Organizing and decorating your home needn’t be a daunting endeavor. We asked two of Santa Barbara’s top interior designers to dish on their successful strategies. Here is what Michelle Beamer had to say. Click here for Kisha Gianni’s interview.
First of all, tell us about yourself. I’m originally from the Midwest, but spent 17 years on the East Coast, where my husband and I had three sons, and I got my master’s degree in interior design from the Corcoran College of the Arts & Design in Washington, D.C. I started MB Interiors in 2005, but when we moved to Santa Barbara, I managed the interior design services for Restoration Hardware on State Street, where my team and I furnished whole homes in the U.S., Hawai‘i, and internationally. I’ve also worked as a designer in the construction industry, and in the last few months, I returned to working solely with private interior design clients as MB Interiors. I’ve always wanted to live in California, because the light is better and so is the weather, so when my husband’s PR career pulled us West, we didn’t argue.
Can you recommend any helpful apps or online design tools? I can’t get enough of Pinterest or Houzz. It makes it so easy to pin different categories all in one place, and share them.