged to total self-doubt. I’ve wondered if this is even what I should be doing with my life. I probably would not have lasted this long without encouragement from Ryan. That and the fact that I’ve learned SO much since quitting my job last year that I know that more learning and more success is ahead. I just have to keep plugging along… that being said, there’s no time like the present to book an e-decorating session, wink wink. No overnight success here, and no rolling in the dollar bills.

Ok, well that’s about all the uber-honesty I can handle right now without feeling like I’m naked in front of a classroom and didn’t prepare my presentation… but I do feel like being more open and honest about what real life is like can be a great way to build a better bond with YOU (and the connections I make with people is my absolute favorite part about blogging). So leave a comment, tell me something about yourself. We’re all friends here

Visit the other participating bloggers for Wave No.2

Cassie: Coco + Kelley / Christine: Court & Hudson / Caitlin: Sacramento Street / Roxy: My Cup of Te / Crystal: Blog / Meg: MIMI+MEG / Ashlina: The Decorista / Katie: Modern Eve / Erin: Apartment 34 / Erica: Design Blahg / Victoria: Vmac & Cheese / Christine: Miles to Style / Franki: Life in a Venti Cup  / Sue: The Zhush / Erika: Radiant Republic / Gabrielle:Savvy Home / Monika: The Doctor’s Closet / Naomi: Design Manifest /Tobe: Because It’s Awesome / Becca: {extra}ordinary wonders / Lynzy: Sparkling Footsteps / Hitha: Hitha On The Go / Sarah: Note To Self / Liz: So Much To Smile About / Sarah:Blogstar / Alissa: The Goods Design / Jessie: Style & Pepper / Erika: Small Shop Studio  / AV: Long Distance Loving / Maggie: Maggie Rose Blog / Nicole: The City Girl In Me / Priscilla: The Best Laid Plans / Jen: Concrete Jungle DC / Janelle:Food Fashion Fitness / Natalie: East Coast Chic

Thanks again to Jess for her initial post, and to Ez for starting the movement.

Here are the bloggers that participated in Ez’s Wave No.1 of Things I’m Afraid To Tell You:

Design for Mankind | Little Brown Pen | Beautiful Hello | Curating Style | Sweet Fine Day | The Jealous Curator | Happy Days |Sage & Berries | Really Handmade | Peck Life | Satsuma Press | Rena Tom | For the Easily Distracted | The Hemborg Wife | Vitamini Handmade | Courtney Khail Stationery and Design | Meg in Progress | Dando Photography Blog |Widdershins22 | Alison Citron | Pink Moon Daily | Just Pretty Things | From China Village | Tea with Me | The Darling Ewe |Not Your Average Ordinary | The Electric Typewriter | Elleby Design | Parsimonia {Secondhand With Style} | Life as an Artistpreneur | Hello Cupcake | Dellie | The A & B Stories | Pretty Little Things | Feistyelle | Nib & Zed | Well and Cheaply | I Ripple. I Dance. | Whitfield Awesome Blog | Foxtrot Press | Dry As Toast | The List of Now | Apple Blue | For the Love of | Four Flights of Fancy | Miss Modish | Snapshots & Secrets | Dirty Laundry | Bubby & Bean | Penelope’s Press | Little Nostalgia | Vale Design | Pikaland | Fleurishing | Print Pretty | Vespa Tales | Hazel & Agnes | Amanda’s Musings | Mo’ Funk Designs | Ordinary Mommy | Camp 1899 | In Honor of Design | Liberty’s Yarn | Love, Life & Pictures |Stacey Winters | Owl in the Rain | Living Life Creatively | Emma Elizabeth Clease | I Live in Vacouver Now | British Cream Tea

Here’s the room:

I started with the mint sofa. It’s totally cute, right? Then I started searching for an arm chair or pair of chairs, deciding that this room would be happy, feminine, and a little quirky… I thought if I could get a room as a birthday gift, what would I love? These floral chairs quickly won out – I think they were about my third option. I knew then that a black and white striped rug wouldn’t compete with the seating and would modernize them a little. I tossed the sconces in about then too, since they tied into the rug.

Then I started looking for a coffee table… when I don’t have a really great vision of what I want in the mix, I just start dumping different ideas in and then move ‘em around until I like how one blends with the other pieces. That’s why this is fun to do in Polyvore because I can sift through hundreds of options in just a few minutes. (I don’t use Polyvore for client work, just for little experiments like this – for clients I lay things out in Photoshop). I did manage to get an instagram capture of the coffee table process (I think I added two or three more before finding this one and clearing them out. I liked that this looked relaxed  (to contrast with the formal shape of the seating and the rigidness of the stripes) and I like a little natural texture in every room.

