023: Bringing Your Home Design Style to Life with Interior Designer Michaela Farwell
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Show Notes
In this episode of The Anchored Decision Show, Lauren Black interviews interior designer Michaela Farwell from Fairspring Design. Together, they explore essential tips for honing your personal home design style, balancing trends with timeless choices, and ensuring your design flows seamlessly from room to room. Michaela shares insights from her design journey, discussing the art of blending styles and how to create spaces that are both functional and aesthetically pleasing. Whether you’re a DIY enthusiast or feeling overwhelmed by the many design choices, Michaela offers practical advice to help you manage projects without the stress. Plus, Lauren gives updates on her own home renovation projects, including her long-awaited decision on countertops. Tune in for expert insights and actionable strategies that will inspire you to transform your living spaces into a true reflection of your style.
Links:
Fairspring Design Website: www.fairspringdesign.com
Download Michaela’s exclusive 5-step home styling guide! Whether you're starting fresh or revamping your lifelong home, these simple and approachable steps will guide you through creating a beautiful and inviting space. From selecting timeless furniture pieces to adding the perfect finishing touches with fresh flowers, these FREE tips will give you the expert perspective you need to bring your design dreams to life: https://fairspringdesign.myflodesk.com/ivmo9u2qnf
Fairspring Construction: www.fairspringconstruction.com
Anchored Decisions Episode 11: Building your dream home: 6 steps to discovering your style, choosing aesthetics, and envisioning your design to create a house you love
About Michaela Farwell:
Founded on the belief that homes are meant to be lived in, loved, and shared with others. Michaela prioritizes comfort, functionality, and durability in her designs to ensure that they can support life’s everyday moments.
Michaela's passion for creating comfortable environments make clients feel at ease in their own homes. She encourages them to embrace the messiness of life and create spaces that are both beautiful and practical.
From family gatherings to intimate conversations, Fairspring Design creates spaces that embrace the full spectrum of life's moments. We understand that homes are more than just showpieces; they are the backdrop for life's most precious memories.
Time Stamps:
00:00 Introduction and Podcast Overview
00:56 Home Renovation Updates
03:55 Introducing Michaela Farwell
05:33 Michaela's Journey into Interior Design
09:18 Starting Your Design Project
18:22 Navigating Design Choices and Trends
23:55 Incorporating Soft Furnishings into Your Style
25:27 Current Trends and Personal Preferences
28:34 Balancing Aesthetics with Functionality
33:14 Making Interior Design Less Overwhelming
38:26 Lauren’s Update on Choosing the Perfect Countertop: Quartz vs. Quartzite
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www.anchoreddecisions.com
www.anchoreddecisions.com/shop
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Transcript
Lauren
Hey friends, I am super excited to share with you this treat of a podcast interview today, as I talk with Michaela Farwell, she is an interior designer, and so we chat all things interior design. This is kind of a second piece to the interior design decisions puzzle that I started way back with episode 11, where I share some steps you can take to get the process started of making those interior design choices.
And we'll dive into even more here, as I felt that I didn't have the interior design expertise needed to share how to really hone in on your style, how to choose between trends and not trends or how to make something feel timeless and how to make it livable in your space. So Michaela dives into all of that, it's really a great episode if you have any interior projects going on in your life.
I also wanted to share an update on our home projects, because as you know, if you've listened to the podcast at any point or been on my Instagram, you know we're going through a big renovation in our house. And of course, like any home project, it is taking much longer than expected. So things are slow moving, but they are moving.
So our current update, this is mid September. I recorded this episode actually at the beginning of August, so things have even changed since I talked with Micheala. Our floors in my master bedroom have been installed completely, which is so exciting. I love them so so much. They are gorgeous. They're exactly what I envisioned and I wanted. And it took a really long time to find "the one." But it was worth it because honestly, I don't think I could have found a better flooring had I tried for even more months.
Now the floors throughout the rest of the house have not been installed. Partly because we knew our flooring guy wanted to get started with us and then he had another project to do. It's been about two weeks since our master bedroom floor was installed and we have another, maybe week, two weeks, three weeks, however long it takes for our flooring guy to finish the other project he's working on before he'll come back and keep working on our floors. But at least that's given my husband and I time to prep for some of the flooring.
