Hi there, designer π
π§ No time to read? Listen instead.
Grab your coffee, get in the car, or keep working - here's the 10-minute version.
Back in June, I sent you my final newsletter before summer and told you:
"I'll see you again when school starts."
Well...school started, September came and went. And here we are in October. π
The truth is, my summer break became a little longer than I originally planned. Partly because summer was wonderful - and partly because I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to come back to...π°
First... Portugalπ€
This summer, my family and I spent a couple of weeks in Portugal, and it was exactly the kind of reset we needed. No alarms, no rushing out the door, no constant checking of the clock - just incredible food, breathtaking views, long days exploring, slow mornings, and time together as a family.
A few moments from our summer in Portugal π€
Taking this time away every summer has become incredibly important to me. There's something about physically stepping away from your normal routine that gives you room to think differently.
And during those quieter weeks and honestly, for several weeks after I came home - I found myself thinking a lot about Interior Design Den.
I felt... stuckπ
I'm going to be transparent with you. The design industry is changing incredibly quickly.
AI is changing how we visualize. It's changing how we research. It's changing how people learn software.
It's changing what information designers are willing to pay for - because so much knowledge is now available almost instantly.
And as someone who built a large part of Interior Design Den around teaching software and digital design skills, I started asking myself some difficult questions....
Does Interior Design Den still make sense?
Is what I'm creating still useful?
Where does this business fit into an industry changing this quickly?
Sales had slowed considerably & and for a while, I genuinely wondered whether it made sense to keep putting so much energy into it...π
There was a part of me that thought...
Maybe I just let it go. Not with some big announcement - just quietly stop & disappear...
I have my interior design studio. I have client projects. I have my family. I already have plenty occupying my time.
But something kept bothering me π
Because designers still reach out to me! They ask me questions about drawings. About SketchUp. About running projects. About clients. About pricing. About sourcing. About procurement....
About things that have absolutely nothing to do with which button to click inside a piece of software.
And it reminded me of something I had slowly lost sight of:
After nearly 15 years working in this industry, what I have to teach isn't limited to software.
Software is simply one piece of being a good interior designer.
I've spent years working for firms in New York City.
I've worked on residential and commercial projects.
I've coordinated with contractors, architects, vendors, fabricators and clients. I've created drawing sets. Managed renovations. Made mistakes.
Dealt with difficult clients. Learned how to protect my time. Learned how to source, present, document and communicate more professionally.
And today I'm doing all of those things while running my own design studio.
There is so much more I want to share with designers than how to build a model in SketchUp..
And suddenly...Interior Design Den started feeling exciting to me again.
So I'm changing it π¬
I'm currently behind the scenes rethinking Interior Design Den from the ground up.
The website is getting a refresh. The way I organize my resources is changing.
I'm developing something completely new that I think is going to be useful for working interior designers - but I'm keeping that one under wraps for a little longer...π
And most importantly, I've gotten much clearer about what I want Interior Design Den to actually help you do.
Going forward, everything I create will live around four areas:
DESIGN
Using SketchUp + visualization and other tools to help you design faster, present your ideas better, and make the whole process feel a little easier.
DOCUMENT
Creating clear, professional drawings that contractors can actually use - and that help you look more polished and confident as a designer.
RUN THE STUDIO
All the behind-the-scenes stuff that comes with running a design business - processes, boundaries, presentations, and the things you mostly learn by doing.
SOURCE + PROFIT
Getting more comfortable with sourcing, vendors, trade accounts, procurement, pricing, and actually making money from the products you're already spending so much time selecting.
And suddenly this feels much more like me.
Not simply teaching software. But helping designers become more capable, confident and professional in the real world of interior design.
Maybe stepping away was exactly what I needed π€
It's funny. I took the summer off thinking I was simply taking a vacation.
Instead, I think I created enough space to realize that Interior Design Den didn't need to entirely disappear just yet...
It needed to evolve.
Sometimes feeling stuck doesn't mean something isn't working - it just means the version that got you here isn't necessarily the version that takes you forward.
I'm still figuring out parts of what this next chapter looks like.
But I'm definitely not ready to give up on this little community I've built...
And if you've been here throughout all the different versions of Interior Design Den...Thank youπ€
Ana πΈ
Interior Design Den
P.S. This was my first Studio Voice Memo! If you listened, hit reply and let me know if you'd like me to keep doing these. π§
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