Have you ever felt stuck? With the home you have and the potential that seems like might be there? I guess some people don't notice their environments consciously but we're all affected by the way spaces look, function and flow. And isn't your home - you know, the place you spend the majority of your time - a good place to make some pretty significant improvements?
A common disconnect seems to be that shopping and decorating isn't actually designing. Seeing something you like and putting it in your home might work for a few months until you get tired of it or see something new - but designing is creating spaces with intention, solving problems and using scale and cohesion to maximize your home's potential and improve your daily life.
How to Home walks through the same steps, tools and processes interior designers use to make dramatic change to your home and your life. Spoiler: interior design isn't about saving inspo and mindless online shopping. It's about the nitty gritty of your home, your needs, your lifestyle and how to use functional tools (like CAD software!) to create something stunning.
DESIGN LIKE A DESIGNER
Tap into the creative problem-solver you hoped you would be when you first bought your home. There was so much potential there. You could just feel it. But envisioning it or sharing your vision with someone else to make it happen, that's where the wheels fell off your renovation wagon. Or maybe you always planned to update your furniture over time but everything you bring home feels off and clunky and now buying anything feels like a waste if you can't buy it all at once.
Interior designers have programs, practice and a process that makes them extraordinary at what they do. I'm a designer. It takes hard work to thoughtfully design a space. If you can't use a designer but want a beautifully designed space, this is the place to be. Design is for everyone.
FIND CLARITY
You'll work through questions and exercises that will get us the answers we need to move forward with the design in form and function. There's no point in spending time designing your space if it doesn't fulfill its potential in the areas that are most important to you.
CREATE A CONCEPT
Pull together ideas and learn to refine a design based on your unique style and needs for your home. Utilize digital tools that save time, communicate your vision to others, and help you move forward confidently with each decision.
SOURCE YOUR SPACE
Between pieces you have and pieces you need, you'll create guidelines for the items you're looking for so you can be on the look out for what fits perfectly instead of what happens to be at the store.
"I love our house but there have been a few wonky details like the absence of a pantry in our kitchen. After three years of trying to map out the best place, I couldn't visualize any spot that felt natural and intentional. Lauren quickly created an impressive mock up of her recommendations and not only was it perfect but being able to 'see it' made all the difference. I want Lauren to fix my whole house now."
- Jeska H
YOUR INSTRUCTOR
I'm Lauren Day. I started my career in interior design 10+ years ago working as a design assistant in a design-build firm. I transitioned into writing about homes and creating photo sets of stunning spaces for the pages of magazines before coming back to designing directly for clients. The heart of my design practice has been that everybody on every budget deserves a well-designed home.
The hard part is that designers, myself included, can't afford to sustain businesses with little-to-no revenue. So instead of trying to design for clients that can't afford to pay for design time or leaving them and acting like design is only for the wealthy, I can teach what I know. Which is a lot when it comes to hidden potential, spatial planning, creative problem solving and cohesive decorative elements for homes.
Can you get a certificate and become an interior designer from this class? Of course not. Can you intentionally, strategically and cost effectively design your space and plan your way forward from this course? YES. And I can't wait to see what you create.
Want a little more about me? Read my articles from 5 years on the interiors team at Design*Sponge where I got to swoon over homeowners making their dreams a reality and write all about it.
Check out my instagram @thesedaysathome where I document my own fixer-upper journey or head to my website, These Days for even more background and design tutorials.