Inroads to Interior Design By Rashmi of RushMeHome

Interior Design to me is artwork, a blank canvas you can paint however you chose. You pick the color palette, create strokes and contrast and you end up with a beautiful piece. At least that's how I view it.

I have designed most of my life, whether that was my parents' space, my room, friends & family rooms but that was all within my comfort zone. It was ok if I messed up. But when I started my blog, it was a risk I didn't know I wanted to take for almost 2 years before I took the jump. It's ironic because usually, I'm the risk taker, yet, there I was standing at the end of an invisible diving board, just waiting and watching to see if I would ever take that jump. But I did, precisely February 13th 2019.

I knew going in at some point I would want to turn this into a business, take on clients, after all how hard can it be? I think I'm sort of a natural at designing. Boy.. was I in for a surprise. I say surprise because when I did start taking on clients, a whole new level of nervousness took over. It was no longer a friend's room or my sister in law's house, it was a complete stranger who was trusting ME to create this beautiful space for their home.

That’s brings me to the crux of this post. Today, I wanted to share how I take on clients and what my process looks like on my end.

Because I work full time as a Marketing Manager for a tech company, I work on my client's space on nights and weekends. Currently, I take on 2 clients a month. This usually is the right amount of time to provide and fulfill the clients needs as well as keep myself from not taking on too much where I'm not able to complete the work.

Once the client provides me with a deposit, we set up a call to discuss what the clients needs are. This discussion includes budgets, colors, styles etc. Then the real work begins, I usually put my head down and create version 1, this is where the client also provides feedback and I make version 1 with the final changes to the mood board. The last step is when I send the client the final version plus a product list so that they can execute on their new beautiful space. All this sounds super simple, but it’s really not. A lot of hours and hard work goes into each room. Hours of searching for the right products, emailing the clients, creating the moodboard, I mean the list goes on and on.

Looking back at my first client in August of 2019, I learned SO much from just creating a space. I learned how to effectively communicate with clients, how to make sure their needs are met, takeaways on what I could do better next time—what NOT to do. It was such an eye opening experience. Now, I'm 7 clients in and I feel so happy with where I am and where I am going. Always learning through each experience.

As stressful as it gets sometimes, I also find so much joy despite the hardships I faced when I first started my page back in 2019. There are many times where I feel like I'm behind or not good enough, when I feel that way, I remember the one negative comment I got fairly quickly when I first started which was, "who does she think she is?"... well I have an answer for that.

I'm Rashmi of RushMeHome, taking risks, following my dreams, despite the naysayers along the way. That's who I am.