I'm Demi. Welcome to my little corner of the world! This is my first blog post and I thought it would be befitting to chat a little bit about me and how I got here. This helps to get all the niceties out of the way and helps us start to feel comfortable with one another. You know-kind of like a consultation but not really. After all, interior design is personal and subjective; I couldn't imagine anyone being okay with letting a stranger in their home without vetting them first.
It's funny how your interests and desires change as you get older. No one could have ever convinced me 20 years ago that I'd get excited about shopping for cutlery and bedding. But I guess that's what happens when you settle down, have kids and start adulting. In my former life, I had dreams of living in Washington D.C., going to law school, and working for the FBI. I wanted to be a criminal defense attorney. However, due to the fact that I didn't have a job lined up after college and couldn't afford law school; I ended up going to graduate school instead. I'd won a full academic scholarship for grad school so the decision wasn't hard. Plus, my path had crossed with this wonderful dude who I secretly didn't want to move away from. That dude is my hubby you see in the "about" section!
After graduate school I began working in the field of Contracts & Procurement. I loved it because it allowed me to work in the legal arena without the headache that comes with being an attorney. I've lovingly worked in this field for the last 13 years; 9 of those years have been served in federal contracting. My primary responsibility has always been to mitigate the risks for my firm. This entails me reading construction contracts and determining the risks involved, mitigating those risks and negotiating terms & conditions that ultimately benefit both parties.
I've always loved the comfort that a 9-5 brings. You always know there's a paycheck coming your way in 2 weeks. But here again, your desires and interests change as you become more seasoned in life. Towards the end of 2015, I began to feel a little tug in my spirit. Work started to feel like work. My babies were 3 years old at the time and I hated the lack of flexibility that comes with working for someone else. To top things off, my firm was also going through its second year of layoffs and it left a taste of instability in my mouth that I couldn't rinse away.
Feeling as if there has to be more to this "hamster wheel" life I was experiencing, I began to explore other opportunities. I thought initially that another job might be the answer but soon realized, I enjoy my colleagues and really didn't want to have to start over with another firm. I work with a great bunch of people that I wouldn't trade for anything. My teammates are like family; we've been together through the birth of children and celebrated birthdays together. So, I decided to stay put. Around this time, we also decided it was finally time to update our house. We'd been living in our home for 7 years and hadn't done much besides painting and doing a small update to the counter tops and back splash in the kitchen. So we began a small renovation project.
Let me be clear in that the renovation project was all me. My husband has no interest in this sort of thing but knew we needed to update for selling purposes down the road. I selected 3 contractors to provide a bid and went to work HGTV style. I am an HGTV OG. I watched it profusely back in the days of "Trading Spaces" with Vern Yip, Hildi Santos Tomas, and Doug Wilson. I also have a serious girl crush on Genevieve Gorder. She can do no wrong design wise. Back to the story-once a contractor was selected, I provided my selections on paint, fixtures, and finishes and worked with the contractor over a 4 month period. Once the dust settled literally, I was a little sad. Then I had a eureka moment-I wanted to do this again. Could this be something I could do but maybe for someone else? Could all my mindless years of watching HGTV and providing advise to friends and family amount to something? Could I actually make money doing this and have it be a second career? Once I stopped talking to myself, I got to work researching this possibility.
Through my research I've learned that interior design is not just about fluffing pillows; its a perfect blend of art and science. It allows me to use both my left and right side of my brain; I get to explore that creative side that has been held captive for so long. Because of this, I decided to enroll in a Degree program cause I obviously have too much time on my hands. But seriously, its important to me to have a working knowledge of the industry with this second career and I'm a firm believer in teaching an old dog new tricks.
So that's how I ended up here folks. I took a long scenic drive to get here but I made it. Through the process of self-discovery and introspection, I've learned that what once fulfilled me can change over time and that's okay. I'm still with my firm and enjoying my co-workers. My perspective on "work being work" has changed now that I get to explore this other path. This job provides me the flexibility to work on other passions; because I know what I'm doing and can prioritize accordingly. Being in a new work environment wouldn't be so forgiving. My ultimate goal is to work this second career into being my prime career so that I get to spend more time with my little humans before they get to a point where "mama isn't cool". I hope that day comes sooner than later. Me giving up my 9-5 is what I meant; I'll always be cool to me.
