Some Family Time

A rare thing happened last weekend. I took some time off to be with my men.
If you own your own business, then you know that a day off can be a rarity. You are after all, head cook, bottle washer, CFO and HR all rolled into one, which is a LOT of freaking titles. 
While I'm usually pretty good about shutting off the work valve on Sundays, my Saturdays are usually spent meeting with clients, shopping for projects, checking out what's new at the fabric store and design centers etc., often times with Xavier in tow. 
I've had a lot of guilt about that recently, guilt that he spends so much time schlepping around with either the hubs or I, who also often works on Saturdays, when he should be running wild in a park with other kids. So after a manic few weeks of back-to-back project installations and renovations, my brain froze. It had had enough. I cancelled my Saturday appointments and we took Xavier to the park.
 

He of course had a blast, zipping around pretending to be a soccer star, marveling at the birds, at the clouds, at a water fountain and making friends with everyone he came in contact with. The kid is a natural charmer. Be warned little ladies.
The hubby, who got a fancy camera for Christmas, took the photos - with a lot of sprinting back and forth no less. 
A simple, simple thing some time off, but what a gift it was.

All photos by PFQ Photography.

Hello. It's Me.

Lordy, lordy, lordy, where have I been? Why has there been so much silence on this blog and the year has just begun?
I've missed chatting with you all more frequently in this space but most of you know you can follow me over on Instagram where I'm a bit of a busy bee. 
So here's the tea - for the uninitiated, tea means dish, scoop, the gossip. 
We are busier than we've ever been. Ironic right? Especially when I agonized so much last year about taking a leap of faith and leaving my full-time job as a writer for a medical school. The lesson in all this? Sometimes you have to be available to embrace your blessing. I've become 100% available to be present and accountable for my business and in turn, have been blessed to be available to reconnect with old clients, and embrace the the new clients who have found me via Houzz, Pinterest, Instagram and more. 
So what projects are we working on? The design above is for the model unit of an apartment complex. We've been hired to design the 2/2 bathroom unit and to say I was excited is a bit of an understatement. Designing a model has been a dream of mine so definitely happy to check this one off the bucket list. 
It's come with challenges though. For starters, we had three weeks to get it all done. Lord, the stress. These are also rental units which means we were not able to paint the walls or change any light fixtures. Since y'all know how much I love color, not being able to paint beige walls made my head explode but we'll have bold splashes of color throughout the unit. Stay tuned. 

We're also working on this project, the winter home for an amazing couple who also found me online.

Things have definitely evolved since our presentation so stay tuned for that reveal. We are on a tight deadline with this one as well as they are having lots of friends and family in town for the very fabulous Jazz in the Gardens event.

This nursery is underway for a young couple whose living room we designed last year (that reveal is coming up). In the midst of that project they announced they were pregnant and asked me to add a nursery to my design checklist. Asked and done. We also planned the baby shower, which we revealed a bit over on Instagram. P.S. our talented Shaggy painted those stripes without using any painters tape. He's kinda talented like that. 
Today is the final installation day of this project for my client Renee and her adorable family. Her kids came home from school yesterday and squealed, "Is this our house?" Melted my design heart. 
We are in the home stretch of completing this kitchen. Yes, that was my client Natasha, who was a tad too excited to smash those cabinets on demolition day. The new cabinets were installed this week. 

Noticed a theme or two? I'm definitely smitten with blues and purple this year. With the exception of Natasha, all of these clients found me online. I've said it before, but I'll say it again, show your best work and hints of your personality on your various social media platforms. Potential clients are paying close attention so reconsider the abundance of selfies. Showcase your work and sprinkle in some personal moments here and there so they get to know you a little but don't over share i.e. woeful tales of why you broke up with your significant other, the hate you feel for him and his new chick should be kept to a minimum. My two cents.
Any who, looking forward to checking in more often and sharing all these project updates. What have y'all been up to?

