Where are you located and what areas do you serve?

I live and work in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, DC. I no longer take on individual design projects: to protect my sanity, my family life, and my ability to do my ‘day job’ as well as I do, I shuttered my frighteningly (and exhaustingly) successful interior design business and took about a year off. Now that I’ve recovered, I’m relaunching with a focus on giving advice from afar rather than getting my hands dirty with other homes’ plumbing and drywall.

Where do you shop?

That depends on what your price point is, and what your tastes are. It’s not about MY style, it’s about what YOU like (and can afford). If you’re looking for high-end, luxury furniture (CB2, Crate+Barrel, Pottery Barn, Macy’s, Ethan Allen, Design Within Reach), you’ll find plenty to love here. But if you want a quick and simple makeover for a kids’ room, say, and you want it to cost as little as possible, you can source things (and I often recommend things) from Wayfair, Amazon, even IKEA.

I have found that almost every household item under the sun—every velvet chair, every table lamp, every tchotchke—has an expensive version, a ‘knockoff’ version that’s way more affordable, and several price points in between. What you choose will be dictated not only by your style and your budget, but by your expectations regarding the timelessness of the design and the durability of the pieces: do you want something to simply get you through the next couple of years before you move, or do you want a bedroom set that you can hand down to your grandkids? Only you can dictate what level of “luxe” you want to have.

Do you have a degree in Interior Design?

Nope! I don’t have any formal training in this (fun fact: most of the people on HGTV don’t, either). I’m self-taught, other than the training and experience I got building stage sets during college (hat tip to the amazing Simon Reynolds). It’s simply a passion of mine and one that I’m very good at and was doing informally (without a website and an LLC) for over twenty years before hanging out my own shingle. After helping numerous friends with their home reno projects over the years and having them rave and recommend me to others, I decided to turn this into an actual business. I should mention, too, that this is a side hustle I do on the evenings and weekends - I have a very busy and demanding day job as a nonprofit CEO (not to mention being a mom!) so I compartmentalize when I am available for each part of my life. Boundaries, people!