I always like to have another element to a living room space like this, be it a console table or desk area, and I decided to go with a desk (at first). I tried a lot of different options and mixed in a few chairs, but everything felt too heavy. Finally I decided something glass or lucite could be interesting… but then the chair had to be really fantastic. I tried gray, I looked for pink, looked for klismos chairs… basically trying to find something that would contrast with the desk, bring a shot of color to that corner, but not be too matchy with the other seating. I tried a few upholstered french dining chairs but it looked SO one-dimensional with the other feminine seating that it was super boring. Then I thought, why not a bench tucked under like a console?

I found this bench and a little pale pink and white striped Dorothy Draper number and couldn’t decide. So with both of them still on the board I started searching for lamps. I found this brass one and a bright pink ceramic one. I left both of those on the board while I started looking for artwork. I was mostly searching for an abstract with a color palette that worked with the floral chairs, but then I found this paint-by-number and just about died over the quirkiness. While I liked the contrast of the pink lamp against the painting, the brass lamp felt a little more sophisticated and toned down the cute vibe. With the color from the lamp gone, the turquoise bench was the obvious choice for a splash of color. Finally, the board was full of a lot of cool tones (mint, blue, more blue, black and white…) and the pink in the florals was getting lost, so I found a pink pillow for the sofa.

And voila!

Whew, if you made it through that rambling mess, I’m impressed! Now you know a bit what it’s like inside my little designing head! Lots of trial and error and “what would be interesting or unexpected HERE” going on.

Is this similar to how you design a room? Would you have come up with something totally different? And isn’t this the happiest little room ever? Or do you think I’m nuts? Wait, don’t answer that…

1. We need a new (comfortable!) chair at our desk and I’ve been thinking of this one from Crate and Barrel. Seeing them in action at Cassandra’s may have secured them a place at the top of consideration.

2. The beauty of this (yes, expensive) candle is that once it’s done burning, you can always keep the container because it’s chic enough to display. Pens or makeup brushes look fab in it.

3. I’ve been loving the different uses of silk scarves lately in fashion and am dying to try them out. Reminds me of my high school days when I tied up my hair with them all the time… way ahead of my time.

4. There’s something so classic about tortoiseshell, and I love this chain link necklace – I just can’t decide if I want the short or long.

5. I don’t usually like cheesecake, but throw in a blueberry and lemon combo and I might find them too hard to resist, like this.

6. So on my ACTUAL birthday list (what I’ve really been telling people) is clothing and artwork, including small pieces by this artist on Etsy.

Anyway, here are my favorites, but there are lots more in the shop, Sukan, all for the tune of just $36 for the set.

1,2,3,4,5

Here are two examples that I felt demonstrated each technique well. Can you tell which is which? Meet me in the comments to discuss.

Images from: Miles Redd in House Beautiful, found on Material Girls; Ana Antunes Home Styling.

The Sculpture Park is in Belltown down by the water RIGHT at the end of the waterfront past the last pier. It’s an extension of the Seattle Art Museum (not physically, I mean they curate it), so everything is top-notch. You can walk around, lounge on the nice green grass, head down to the benches overlooking the water and even head to a tiny pocket beach when you’re all done taking in the art. But that’s for another post. This is about the art.

We walked around last Saturday and had a great time. I didn’t manage to write down any of the artists names, so you’ll have to head there yourself. And keep an eye out for the silver one that flips and twists with the wind. That was my favorite and yet somehow I forgot to get a photo!

These were big (Ryan serves as a measuring stick here):

(Together these were Love & Loss)

And oh, look at what we got here:

Hello, Space Needle!

We’re filing this away as a place to head when we want a cool breeze in the summer. Last year I think they even had morning yoga in the grass. And the park is available for special events and weddings. Hmm, can you see me saying the I-Do’s under that red sculpture?

Olympic Sculpture Park: highly recommended and free! I’m so glad we got down there to check it out.

Every month I get several emails from other creative people (mostly women but not all!) who want to change to or start a career in interiors and want my advice. Usually they just don’t know the first place to start but they’ve stumbled onto my blog and see me making my own way the best I can. I’m glad that that is inspiring to people (though frankly I don’t feel worthy of the admiration expressed!) and I always try to write back as soon as possible. After all, I also approached people when I was still trying to figure out if I could take this leap, and very rarely got any kind of response. I’ve found that many times I’m writing the same advice and basic tips to get started. So I’m compiling my most basic suggestions in this post.