So we've been laying the self leveling concrete, prepping everything ourselves. So we are ready to do my office, the foyer and the hallway down to my kids' rooms and both kids' rooms. We have to wait on the remainder of the house until we get the permit for our wall removal, which we submitted a week or two ago. We want to have the footprint of our cabinets ready before we work on flooring in the living room, kitchen and between that wall.
So one other quick thing. When you listen to this episode, you will hear me ask a question to Micheala about countertops. Because at the time of recording, I still was torn on what countertops to go with. I will share that in the episode to make sure you listen for it. And at the end of the episode, so listen all the way through. I'm going to give an update there on what I chose, because we did buy our countertops.
So, this is a super fun episode. I hope you enjoy it.
Intro: Welcome to the Anchored Decision Show. I'm your host, Lauren Black, the world's biggest overthinker turned decision coach, all by the grace of God. Now I'm on a mission to help you make easier decisions, discover God's will, and live with purpose. Tune in weekly to hear real life decision stories, expert insights, and faith based strategies to help you navigate your decisions with confidence. So ditch your pros and cons list and learn to make better decisions without asking your mom or losing another night of sleep. Let's go.
Lauren
Hello everyone. I am so excited for today's guest because I have been looking for an interior designer to interview on the podcast for a while. As my audience knows, I am in the middle of some home renovations myself right now. And so I'm in the throes of it, of making all these design decisions. And while I can lead people to, you know, coming up with steps that you can take, I also am a perfectionist and am not an interior designer, so sometimes I myself get stuck on the choices between, do I pick the granite or not granite? I'm not looking at granite. Do I look at the quartz or the quartzite or, you know, what countertop material and things like that.
So, today's guest is Michaela Farwell and Michaela is the visionary behind Fairsprings Design. With a spirit fueled by creativity, Michaela brings something almost unexplainably special to every interior design project she undertakes. With years of corporate design under her belt, her journey to entrepreneurship is one of resilience, empathy, unwavering passion for creating spaces that resonate with warmth, love, and connection. She works side by side with her husband, Bryce, and their sister company, Fairspring Construction. With his expertise in construction, complimenting Michaela's design prowess, they have created a seamless synergy between form and function and showcase a commitment to crafting spaces that not only look beautiful, but also feel like a true reflection of those who inhabit them.
So Michaela, welcome to the show. I would love to hear a little bit more about your business, who you serve, and how you got into interior design.
Michaela
Yeah, for sure. First off, Lauren, thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here and talk about all things interior design. So how I got started in this industry or a little bit about Fairspring Design, is an interesting story. I haven't always done this. I haven't always been in the interior design realm, but I have always been a creative. Years ago, I mean, I could start with like, as a kid I wanted to be fashion designer and then move forward into high school. I went to cosmetology school and then I started working in the salon.
And then, fast forward to young adult years I just took an interest in floral design. So then I started working at a floral and home store for a few years. And then I met my now husband, Bryce, and we had met cause we were working together for a local custom home builder. I was actually just a front desk receptionist at the time and he was one of their superintendents.
So then, some time passes, we end up dating. At the same time we start dating he had just closed on his very first house. That was a total gut fixer upper. I mean, this thing was gnarly and I remember he walked me through it one time and I was never intimidated by it, like freaked out, like you spent what, why on this piece of, you know, it was crazy, but I knew there was a vision behind it of making it beautiful. So that's kind of where the Fairspring Design journey starts.
So we started dating, he starts remodeling it. I then start speaking into some of those decisions. And I think you should do this type of cabinet hardware. I think you should do this finish for the light fixture. If we do this floor, we should do it in this pattern.
He starts kind of letting me speak to some of that. And then I get to exercise my creativity in a different way. And during that process, I wanted just a little more information, just wanted to more of a foundation to what this world and all the lingo and things like that. So I did do an online course that taught me kind of the basic skills of interior design.
And then after I finished that, I worked for a different local spec home builder. And that is where I learned the majority. I learned so much there. I was thrown in the fire and helped over a hundred homeowners design their house literally from the ground up. That was really schooling for me in a sense.
Towards the end of that, we had always known we wanted to do our own thing. And so we felt like, let's start with interior design first. So we spent some time setting up the business. We launched it in 2022 and things have been great. We are a full service interior design business.
We serve clients both locally and virtually between our e design services and our design consulting services. We do everything from one room makeovers to remodels and additions to new construction custom homes. So we can do that all. And then last year, almost a year ago to next month will be one year.
We started Fairspring Construction where my husband is a custom home builder. And so we can work together on projects, but we also can work separately depending on if our clients already have someone else lined up to do the work. So that is, that's kind of Fairspring Design in a nutshell.
Lauren
Yeah. I love the evolution of that and how you just definitely have a creative background. And it seems like you have a good vision for things, even the floral work. I know that that takes an art, so yeah, it's cool how it came together and how it brought you and your husband together. So I love it.
Now I did an episode earlier on, I think it was episode 11 on how to make design choices for your home. So I included things like how to gather ideas, how to determine the goals for your space, choosing one pillar feature to base things off of, and then how to create mock ups so you can visualize the space. But what I felt I was missing from that post was how to actually choose between things. Either when you're torn between styles or ideas, or maybe those who absolutely have no design sense and don't even know where to start. A Pinterest board can only take someone so far if their ideas are either all over the place or they're torn between maybe modern eclectic or a rustic farmhouse and they're drawn to both.
So that's why I wanted to talk to you. So what would you say is the first step someone should take when they're starting a design project, either a new build, a renovation, or just redecorating?
Michaela
Oh, that is a loaded question. And you kind of touched on it with the Pinterest boards. Cause I always recommend start somewhere, gather inspiration, whether it be through magazines or Instagram or on Pinterest, start gathering photos and images of things that you're drawn to things that speak to you, because that will be, down the road, what we use as inspiration and what we kind of base things off of in the design direction that we take things. But beyond that, I would recommend the first step be to hire an interior designer.
So many of my clients come to me exactly like you had just said, where "I'm overwhelmed, I don't know how to put things together, pick between this material or this material. How do I know things are going to flow and look good in the end?" I mean when people are doing these types of projects, it's an investment. There's a lot of time and resources and energy that goes into it and you want it to be right. And so having me as just that sounding board for your decisions, you're on track and things are going to look good. Or have you thought of this and, you know, getting creative too, versus just doing things that is safe or something that everyone else is doing. I like to kind of push the envelope where we can.
But I would say that would be the best place to start because I can help navigate those conversations when it does come down to. You know, I actually had a client who I worked with last week, we are painting their mud room green. And so I pulled out five shades of green that I thought would be great. We then, process of elimination, nailed it down to two. And then what I like to say is I've got maybe my pick, I'm sure you've got yours. What is speaking to you? And giving clients that confidence that it's okay, you're not going to pick a wrong decision here. Like I brought all these in knowing they were all going to be good from the start, but you're going to have one that you like maybe more than the other.
And so I want to empower my clients to feel like you're on the right track. Either one of these is going to work. There's no wrong answer. This isn't a trick question. Like you can pick one. And then I feel like they can get brought into that decision as well and feel like they really do have a part in bringing everything together for their home project. So that would be how I would approach something like that.
aLauren
Yeah, yeah, definitely a good start. So how can someone start to hone in on their style or the style they want for their space? How do you help someone when they are kind of torn between two things? They're pulled in different directions. An example of this would be in mock ups when I'm looking at pictures of kitchens, I love a nice white quartz countertop. But when I'm looking at the slabs in person, especially it's hard because when you go to the slab yards, they're all standing vertical instead of horizontal, like there'll be in a kitchen. And when I'm looking at these big slabs, I am so drawn and in love with quartzite and the natural stones. But yet when I see pictures of it, or I mock it up in Photoshop, sometimes I'm looking at this quartzite and I'm like, I don't like it. But yet when I see the quartz in person, I don't like the quartz in person, but I like it in the pictures. So I'm just torn on direction there.
Michaela
Yeah. Yeah. That's another very common thing to feel. So you're not alone there. And I would say in that case, the best approach is to look at things from a high level, big picture. Some items might look like, "I don't know if I really want to do that," when they're by themselves, but when you see it next to everything, it's all going to work.
So let's play off of the quartzite slab yard question. What I would recommend in that case is hopefully by this point, you've already have your flooring picked out your cabinet color, your paint color, bring those samples with you to the slab yard. Hold them up to the slab. And as long as they have the same tone, whether you're going for cool tones and it's got hints of grays or blues, you're on the right track. Things are going to match and look well. Or if you're like, I want more warm tones, maybe your cabinets and your floors are a warmer brown or more of a blonde wood, try to find a slab that pulls those same colors through it. So bringing samples to the slab yard is a great way to kind of bring that all together.
Does that answer your question?
Lauren
Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Very helpful. Now, what kind of feedback should someone get if they're trying to design a space themself? So you've already mentioned they should probably be, if they're really struggling design sense, they should be hiring a designer like you, but if they are trying to do it themselves, who should they turn to and how can they ensure that things are flowing?
Michaela
Oh, that's another good question. Ensure things are flowing. Well, we work in a way that we can help for those kind of one offs. Like I just need someone to run my five questions through and make sure I'm not crazy. We can help you with that just to make sure you're on the right track. Before you start ordering anything or finalizing layouts, we can help just a case by case basis.
That's going to be your best resource for ensuring things. I mean, Pinterest, like you had said, only goes so far. Unless you're truly trying to just copy an image, you want to make it unique and make it your own. Just having someone to bounce those ideas off of and make sure you're on the right track. I would say, reach out to us, we can help you with that versus trust, just like a friend or a neighbor or someone. I would ask someone who does this every day, who can give you some of that peace of mind to make sure that you are on the right track for those decisions.
Lauren
Yeah, yeah, definitely. I know I had a friend who they're building from scratch their house and she's kind of acting as the general contractor where she's the one reaching out to each individual subcontractor to do every part.
And when it came to paint, her husband is colorblind. So she's like, I need some help with paint colors because it's just me making this decision.
Michaela
Yeah. It's, it can be overwhelming when you, especially seeing, just a sample piece or like in paint, you've got the little swatch. And then, what is this actually going to look like in a home and paint is funny because one, the same paint color can look completely different in one house than it does the other, depending on the surrounding atmosphere: trees, ocean, do you have a lot of houses? What's nearby? So even little things like that feel like, okay, it seems like it would be a small or easy decision, but it, it can affect other things down the line. So making sure we pick the right, the right paint color and finish.
Lauren
Right. Yeah, definitely. I'm a huge fan of seeing things in context, in space.
I'm the type that I have to get a million sample jars of paint because you can't just go off this little square that you get from the paint store. You have to see it on multiple walls in your space to see how the lights reflecting and the colors of other furniture, things that are in your space. And we even had to, since we're redoing our kitchen, my husband was like, you know what? We should put the lights in at the color tone that we want them before even bringing the kitchen samples home, because if we're changing the light color and the light bulbs when we renovate, that's going to change the way that things look in our space.
Michaela
Yeah, yeah, for sure. I will say too, to your question, if someone just needs a little guidance, kind of on the spot, whether it's they wanted to reach out to us or have a design call or not, we do have a guide on our website that breaks things down for people too. That is free. That's just on our homepage at fairspringdesign.com. So if there is someone who's like, I just need help, just want to get some more information to make sure I'm on the right track. Whether for hard surfaces, which is like for remodels and new builds, hard surfaces, like floors and tile and things like that, or for furniture and decor, we've got you covered with a simple guide to kind of run things through. If that helps.
Lauren
That sounds like an awesome resource. So how much consideration do you suggest that people give to trends? So I know for me, I want to design what I love, but I don't want to design something that already looks outdated. If it's something that I might like a more outdated feature, but then again, trends are always changing.
So it's like, how do you design considering the trends without relying on them too heavily?
Michaela
Hmm. That is a great question. And my approach to that is, trends are fun and it's hard not to really get into them when you see a new concept or new style used in a unique way. I don't think that's wrong. I would say. What I would do is do it in moderation. If there is something that you just love, even though it may be a trend, use it in a way that is maybe different than what you see everywhere else on Pinterest or on Instagram.
Let's take tambour, for example. So that fluted wood detail is really popular right now. You see it on the back islands, I've seen on hoods and in fireplaces before. So if that is something that someone is drawn to and they want it in their home, but knowing it's going to maybe go out of style in the next few years or so or not be as cool anymore, first off i'll say trends are not trends if you truly love it. Then it's never going to go out of style. If it's something you truly love then, I mean the trends are going to come and go, but you're always going to love it and that's all that really matters.
But if you're doing it because it is a trend, do it in a small area. Do it on a wall in your powder bathroom. Do it on your mudroom wall. Just small accents so that is one easier to remove if you do get tired of it, it's not going to feel overwhelming. Like here's this trendy thing that everyone will now see. And we put all this time and effort and money into it for it not to last. So, I would say do something in small moderation if it's something more permanent like that.
The other thing you can do is bring the trends in with your textiles. So bring them with your rugs, with your throw pillows, with your artwork, with your decor, that is probably the quickest and easiest way to give your space a fresh look that's maybe is more in line with some of those trendy patterns or textures. But when you are ready to turn it over with something different, it's easier to swap out a $20 pillow than maybe a $500 accent wall. So something else to just consider is your textiles is a great way to bring that in.
For something more permanent, do it in a, in a smaller space so that it's still as easy to remove when that time comes. But at the end of the day, if it's something that you truly love, then it's not necessarily a trend to you. If it's just something that you've always been drawn to, and maybe it feels trendy right now because it's getting all this attention. But then when that dies down, it's still going to be something you love.
Lauren
Yeah. So speaking of things that you love, I would love to hear some design styles and either trends or not trends that you like, and that what's your style kind of like.
Michaela
Yeah, I would say my style, what I'm naturally drawn to, is a few different things. It's everything from traditional craftsmen to Pacific Northwest, modern to European cottage, Scandinavian. It's a little bit of, of all of that, would be probably what I'm naturally drawn to. And something I love to do with my free time is go antique shopping. I love old finds and just things that have been around for hundreds of years that were once cool that I can bring into my house and make my home feel more have more of a story to it add some history to, you know, it feels like a brand new space too.
So I love mixing styles. I think that is a great way to, one, kind of avoid trends is when you mix styles and you don't necessarily fall in one category of like "I love farmhouse." Okay. Well, everything is farmhouse. Well, when that is not in anymore, then it's going to feel outdated. But if you mix farmhouse with craftsmen, with maybe a little European cottage, then it's not going to feel like one category or one style. Therefore, it will last longer and in the finishes and materials that you have. So mixing styles is also a great way to get more of a custom style, that custom home look. Cause then it's harder for someone to just put their finger on like, "Oh, this looks like blank." It's more like, "Oh, you've got a little bit of a collectedness to what is furnishing this home. And I love it, but I can't tell what it is, but it, it's obviously something that this person loves and they've put it together nicely." That I think is key when you're styling or designing a house.
Lauren
Yeah. And now, is that something that you can help your clients define their own kind of unique collaboration of things?
Michaela
Oh my gosh, absolutely. Absolutely. Most people already have an eye for what they like, whether it just be a texture or a color palette or, just an item, something that they're like, "I like things that look like this." Well, let's start there. If you like things that look like this, or you like this type of color palette, then we kind of can narrow it down. Probably going to be in this type of style families. Well then let's take that and let's move that into some of your soft furnishings, you know.
I feel like a great piece of advice I would give someone who's trying to hone in their style is start with a neutral palette, kind of a clean foundation, your floors, your walls, keep it neutral, and then we can add in some of the fun, features, styles, little trends in with maybe an accent chair, maybe it's wallpaper with your light fixtures, with your cabinet heart. There's other details that we can really bring in to pull together the look that you're going for.
Whether that be, I like farmhouse, but I also like traditional or Scandinavian. Well, let's have one, maybe be more of the base. Maybe we mainly it's farmhouse. Okay. So we're going to have obviously white walls and we're going to have some accents of black, but if you like some of that craftsman, well, maybe we do like contrast trim. Maybe your walls are white, but maybe your doors and your baseboards and your window casings are a soft beige, you know, then we kind of bring in some of that craftsman accent. And that's what I love to do is help getting people to think a little bit outside of the box on, we don't have to just play it safe and keep things simple. We can blend things together in a seamless way that look intentional and still flows and looks like it's all supposed to be there from the beginning.
Lauren
Yeah. Yeah. I like that. So now are there any current trends out that you just do not like?
Michaela
Ooh, that's a good question. Current trends that I don't like I would say the only thing that's kind of coming to mind right now would be the all white kitchen because I feel like that was such a big hit for so long. I'll say this all white kitchens will never go out of style. They are very classy, very timeless. However, I think you can still put your own spin on it. You know, you can mix your metals with your cabinet hardware, your light fixtures and your plumbing fixtures. They don't all have to be one color. They don't all have to be black. You can do polished nickel and a brushed brass looks great together. You can do a polished brass and a matte black. Mix your metals is a great way to make it feel really different, unique. Play with your cabinet door style. That's another fun way to kind of put a twist on that trend so it doesn't feel like everyone else's. And then maybe you're furnishing your decor. So your countertop decor and your counter stools, do something else that feels like it's a different texture. Whether that's wicker counter stools, and then you've got your, mixers or cookbook displays and things that just make it feel a little more homey.
Lauren
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. One of my trends, I don't know if it's a trend or not, but just one of my interior design things that I cannot stand, more for the functionality than the look, the look looks beautiful, it's a rain shower. I just, I hate having the water come down from the top. I want it on my back so that my face can be out of the water while I'm still getting pelted from behind with the warm water.
Michaela
Yes, no, I, that is a real thing. The other thing that reminds me of is I have a love hate relationship with pocket doors. Pocket doors are, in some cases, the only answer. It's like the only way to eliminate many door swings to keep hallways feeling open, but they're so finicky though. And then your wall is hollow where the door slides in, so it's harder to hang things on that wall. But sometimes you have to do it, but I agree with you on the rain shower. If you're going to do it, put it on a separate control so that when you're turning your shower on, you don't have to have the on every time because I don't wash my hair every time I take a shower and I don't want it always on me either. So that's another good, good point.
Lauren
Yeah. Funny story about a pocket door. We have three in our house, two are on the sides of our kitchen to separate it from the living room and the hallway. Those will be going away in our kitchen remodel since we're removing a wall, but we have a pocket door that is our master bedroom closet. And as you said, it's not really feasible to have a door any other way, but we were hanging a picture on the wall at one point and we accidentally nailed it through the pocket door when it was closed. And so then the next time we went to close the pocket door, I'm like, wait a second, what's going on? And we realized we had, yeah, nailed through the door.
Michaela
Oh my gosh. That is so funny.
Lauren
Yup. Things you don't think about when you've never had one before.
Michaela
Yup, exactly. That's good.
Lauren
So how do you advise that people approach balancing the aesthetics with functionality? We mentioned that with the rain shower that I don't like the functionality of it. So for other things in a home, what's more important there? I know my husband gets on my case sometimes that I've got this grand vision for things, but it's maybe not the most functional.
Michaela
Hmm. That is another very common thing that always comes up, as it should. We should not be designing a space or furnishing a space without thinking of function, and how things are going to flow and even beyond that, how are you going to live in your home when this is all said and done? I always keep that into consideration and bring that in as part of our conversation. With kids and with dogs and how much do you guys host and do we have Thanksgiving here or Christmas and all the things. And I think that is a huge part of design that cannot be left out. So, I would say, when it comes down to it, we have to work within what we have.
So let's take a living room, for instance. If your living room is 10 by 10, we'll just say 20 by 20. It's whatever size it is. We need a minimum of, I would say minimum of a three foot walkway. I like to do four feet just cause it's more comfortable, but if we need all the space we can get, a minimum of a three foot walkway on all sides to create the flow between sofas and chairs. I think that start there with your walkway space. And then you've got to kind of start out and then work in with the living room, for instance.
So you've got our walkway space on the outside walls and then your sofa or your sectional. If your room isn't huge, maybe don't go for the deepest sofa or sectional. Look at something that's a little more slender that's going to fit the scale of the space better, okay. And then you've got your coffee table or your ottoman. And you know want to keep at least maybe 20 inches between the edge of the sofa and the edge of the coffee table. So pick a coffee table then that is the going to meet that measurement. The size can totally be up to you.
And then if you still have space off to the side or the corner, then you can do an accent chair or two if you've got the space. But starting out and then working in, we can do this through some of our e design services. This is what we do. We can scale everything in to make sure that all the furniture that you get is going to fit the space. That's huge.
Just making sure whatever you're going to buy, for one, can get through the door. That's always a big one. Make sure it can fit through your front door. And when it's installed in your space, it doesn't feel too big or too small. So taking your ceiling height into consideration, is it, do we have high ceilings, we have low ceilings, how big your sofa is really does matter.
In your area rug. Oh, a big thing with area rugs, area rugs should be like the biggest thing. It's the base. It should be bigger. The sides of it should extend past your sofa, a couple of sides. So that's something else that can kind of get missed. And I think that's an important thing is to make sure your rug can fit that space too.
But when it comes to the function, that's very important. And we want to make sure that when you are hosting or having people over that no one's tripping over one another to sit down or that people aren't shuffling in between furniture to sit down. So working with us, we can help ensure some of that space.
But the other thing that you can do on your own, is if you're going to redesign a room, bedroom or living room, is find the furniture you want to do and then using blue tape, mark it out on your floor. So if your sofa is six feet long by 38 deep, mark that out and see how that feels in your space.
If it feels like, "Oh my gosh, that's way too big," or, "Oh, I think we can go bigger. It's too small." Then you, can kind of test it out before you commit to it. So that's probably another little tip that is easy to do is use painter's tape to mark things out on the floor.
Lauren
Yeah. Yeah. I think just being patient is good for all this.
I'm in a Facebook group for interior home design, and a lot of people are DIYers and you see posts like that all the time where someone comes home and they take a picture of their space and they're like, wow, this couch looked massive in the store and here in my giant living room, it looks really puny, and I think I should return it.
Michaela
Yeah. Yeah. It can be definitely a thing that can get overlooked sometimes. So making sure that the measurements work in your space at the end of the day is huge.
Lauren
Yeah. So now I know we've kind of covered this already, but I wanted to end on asking if there's anything that people can do to help make the interior design process less overwhelming.
Michaela
Hmm. Oh, that one, that question. I feel that because that is something that is so important to me. And how I approach what I do is coming alongside my clients through this process that can at a lot of time seem so stressful and so overwhelming and remodels always take longer than they're supposed to. New builds, you're still going to run into things. There's no such thing as like this perfect, seamless, stress-free home project. I've never been a part of one. And you know, there's always something. And so with that, I try to bring some peace to the situation so that it is an enjoyable experience at the end of the day.
But a way you can not feel overwhelmed is to trust the process. Trust that in any type of home project, there are steps that need to be taken in things that need to be done in a certain way to get to the end point. This is not the time to cut corners, take matters into your own hand and try to control it. Leave that to the professionals.
And I would even go as far as to say that, make sure that the people that you hire, your contractor, your GC, architect, designer, whoever it is you're working with, you already feel like they get you and you get them. That's huge because trust in this industry is so important, is everything. And that's the biggest thing that I always want for my client relationships. I want them to trust me and trust that I know your vision for your space and how you want to live and move and be in your home. I get it. Like I've always said, like, I'm not the kind of designer that is going to design this perfect magazine living room that you cannot bring drinks into or lay on the couch and watch a movie because it's perfect. Leave it alone, don't touch anything or move things around.
I want to design for that everyday life, knowing that you're going to have the baby in the high chair in the background throwing spaghetti on the floor and making a mess and not freaking out because it's going to stain the countertop or something. Like, no, let's make sure that the materials that we're picking are going to support how you live in your everyday life.
So, that's something that's really important to me. And then along with that, making sure that clients trust who they're working with, that they do have their best interests at heart, and they're only going to show them things that are going to work for their lifestyle and what they're needing help with at the end of the day.
So I think that can definitely help lessen some of the overwhelmingness, facts to these projects as having someone that you feel like is like your right hand man, who's going to help you kind of through that the whole way and bring up the options that need to be brought up, and help you make the best, best educated decision is something that we do with everyone.
Lauren
Yeah, yeah, that's great. And I do want to point out to people that don't forget to grab Michaela's free guide, because that, as we stated earlier, is something that can help you get started without feeling so overwhelmed. So remind everyone where they can find you, how can they find you on Instagram or social and how to connect with you.
Michaela
Yeah, so we are on Instagram, we're on Facebook at Fairspring Design, and then our website is fairspringdesign.com. You can get that free guide, it's right on our homepage. You'll see it right there and then it'll get sent over to you right away. But yeah, we'd love to connect with you.
Lauren
Yeah. Great. Thank you so much.
And I always end my interviews with a little bit of this or that, that you have to make a quick decision on. And usually they're very generic, but today I wanted to have a little fun and choose some things that were interior design related to. So let me know which one you choose.
So, hardwood laminate or vinyl flooring. Laminate.
Open floor, planned or defined rooms. Open floor plan.
Neutral tones or bold colors. Neutral.
Modern or traditional. Traditional.
Shiplap or exposed brick. Ooh, exposed brick.
And quartz or quartzite. Oh, that one's really tough. That's a tie.
Okay. All right. Well, thank you so much. It was so fun having you and I can't wait for people to jump in on their interior design projects with this help.
Michaela
Awesome. Thank you Lauren so much. This was so much fun and I'm excited to see how your kitchen remodel turns out.
Lauren
Yes. Thank you. All right. Bye everyone.
—
Wasn't that great. I loved that conversation with Michaela. I think that there are a lot of easy takeaways that you can bring with you for your next interior design project. Things like starting with a neutral base, that's less trendy and then adding in trends. So if stripes becomes a trend again, add that in in your throw pillows or your curtains and not a super expensive feature wall that's made with tile or something like that.
But I wanted to share with you my countertop decision, because as you heard me chatting with Michaela, I was torn on quartz versus quartzite.
So, if you don't know the difference, quartz is a manmade material where they kind of grind up the stone, add some epoxy to it or resin or something and then they add some sort of print to a lot of them so that they look somewhat like a real stone. And you can get really, really crisp whites with going with quartz.
And so a lot of times when I look at pictures of kitchens and as Michaela said, white kitchens are very trendy and white kitchens are very timeless. But when I look at the pictures of the white kitchens with the white countertops, I like those pictures. But then when I go to view these slabs in person, there's a little bit of a fakeness to it. I'm also a graphic designer. So I have a very picky style when it comes to design things. And when I'm looking at these countertops in person, I just didn't like them. But I'd Photoshop it in the space and I'm like, well, it looks really nice photoshopped in.
So when I look at quartzite, which is a natural stone, kind of like a granite, I fell in love with this one specific pattern. All these quartzite stones have names and this one called Taj Mahal. And it's kind of a beige and gray patterning. Definitely looks like a real stone, because it is real, and I just loved the patterning. Now some of them are a little dark. Some of them are a little too busy. Some of them are a little too beige. Some of them even had greens in them, not the color I want. So I was looking for a lighter Taj Mahal.
Now, Josh, my husband was still kind of set on the quartz, which first of all, quartz is supposed to not stain as much as quartzite. But if you get a good sealant, you're not supposed to have to worry about staining with quartzite either.
And quartzite is more heat resistant, which I like a lot, especially because right now I can just take my pan off the stove and set it on my tile countertop with no trivet underneath, and it's fine. And so I would have to break that a little bit with quartz because quartz does not tolerate heat as well. So here's our dilemma.
Which one do we go with? We had gone to so many different countertop stores, looked at slabs in person went to a bunch of quartz ones, bunch with quartzite. Never found the one. And then Josh, on top of it, was kind of throw me some curve balls of wanting to look at other colorings of the quartzite instead of the Taj Mahal that I liked.
And I just wasn't finding anything I liked. So finally, our kitchen guy sent us a list of a few countertop places that he recommended. And one of them on their website had a Taj Mahal kind of sister color called Madre Perla. And I'm looking at this slab on their website. I'm like, I think this could be the one. It was really pretty. So we drove over an hour to get to this countertop place. And I saw the slab in person and I fell in love. I wanted to hug it. Like I have been looking for the one for so long. It was a very light patterning one. It had beiges and some gray, but none of the green, I didn't want green. I didn't want to dark of beige or browns in it. And it just, it was the one.
And so after talking with my husband a little bit, we put a hold on it. And a week later, our kitchen guy called and said, "Hey, the countertop place needs to know in like two days if you want this stone. And you need to go pick out the exact slabs" because they had seven different slabs. And so we needed to go pick out, like, I want these three, we needed three to do our whole kitchen.
So that is the story of how we found our countertop and how I decided on it. I know Michaela was saying, "look at the big picture of how it all ties together." And so when I did that, even though in the Photoshop photos, I definitely liked the white and sometimes didn't like the Taj Mahal, but I think that was often when I was using too dark of a Taj Mahal and we found a really light one, well technically Madre Perla. But looking at the overall picture of what I wanted and how it would all tie together. Definitely, that was how I decided, yes, I have to go with the quartzite. I think I would have regrets if I settled for quartz. And I'm very glad that Josh was on board with getting me my dream kitchen and allowing me to pick that quartzite.
And it's, I just can't wait, so stay tuned. Go follow me on Instagram so that you can watch the story as things unfold as our projects get conquered. I'm @AnchoredDecisions on Instagram. So see you over there.
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