Hello from me.
Thank you for stopping by to read this post in my blog. As an interior designer I’m often asked to share hints, tips and insights which make my projects special. You’ll find helpful how-tos, dos and don’ts within my posts. If you like the post, please share with a friend.
(Image: Focal Point Photography)
Thinking back I’ve always loved colour and pattern. From an early age, our mum and dad allowed my sister and I to decorate our bedrooms, the walls were always covered in mad colours, luckily my taste is more refined now :).
I worked in fashion retail from the age of 16 until I went to university. A few years after graduating my career led me into fashion retail marketing where my role was filled with colour and creativity.
(Image: Michelle mood boarding)
(Image: Focal Point Photography)
Fast forward a decade (or two) I got married, had a family and developed my career in Higher Education marketing. During the Christmas break in 2019, I was planning my next New Year challenge. I needed to get my creativity flowing again and having a passion for interiors and making things I signed up for a Winter University course at Teesside University where I worked – An Introduction to Interior Design.
We started in January 2010, the course was taught by a professional Interior Designer we learnt how to survey a room (I got to grips with accurately using a tape measure after breaking a few ha!). We created mood boards, sourced fixtures, fittings and equipment to a budget and presented our ideas to our ‘client’ as part of the assessment. That was when everything changed…mind blown. My confidence and love for creating fabulous interior schemes grew and grew after this. I also met some lovely like-minded people.
Since completing the course, I’ve progressed to a Professional Diploma at the British Academy of Interior Design studying online part-time and building up my portfolio. More recently I have founded Colour Brave Interiors (@colourbraveinteriors) offering affordable interior design services to people who need a helping hand with colour and pattern in their homes, I empower my clients to be braver and more confident with their colour choices and I’ve received some lovely reviews from happy customers. I enjoy bringing my clients’ visions to life and my aim for every project is to create a space they never knew they wanted whilst creating moments of joy throughout every interior scheme. I’ve enjoyed visiting trade show, building up my supplier accounts and meeting my interior design idols.
(Image: Michelle and Sophie Robinson)
(Image: Michelle and Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen)
If you want to try something new my advice would be to follow your passion and enroll on short course to get a flavour of the subject– it’s never too late to take the first step in a new direction. A lecturer at Teesside University International Business School once said to me “If you have an itch, you need to scratch it, it’ll never leave you otherwise” I took his good advice and I’ll never look back now. This was the best move I ever made and I am now working as a full time interior designer after launching my own studio last year. I’m enjoying my career so much more after finding my passion and purpose. You won’t regret investing time and energy in yourself, and it might even lead to something incredible like mine did.
I hope you enjoyed reading this, please share with a friend if this is their vibe too.