How a Teacher/Stay-at-Home Mom Turns Interior Designer

People often ask me, "How did you become a designer?" and the truth is, it’s been anything but linear. So, I’m opening up to share the starts, stops and in-betweens of my story.

When I graduated college, I was ready to start my career as an Elementary Educator. My mom has been a college professor of education forever. It felt good. It felt safe. But, when I began doing the day-to-day job, I felt overwhelmed by the constant chaos. I spent my nights prepping creative lessons that I never delivered, because I was stuck between fist fights, school drama and district demands.

One day, I was walking down the street and saw 50 Architectural Digests sitting on the curb. And I picked them all up, took them home, and went through every one of them. I cut out my favorite furniture, I drew sketches, I came home every day from teaching itching to read the next one.

I had this tug within myself. Do I leave the career I just started in to do something else? Something I didn’t have any training in. I would have to start all over.

When we moved, I decided it was the perfect time to take the leap and go back to school to get my degree in Kitchen and Bath Design. And I dove in head first! I learned all the technical skills, products, worked for Kohler plumbing, went to trade shows. And not a day went by when I missed teaching. I started at a custom home builder where I was hoping to work my way from admin to designer. It was a dream company and I was settled into life building custom homes.

And that’s when life hit me in the face. We found out we were pregnant with not one, but two babies! But, 24 weeks into the pregnancy, the worst day of my life happened. My twins were at risk of coming at any moment and there wasn’t a lot we could do to stop it. We were at risk of losing one or both of them. I abruptly quit my dream job, and laid on bedrest hoping to stay pregnant just one more day. Every day was filled with dread and every week felt like a miracle. But the happy ending is that I carried the twins to 37 weeks. Both were born healthy and my life as a stay-at-home mom began.

I loved being at home with my girls. It was the most joyful job anyone could have, except I missed creating. So after another move, I decided to start my own design firm and take on clients. It was super scary, and I was really naive to the whole owning-a-business thing. But, one client at a time, I poured my heart and soul into their homes. I went to bed thinking about the best layouts, I scoured inspiration looking for the perfect solution for their problems.

And it turns out, being an Interior Designer uses the same skills as a teacher and a stay-at-home mom. You need to be resourceful, patient, positive. You need to work with all different types of people, communicate well, and be organized. You get to create everyday and solve problems.

So the story continues, now with new communities of design friends, connecting with creatives, growing a business and serving a community. I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity to work for the most amazing families and help them design their forever homes.