The first thing I say is that I’m still new to this too (about two years of work have gone into this business), so I don’t know everything. But I do have my own experiences and wish-I-hads that I can share.

Interior design and decorating can be ultra competitive and I suspect that is why most of these “how the heck do I get started?!” emails go unanswered. There is also the question of education, certification, and membership that creates uncomfortable barriers that seem to stall conversation. For the record, I do not have a degree in design, but I have studied on my own and learned as I’ve gone (as many other successful decorators with more experience than I have done as well). But there is a time and place for education. I knew school wasn’t right for me and I’m comfortable with that for now – it’s a personal choice and I think each person interested in design needs to weight the pros and cons of further education for themselves. As far as “giving information to the competition,” I don’t think we necessarily ARE competition. There is a right decorator for every client, and your own unique skills and style will fit YOUR potential clients just like my unique skills and style fit MY clients.

Anyway, here are five things you can do if you’re interested in becoming a decorator and don’t plan on getting a design degree (at least not right away) and are starting from scratch:

1. Decorate! Practice your skills on your own home, and on friends’ and families’ homes. Nothing teaches quicker than learning first hand the questions to ask, how to manage clients and projects, to take proper measurements, the durability and use of different fabrics, and space planning. Utilize free resources like blogs, magazines and books (from the library is free!), and pinterest to study different ways to mixing fabrics and patterns, layout solutions to weird rooms, the styles you like, and the resources you can count on to find pieces you want to use. Practice, practice, practice!

2. Start a blog. If you’re planning on doing any kind of online networking (which even local businesses can benefit from), you should have a blog. If you’re not super tech savvy, get someone to help you but try to design it in line with your branding (until you have a business, this can align with your personal style). Start blogging about design trends, ideas you have, and projects you’ve tackled. Take before and after pictures (people looooove those, see more below). Network and publicize your blog on twitter (follow your favorite designers and bloggers and talk to them!), facebook (starting a business “page” when you’re ready), and go to local blogger meet-ups (or national conferences if you have the dough).

3. Document your work. So you’re working on a friend’s living room for free (or cheap, or dinners out) and it’s going really well. You want to photograph the space for your blog with the best camera you can afford. Learn to use the camera and get a tripod to take really good shots. When you’re starting out, a project you can photograph is worth more than what you might get paid. Even taking pictures of your own home by styling a table different ways (free!) and documenting can be a great blog post that shows what you can do. Happen to get a really amazing project with a good budget and you feel that it’s some of your best work? Bring in a pro to shoot (ask around for someone who does interiors, magazine shoots, or lifestyle shoots – NOT real estate photography, and probably not a strictly wedding photographer). You’ll want to collect the best images of your best work for your portfolio to bring in actual paying clients someday.

4. Work. For someone else, I mean. That can even mean volunteering or interning part time for a designer, helping on a photo shoot, job shadowing, etc. Or if you can find someone with a job opening (I know it’s tough these days) who will take someone without a degree or Auto-CAD skills, take it if it’s financially feasible. Even a small amount of experience working with someone who is established will teach you tons about project management, sourcing, billing, and of course designing. And hey, if you teach yourself Auto-CAD (the software tool used to create floor plans, etc), you’ll be even better off. And someone like me might need to hire you (because I don’t know how to use it!).

5. Register. When you’re ready, register your business (even as a sole proprietor works, but ask your accountant and attorney what kind of business structure is best for you). Registering your business, getting business cards, and having a business bank account and credit card means that you can have access to to-the-trade supplies at your local Design Center and trade discounts at most major retail stores (like Crate and Barrel and Pottery Barn). Get familiar with these resources (some require that you’re already registered as a design professional at other places, so try some of the retail stores first – you’ll need business cards to do that), because you want to be able to bring the best products available to your clients. You may not get clients with the kind of budget for custom work right away, but you’ll have more access to fabrics for even throw pillows. And don’t forget the credit card – some places require that to get the trade discount the purchase has to be in the designer’s name and payment, not the client (of course, you bill the client for that, so you’re not actually paying for the furniture).

So those are my top suggestions for anyone starting at square one and wants to own their own decorating company. It’s a lot of work – I’ve been about two years in the making of this company and I’m still figuring it out. But I know a heck of a lot more than I did when I first started. And you will too! Just hang in there.

Image is from my portfolio, shot by Sawaya Photography.