Happy 2018 to all! So sorry for the radio silence from Christmas to New Years. I never intended to take the week off, but with the kids home and lots of family off from work the last thing I wanted to do was open my laptop! I watched crazy amounts of Hallmark movies, ate even crazier amounts of holiday cookies and had quite a bit of PJ days where you guessed it, we just relaxed in our PJ’s. I barely opened my inbox on my phone and spent a lot of New Years Eve going thru that. Wild and crazy around these parts. New Years Eve has always just been another day to me. I’m not one to go out on such a night and typically I’m out cold before the ball even drops. While I don’t enjoy the going out part of New Years Eve I do enjoy the idea of a new year, a fresh slate where I can think about the goals I want to attain in the year.

Every year the majority of my goals are career oriented. I always have goals to start that fabric line I have dreamed up in my head for years, or finally do a pitch for a book I want to write, or do video for my you tube channel but the year always comes and goes and I never get around to it. As all working momma’s know it’s hard to keep your head above water let alone go off and attain higher goals for your business. I’m always in awe of all of my lovely lady bosses that do it all so effortlessly. Of course, I know it isn’t all effortless. I constantly get emails from readers asking how I do it all and I always laugh, because I do the amount I’m able to do by working late into the night, getting my parents help for babysitting and squeezing photoshoots into the early morning, weekends or Jon’s lunch breaks with Asher typically screaming about one thing or another while I scream at Jon, because he is not getting the angle I want and why oh why can’t I have a couple extra me’s to do it myself. Poor Jon. He really is the best. Always going along with my crazy idea and making them come to life. He is my biggest supporter and cheerleader yet I have the hardest time believing him. He is married to me. Of course he needs to think I’m amazing and talented.

While I love being other people’s cheerleader and telling them they rock and they can do it and then giving them a ton of ideas to achieve their own goals I have a very difficult time doing that with myself. I’m constantly down on myself for not getting as many clients as I want or not getting a magazine spread of my work, etc. The comparison game is tough and I really want out of it. Of course it’s much easier to say then to do. Especially with instagram and comparing followers and likes. Ah! The madness of it all! It’s really had me thinking about the end game of it all. Do I want to be an influencer or a decorator? Ideally I would love to have my feet dipped in both worlds, but I’m not quite sure it can be done. Influencer wise I can’t compete with bloggers/influences that teams contributing to their blogs and social media channels, but I still really enjoy sharing what I love, a fun DIY, amazing fashion or home decor score and the occasional recipe. But if all my focus is on blogging and social media then I don’t have time to grow my interior design business, which I really have a passion for and I think I’m actually quite good at it.

I have gone back and forth a million times trying to figure out exactly what I want, but it’s like asking a mother who their favorite child is. I love them both and want to be able to do both and be successful and achieve goals in both! I think there is a way to continue to do them hand in hand, but focus more on interior design, which means being more diligent at photographing my work and sharing it on the blog, but client projects take time and that means I won’t have a design project to share every week. So, what does that mean with the blog? Do I stop doing everything else and just have it be interior design or do a continue to do more a lifestyle type blog where I do focus on home decor, but also add the fun DIY’s, great buys, showcase places on Long Island and NYC, etc? It’s hard to get feedback when people don’t really comment anymore. Again I totally get it. Time is precious and we don’t have time to comment anymore. I’m guilty of it myself. I try to use instagram likes to gauge things, but the algorithm changing at all times it’s hard to see how many people are actually seeing posts. Ah!

One step I took towards making time for my business was getting an office space. I have shared little bits and pieces on instagram, but it’s my first time sharing the news here. It’s almost finished. Just waiting on some wallpaper and fabric to arrive, but it’s been painted and new flooring has been installed. Desks have been bought in and the big design decisions have been made.

Here is the before shot:

I really liked the location and the pretty trim detailing on the windows and the symmetry of the windows.

I had Jon come and look at it and he really liked it as well so, we decided to give it a go! A lease was signed and work began. They were in charge of re-doing the floors and painting, which was nice, but it took over a month for the work to get in so I didn’t get in as quickly as I wanted. I was hoping to get everything re-done by the beginning of Dec.

New floors and new paint:

My Dec 1st deadline came and went, but we were able to get in and figure out furniture placement, work on shelving for a closet, and move in all of my supplies, fabrics, etc.

Here is a peek at the kitchenette area before: The previous tenants had it set up as a closet with sliding doors. There is an additional closet to the left of it so, I decided to change this closet into a kitchenette.

Since Jon had some days off in December he was able to come in and help me some work done like building the kitchenette and putting in shelves in the closet.

Now I’m just waiting on wallpaper for the kitchenette, fabric for the settee and desk chair cushions and lots of organization.

Trying to get all of that fabric into a neat and organized fabric library has been a doozy of a project. Hoping to get it wrapped up this week and tackle organizing all of my styling supplies in the closet.

Now you may have noticed I said desks above that is because I decided to go with a larger office space in order to have some studio mates! In 2017 I rented a desk in a creative work space and I really enjoyed going into a studio and having other people to bounce ideas of off. I also loved helping fellow creatives with social media and blogging. I have been doing it for so long that it was nice to share my knowledge. I’m hoping to have a creative work space where I can rent a couple of desks and creatives can use the space for client meetings along with their every day worth.

I’m also going to be using my studio as a showroom where people can come in and get my help to just pick out fabric for pillows or a wallpaper for a room and I can have my workrooms and trades people get everything done for them!

Whew! What a blog post! Hopefully you made it thru all that!

Can’t wait to share more with you in the coming weeks, but I wanted you to know where my head was at. Also please feel free to comment or email me camila@effortless-style.com and let me know what you want to see more of on the blog or my social media channels.