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Back when I was building my freelance business as an interior decorator/designer more than fifteen years ago, I specifically remember how most people at that time looked at hiring a decorator as a luxury only reserved for the wealthy and never thought that they too, could live in a beautifully decorated space without having to spend all of their day-to-day living cash. But then, if it wasn’t that, it was ‘well, we’re in a recession and/or regular folks like us don’t have the cash to buy new furniture to decorate’.
Though some of these people had valid reasons, I, on the other hand, have been of a different mindset only because at a very early age, I recognized and understood the value of the psychological effect that a beautifully organized space has on one’s life. Decorating the little corner space in my room as a child and maintaining notebooks of beautiful decor image cutouts are what kept me mentally sane amidst a chaotic home life that was beyond my control. Albeit only a moment of respite, it helped me face whatever adversity that would come my way with some sort of hope. Knowing the benefits of having a pleasing home space put me on this mission to convince everyone that they too, could have a beautifully decorated home using what they already have, with very minimal out of pocket expense by reinventing things that they either aren’t using to the full or fell out of love with. That, of course, got me into restyling a lot of folks homes, reorganizing their closets, pantries, stripping/repainting furniture and faux painting their walls. You name it, I did it and that sometimes would be after being on construction sites as a designer guiding bathroom/kitchen installations and/or shopping with my paying clients. In those days, my only “Google search” consisted of thumbing through decorating magazines such as Better Homes And Gardens, Traditional Home, Veranda Magazine, Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Restoration Hardware, the HGTV channel, hands-on experiences through trial and error and last but not least, my own imagination.
Never in a million years would I ever have imagined living in an era where pretty much everyone now {not just the elite}, from young to old, especially families with kids, appreciate the value of having a beautifully decorated space, even coming to the point of recognizing it as a “lifestyle”. Seeing something that I was relentlessly attempting to help so many understand way back when ’til the veins in my neck popped, reverberates me with ecstasy. The decorating craze that Pinterest has inspired is something I could have never fathomed – obviously, cause I didn’t come up with the idea. Who knew!? It is a Pinteresting era, indeed.
“Decorating is not about making stage sets, it’s not about making pretty pictures for the magazines; it’s really about creating a quality of life and a beauty in that life that nourishes the soul, that makes life beautiful and nurture you.”
*Photo credit: 1| 2| 3 + 4| 5| 6| 7| 8| 9| 10| 11 + 12| 13| 14| 15| 16