Leaping Off the Edge, To Follow My Dreams

 

 Today is my last day working full-time for a business that's not my own. 
And no, I certainly won't be doing this even though I gotta admit that was a heck of a way to say deuces to a corporate gig.
Mine will be a much more demure exit, stage left if you will.
The truth is, juggling a full-time job, and a full load of design projects, while trying to spend quality time with the hubs and Xavier, has simply gotten to be too much for this little Jamaican mama to handle.
I've also been playing around in the kiddie pool of the design business for 10 years and I think it's finally time to finally take the leap of faith, dive in, figure out how to freaking tread water and take my business to the next level. It's about damn time.
To be clear, it's never an easy decision to say goodbye to a steady paycheck with some pretty good benefits (I also did this once before and ran right smack into a pesky thing called the recession).
I learned a lot from that first leap. Older and much wiser this time around, I've learned to fully understand the business of being a business. It ain't just all about the pretty fabrics and paint colors. There is a whole machinery at play behind the scenes, and I'm much better at driving that machine.
So, brace yourselves because I'll be busy cranking out a backlog of projects and blogging a whole lot more than my sad once a week appearance.I'll be also be putting that journalism degree of mine to good use and writing more design features over at Houzz and other publications.
And since I didn't do the kiss-my-booty-I-quit video, I'll also remain on the freelance payroll at the day job while they search for my replacement.
Thanks to all of you for reading and cheering me along as I shared the behind the scenes details of all these projects. Thanks too to my amazing clients for their tremendous support, and for really looking me in the eye this year and challenging me to live my dream. 
So here we are today. Me, just a girl following her dreams.       

Live Big. Shop Small.

Your local small business owner doesn't sit in a boardroom analyzing stock reports, pondering how many dots (i.e. people) he or she can lay off on any given day to earn more profits. Chances are, when you walk into a small business, the owner knows you by name. When you click that PayPal link on a small business owner's website or Etsy shop, you're contributing in a major way to that person's livelihood. As a proud owner of a small business, I'm headed out today to support fellow small business owners. Please join me and do the same.

Tips to Surviving the Design Business

The designers, decorators, DIY gurus and savvy stylists amongst us knows that it takes a certain level of creativity to be successful in this business. But it takes a whole lot more than being an ace at selecting the best floor plan, colors, furniture, accessories etc..You need to also dig deep for some other virtues. Here are just a few I turn to frequently:

Patience

 

I think this virtue speaks for itself.

 

Balls of Steel

Lawd help me with this one on a daily basis. Sometimes, just sometimes, clients, vendors, carpenters, electricians, contractors, painters et al will come at you with some issues. And I mean some crazy stuff. Like the trade who is prone to lateness aka Caribbean time, or the one who thought it was okay to show up to work in socks and slippers (er, no) or to not clean up when they're done working.  Or the guy at Home Depot who can't believe you when you ask him where's the compound, thinset, caulk gun etc...because you know, you're a girl and why would you want to know where that stuff is? I could go on and on with this one....

The shamelessness of a bill collector

Just like the clients you serve, you too have bills to take care of. And while we know some folks have a hard time placing a value on what it is that we do - until of course they try to make a million trips to the stores, paint shop, spend hours revising an entire kitchen design because one cabinet is out of stock etc.. - getting paid for your service is a must. At the end of the day, don't be a afraid to place a premium value on your service. If someone could do it themselves, then they wouldn't need you. So be clear about your fees and your payment schedule. Clients strapped for cash? No worries. PayPal and Square should also be your BFFs.

The listening skills of a Psychiatrist

You're in your clients lives for weeks, months, sometimes years, so you'll hear and see a LOT. Yep, those psychology classes you suffered through in college will come in handy so listen well, but not at the expense of getting the job done on schedule. Remember, you're there to provide a service first. A friendship afterwards is a bonus, but maintaining a certain level of professionalism is a must. Always.

Okay, for a really good and thoughtful approach to how things work in this world check out my girl Dayka's recent post.

Can't wait to see what Debbie has in store for us on Friday. Not that I'm going anyplace special. At least not yet. But it's the start of a glorious four days off from the 9 to 5 job. Hooray! Fun times will be had with the lil man, Xavier, the hubby, and of course a chance to get some major work done for the biz.