Author: taylorlwalker98

Blogging is a new trend and got its start about 20 years ago and is continuing to be one of the most popular ways to get your thoughts on paper – and for everyone to see.

This now interior designer, Crystal, has a degree in mass communications and started blogging about her life and her homes she had lived in a decorated after she had her first child.  Her passion for blogging and making her home beautiful landed her a project to update a few areas of her friends home.

Four years later and she now has her own design company and does interior design for spec houses, custom builds, and remodels.  She has grown her client base drastically in just four short years designing in the Charlotte area.

Her favorite part about being an interior designer is getting to be creative and create beautiful, functional spaces that fits her client’s taste.  Crystal is not only passionate about designing a home, her dream job would be designing light and sink faucets, allowing her to be even more creative.

A place where Crystal struggles is that a lot of people out there have a common misconception that only wealthy people can afford interior designers.  

“Design assistance comes in many forms, from full service to consulting, making it attainable and reasonable for people”. Crystal Nagel

Crystal gives her experience on the job as well as her psychology and communications background most of the credit for where she is as a designer today.  Creativity is a trait all designers encompass and is unmatched when they have the right tools and background.

Happy designing, Crystal!

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Designer Jonathan did get a design degree from the American Business and Fashion Institute and had his first job as a designer and “worked for a boutique architectural firm in Charlotte on retail and restaurant projects then later worked as a Creative Director for Paramount Theme Parks managing interior design projects at 7 theme parks across the country”.  

He has been designing for over 25 years and is now the Senior Architectural Representative for Daltile Corporation.  Daltile is a tile vendor with thousands of different tile and stone options. His favorite part of his job is helping clients achieve their tile and stone design goals.

Common misconceptions about his profession that he faces are that designers are just “color pickers”.  Clients and the general public don’t see the technically side and all the behind the scenes work behind design – many other designers feel this way.

His college education was very hands-on and prepared him for that aspect of his career but at the time he went to school, the design software wasn’t what we have today and he wishes he could have learned more of that in college.

Happy designing, Jonathan!

Our first designer we’re diving into is Ryanne – a cabinet designer with a degree in interior design.

Ryanne studied Interior Design at Western Carolina University and had a minor in art.  Due to the economy recovery from the recession, when she graduated in 2013, she had a hard time finding a job in interior design.  More recently, in 2017 she got a job at a custom cabinet business who also just recently opened a Kitchen and Bath Design Center.

She says her interior design degree helped her learn the fundamentals of design but there was so much more to learn when she started working in design.  In school, you only have 4 years if that to learn all you can about interior design which is often not enough. So depending on your job, and the programs they use there, there is almost always a large learning curve.  

Ryanne mainly designs kitchen and bathrooms.  She has client meetings weekly and on days where she does not have a meeting, she works on designing the cabinets in Cabinet Vision and ordering cabinets and other design elements like lighting and tile from the vendors.  

A common misconception that she runs into, as an interior designer, is that the clients expect a complicated remodel to be simple, cost-effective, and done in a timely manner, even as they run into problems.  Remodeling a home is a very extensive and time consuming. Ryanne says, “The most common misconception is that remodels don’t take that long. The TV shows a full remodel in a 30-60 minute TV show, but there are many things going on behind the scenes that are happening that are cut out. Even the smallest remodel can take a month or more!”

Her favorite part about her job is the family atmosphere that is in the workplace and her ability to interact with clients and make their design dreams become a reality.

Happy designing, Ryanne!

Interior design, in short, is the designing of a space in order to fulfill the needs of a client but in a beautiful, functional way.  Interior design is all about how we experience spaces. It’s an essential part of our lives and is a powerful way to transform a space.  It helps how we live, work, play and even heal. Without interior design, life would be boring. Interior design lets us experience life in a beautiful, colorful way.

Designers work everyday to create beautiful spaces that fit the needs of their clients. While always keeping in mind that form follows function, a beautiful space means nothing if it doesn’t function like it should.

“I want to make everything around me beautiful – that is my life” – Elsie de Wolfe

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton