Hi there. My nickname is SMID. I am starting this blog because I am officially obsessed with interior design. I have finally realized my obsession is a natural talent and an untamed love of mine that others want me to share.
I have been obsessed about interior design for a long time. I am always thinking about design, how to arrange a room differently, how a piece could have been designed better, how people stop just short of an amazing home or room. When I watch movies, I focus more on the home or the interior of the location they are shooting the movie in vs. the story line. In Breakfast At Tiffany’s, I obsess over her white lacquered footed tub used as a couch with a hot pink covered cushion and Fred’s apartment upstairs has insane wallpaper and lighting. In American In Paris, I love that his bed is hooked to chains and rises up and down for functionality and more room space. I will rewind over and over to see his small apartment. In Charades, Audrey Hepburn finds her apartment has been cleared out of everything she owns and I immediately start imagining how the room would look if I had designed it with all the right pieces. In the recent James Bond movie, instead of salivating over Daniel Craig, I am drooling over large wooden planked floors and the detail of his parents home out in the country…trying to figure out how I can get a house like that to design….and I’ve lost the plot.
How would I SMID that? I constantly think about this and ask myself this question. At night I either have a hard time getting to sleep or I will wake up sweating and heart racing because I have figured out a room I am designing, thought of the wallpaper that will make a room or I will come up with a great idea for a piece in my space. I have to keep my journal next to me so I can jot the ideas down and hopefully get back to sleep.
I day dream all the time about the next great piece for our place or how I will design a room to make it more exciting. It drives my family nuts because, I will be with them one moment and then in my head about creative design the next. I started doing story boards a long time ago to help foster my creativity and thinking. It was also to cater to what I considered at the time, my hobby. I love pulling out clippings from decor and fashion mags, fabric swatches, pictures of furniture or accessories that I have found while out shopping and these all go on my board to help me wrap my head around what I want to see in a space. This is what I use to guide my planning and my creativity for a room or a piece I am designing.
This is an example of one of my story boards which helped inspire our recent downstairs renovation. I will share this renovation with you over the next few months as it is part of the launch of SMID LLC.
My husband, Stewart, and I have a running joke. We have designed rooms or come up with creative ideas about how to stage a room, choose a color or a wallpaper that is very different or make a piece more exciting and then we will see a similar idea carried out in the center spread of Vogue Living or in Elle Decor. We always joke about someone having bugged our house or a mole that hangs out with us and leaks the information. It’s our joke and we are totally having fun with it but it is really strange, very exciting and encouraging for me still.
A couple of years ago, we decided to try and sell our house. We were thinking about leaving California. It was a time in our lives where our kids were very young and we were constantly reminded how we longed to be near family to get some additional support. When we had our first open house, our realtor, Neda Nourani called us so excited. We had an offer on all of our furniture!!?? I said, “what about the house?” She said this would come next but that everyone loved the house and was freaking out over the design of it. Three months into the listing, every couple that viewed the house asked if I was an interior designer and wanted to see more of my work. Stewart and I had renovated the upstairs of our house at that time but we had not even touched the downstairs yet other than our furniture. I was ecstatic about the feedback. Neda, whom we loved working with and deeply respect, also encouraged me. It really got me thinking about taking a risk in my life and doing something that I am passionate about.
Long story short, we took our house off the market. We decided to stay and explore this opportunity. I have gone through what I guess is normal since then; scared phases, being excited, ready to drop everything to do this and the doubt phase. I am very fortunate to have had some very special people enter my life and ones that have always been supportive of me and have pushed me to believe in this next step of my life. I am also inspired by many of the amazing and talented designers and design bloggers that are out there who have taken this risk.
So I am going for it. I am excited to be joining this talented group of people. I am so excited to share my vision for design with all of you. SMID Inc. will be launching August 29th. Through the redesign and final renovations of our house, we are preparing for the launch party. Project SMID is finally kicking off and I am going to share this crazy ride with you. It will be a stressful few months but I am excited to have you with me.
-SMID
Take a look at a few pictures of my work and let me know what you think.
This is our wooden coffee table which was found on the side of the road. It’s an old work bench that we left outside under cover for two years. It weathered beautifully. When we renovated the downstairs, we needed a coffee table. We needed something that wouldn’t take away from the glam in the room but work with the deep grey walls and original concrete floors to ground the room so it wouldn’t feel over the top. We wanted this room to be a work of art, have an edge to it but be inviting.
A little snapshot of one of our downstairs rooms. With the grand doors I found and the ridiculously cool sheep heads I scored in a resale shop, the silvery animal skin rug, antique chairs and vintage sofa, I needed the dark grounding walls and the raw coffee table to off set things and keep it unexpected. My favorite thing, juxtapose. It keeps things fun and interesting.
We call this guy, creepy baby head. This is one of my favorite finds. It is a sculpture of a baby cherubs head. It’s absolutely gorgeous yet terribly creepy in some ways. My dear friend Jeannie, and an antique dealer, saved it for me. She has the other one and I think there is only one other. It’s sitting in our entrance way and makes such a statement.
