a life + business update.

It’s been a MINUTE since I’ve caught up with you all on the blog. Between the pandemic, the success of our Interior Design services and trying to raise two small kids, the blog took a major back seat. But I can happily say, it’s coming back in a big way and I can’t wait to start sharing all kinds of content with you all on a more regular basis! This also includes the return of the weekly newsletter, so if you aren’t subscribed yet, make sure you sign up here so you don’t miss a thing!

but first, let’s catch up on life

I know people say this all the time, but these past two years have really flown by! It’s almost like they didn’t happen, but when I stop long enough to reflect on everything I’ve accomplished, it’s pretty amazing. The last real blog post I shared about the future of Styled Out West, was in April of 2020 — AND SO MUCH HAS CHANGED SINCE THEN. Smacked upside the head with the pandemic and all of the unknowns was one of the most challenging things I’ve ever been through, but when it came to interior design, it was the best thing that could have happened to the business. After being stuck in our homes for months with no end in sight, people started realizing how much they had neglected their homes and were living in spaces that no longer brought them joy. Whether that meant re-designing an entire living room with brand new furniture and accessories, or building a new home from scratch and everything else in between. It seemed as if all the hard work I’dd put into the blog and Instagram community had really started to pay off. And one after the other, I started to receive inquiries from followers, friends of followers and complete strangers who found our Instagram on a hashtag that wanted me to design their homes. 2+ years into design and I’ve completed several full-service projects and a ton of smaller ones in between. And, this year, launched two brand new services (more on that later in the post)!

2021 was absolutely crazy in terms of projects and how I was managing everything on my plate. I decided to name 2021 my year of travel (after being stuck at home for almost a year) and booked a trip every month for 8 months straight. I was also juggling 7 design projects at once and didn’t have any permanent staff on my payroll. To say I was drowning was an understatement. But I managed to wrap up all our large projects and shot 5 homes for our portfolio after finally finding an amazing photographer who was so on brand for us (Shelly Borga, you are amazing). Although it was an extremely successful year, I realized that our processes and systems were just not strong enough to support that type of work load in the future and I felt as if I wasn’t giving our clients everything they deserved. So I spent the first part of 2022 working with a business operations specialist to help refine and re-define our service offerings and work backwards to come up with a step by step process for every single service we offer and implement a couple news ones!

new design experience offerings!

I wanted to be able to offer a service to those who either didn’t want or need a full-service design OR didn’t live in the greater Seattle area. Hence, The Styled Out West Refresh was born! This service is catered towards those who have a small space in their home that is no longer sparking joy or need help designing a new room (like a nursery or office) and have no idea where to start. We give you all the tools to help you implement a gorgeous design on your own with a curated design board made specifically for you with all the links to purchase products at your leisure. I dedicate one week of support to talk through the designs, answer questions and hold your hand through the process. In the end, you get a beautifully designed space on your time.

design board example // shop the room

In 2020, I also hired my first contractor, Mariah to help with design projects. Little did I know, she was also a pro-organizer and we shared a unique love for all things organization. As the role evolved and larger projects started to flow in, it became quite clear that organization needed to be part of the design process. Because let’s face it, you can’t have a beautifully designed home without systems in place behind the scenes. At first, we only offered organization to existing clients doing a full-service design, but after working on our service offerings in more detail, I decided to launch Stylized Organization and open this up to all clients! We’ve had so much fun with this service since its soft launch this Summer and can’t wait to continue to see it grow!

If you are interested in either of these services, you can visit our service page, here.

but wait, there’s more!

In the midst of all the craziness of 2021 I was connected with podcast host, Madeline via an Instagram follower (further proving how much I love my IG community) and was interviewed for my first ever podcast on Finding Fearless (you can listen to that episode here). It was quite a pinch me moment as Interior Design was still so new for the brand, but Madeline saw the value in my relationship building skills and the hard work I’d put into my community in order to land successful design clients. It’s pretty cool that I can one day let my girls listen to this episode and they can understand all the work I was putting in when they were younger, all the while, still trying to be the best Mom and Wife I could. That episode led to me being asked to be on two more podcasts. 3 podcasts in a year!? Pretty incredible when I stop to think about it. In the future, I’d love to be on more Podcasts (or perhaps even have my own someday), as the community aspect of what I do is truly the best part. I love nothing more than connecting with other women, moms and entrepreneurs and I hold nothing back. I really believe we all need to support each other and nothing should be kept a secret.

You can listen to my other Podcast episodes on Mama’s Cup of Ambition, here and Mom’s Calling, here.

I just wanted to say, if you’ve been following from the very beginning or just found me 5 minutes ago, THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE! I am so incredibly grateful to be able to do what I love everyday and I am beyond excited to bring even more value to your lives through the return of the blog and the newsletter!