How we doubled down, made breakthroughs & created an innovative way to design your home
That winter lockdown was tough beyond belief for everyone. Neil and I were chatting this morning about how we felt like there was one project that seriously pulled us through it all...
You may have seen I shared a little of this story on Instagram, but there was more to it that I wanted to tell you about here. It’s a story I don’t share much online (in fact, I never have until Home Design Lab came about.)
Starting my dream career
I am someone who wakes up in the morning saying to Neil “I’ve been dreaming about interiors again” I know I’m crazy 😂
After completing a mammoth renovation project of our own I was hooked. Every conversation, every decision, taught me (fast!) about how I wanted to spend my time and support people in the world. So I trained as an interior designer to help people transform their homes shortly after.
While our renovation taught me all the mistakes and real life renovation experience, I then studied all the ways to professionally approach a renovation the RIGHT way.
With everything I learnt about design and construction, there were definitely times I've wanted to redesign areas of our house now that I practice as an interior designer...
But instead I focused on pouring all of our experience as renovators and the training I've learned as a professional into my interior design service and our online courses. So that I can support people to enter into their projects clued up and confident.
Finding purpose through homelessness
I’ve wrapped my arms around renovators, decorators and home lovers helping people make their homes amazing for the last 7 years, but when I really look back, my story starts much earlier than that…
When I was 10 I was, for a short time, homeless.
My family were not ‘begging on the street’ homeless, but we were living in a safe house (temporary 1 bed accommodation, sharing a bathroom with 5 other families).
I won’t go into the gory details here, and don’t worry, I won’t show you a slow-mo black & white montage of our misfortune set to Cold Play’s “Fix You” 🙂
But my family and I hit a tough spot and we ended up moving into a shared safe house for almost a year.
Yes it was pretty awful. It was bunk beds, a shared bathroom with 5 other families and it was extremely unclean but we were dry, safe and could sleep.
It meant the world to us at the time. And I’ll forever be grateful to the people and charities that helped me and my family back then.
After a while, a council flat became available for us to move into.
It was the best ever turning point for my family. We were given a new start. A place we could make our own, and feel truly at home, strengthening the core of our happiness and wellbeing as a family.
I remember me and my sisters would flick through the Argos catalogue looking at the home section in anticipation for having our own place – we couldn’t afford anything in it, but it was so nice to dream!
Now I’m in my thirties, I can look back and understand that the low times make us who we are. Difficulties can define our paths in life.
For me, the experience opened my eyes to how important home and family is for all of us.
The experience ingrained values in me around the impact home has on you and your family in every day life. I believe that if you make your home the way you want it, and make it speak to you and your personality, it embeds true joy, comfort, security and pride into your life.
In recent years since renovating my own house from a dated, unloved home to become the home of my dreams, and helping others to do the same via our online courses and my interior design service, I can’t tell you how much joy interior design has brought to mine and lives of my clients.
So it’s my mission to make home design and renovations easier for people. So that they can create homes they thrive in and adore.
That’s when Home Design Lab became the seed of an idea…
The minute we went into lockdown Neil and I knew we had to pour all our energy + headspace into something positive that would make an impact. I’d always known I wanted us to work on a design specific online course, and this was the best time to start because people need their homes well-designed now more than ever.
So we made some big decisions and shifted our business priorities massively to make it happen.
Between our walks on the Downs and brainstorms in our teeny home office, we began mapping out the foundations for an online course to help people improve their home design in a way that improves their mental wellbeing.
It felt a way for me to teach the different approach I take when planning a design scheme - ultimately showing you how to design your home so you wake up inspired every day while being the natural next step on from our renovation course.
What happened next saved us from cabin fever (ok, there was still some of that!)....
We got to work for 3 long months, pouring our heart and soul into filming, writing, editing and website building.
👷🏻♀️ I led on the structure + content of the course, developing the exercises + training with the aim to help people grow their confidence in design.
My aim was to show students the insider skills interior designers call on all the time - so you can make the best of your home even if you can't afford to hire a designer.
👷🏻 Neil led on the filming, editing, website + workbook creation which was months of hard work behind the scenes but gave him a huge sense of purpose during the lockdown.
3 months later, we launched Home Design Lab to a small pilot group.
The response blew us away 😍
We kept the first pilot program small because we really wanted to trial this unique approach. It’s an approach I use with 1-on-1 clients to determine their style and develop cohesion and flow through their properties. I wanted to be sure it worked as an online course format and Neil wanted to make sure everything was perfect for you when you join, to catch any bugs and implement feedback before opening it officially. But guess what...?
The feedback we received from our pilot students has been incredible 😍👇
“Wow, this course is fantastic! I had absolutely no idea where to start with designing my home, as I'm not a natural interiors person. The course is well paced with personable videos, text and worksheets that have honed a coherent and flowing design into my plans.
I've really enjoyed discovering what my personal style is and learning how to apply it.”
Frithe Johnson
“You have created an amazing programme and it was super helpful to undertake it. We were an overwhelmed mess and had no idea how to start! It literally equipped us with the tools to believe we can do this!”
Raquel
“I’d definitely have overlooked things if it wasn’t for this course! I don't feel confident in my design choices and this course reassured me that my choices wouldn't look mismatched and clumsy. I really enjoyed it, it made me think about layouts which I hadn't previously considered and made me think critically about the positives and negatives of each idea.”
Emily Chatwin
“Having zero experience with decorating and having bought a new house that is a blank canvas for us to add our stamp on it, I was completely at loss as to where to even get started. The course has provided a structure and a strategy to work through the decisions step-by-step and I'm loving it. It's detailed enough and the guidance is great for first-timers like me. I'd definitely recommend it!”
Priscila Renwick
Your invitation to join us
We’re officially launching Home Design Lab on Thursday 29th July at 9am and we’d love you to join us.
If you’re struggling with your home design, you want some direction to define your style, optimise your layout and develop a sense of flow, then take a look at the course structure and add your email to get notified when we open.
We’re announcing an extra special discount on the course to all those on our waiting list – so pop your email in and you’ll be the first to hear.
For more information on what’s included in the course, details are on our Home Design Lab page. I’ll also be running an FAQ on the blog later this week so feel free to DM or email in questions :)
EDIT: Here’s the full blog answering all your questions.
Thank you so much for reading, we can’t wait to support our next intake of students with their home design plans and we hope that’s you!
Fi (+ Neil) xoxo
