Quite a while ago I met a lovely woman named Karen for lunch. She wanted some advice on starting her own interior redesign and home staging business.

As a result of this Business Consultation with The Home Stylist, she launched her own company and now her own blog to go along with it. (I love helping people find their bliss – and make it profitable)

Please welcome Karen to the fun and challenging world of blogging about redesign and staging  – and life. She has great enthusiasm and great talent.

Please check Karen’s blog out: "Yeah, that works..!"

Julie

I love reading other home decorating blogs. Some blogs I read are other professionals and other times the blogs are just DIYers on the decorating journey. They are fun to get inspiration from. I learn a lot and I get lots of great ideas.

The downside? sometimes I get blog envy – as in ‘they have so many cool photos of awesome projects. I want pretty pictures too.’

But when I look a little closer, I see photos that are beautiful (like the one below) but are another designer’s work – granted the image source states the image is someone else’s.

Like this:

Image source: Sarah Richardson

But it is not that blogger’s work, the image is just a photo they think is cool and makes their blog really "pop".

Now I know my photos are not always spectacular but my clients also don’t have spectacular budgets. My photos and my clients are just everyday folks with very tight budgets but who want their home to be beautiful. If that is you  – welcome! If you always want pretty pictures there are lots of other great blogs out there.

On my website portfolio, I use the "True Portfolio" logo to show that the images used are indeed rooms I have had a hand in bringing to fruition.

My website has all authentic photos. On my blog I also hope to also use only authentic photos but if  on occasional I use "wow" photos to teach a decorating lesson, I will make that very clear to my readers. This is my honesty pledge to you.

Now who has blog envy? Not me.

Julie

PS. On my website, I do have "wow" photos that I highlight on the home page photo slider. And yes, those are actual rooms I have professionally decorated or directly collaborated.

As you know, The Home Stylist specializes in wonderful room transformations.

We have been working really hard on another transformation – our website.

Most of you reading this blog have come from the website but just is case you arrived in a different door -  Come on over and check it out. We are really proud of this makeover!

www.thehomestylist.com

Our popular Style Quiz is still there put now you can grab the code and put the link on your site!

Check out our  Color Poll too. Be sure to vote and tell me why you like that paint color

See our  social media  page – be sure to connect with us.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie

As a professional it is always important to increase your knowledge base, learn new skills and keep up on trends. I recently found a great blog all about color.

The blog is Colour Me Happy by Maria Killam. I have learn quite a few great tips from this. Her enthusiasm for choosing the right color and teaching you why is contagious.

I think you will really like the blog too. Check it out here:

http://colourmehappyblog.blogspot.com/

Julie

As the weather starts to break and the sunshine highlights the dust bunnies and dirty windows, it is time for a really good cleaning frenzy.

Do you need some help? encouragement? a plan?

Check out this website: http://www.totallytogetherjournal.com/

The same blogger that did crockpot cooking everyday for a whole year (2008) has some great advice with a dash of humor to help you get your house organized, clean and meals planned. Sounds good, right?!

I like this website and blog because it makes the tasks not seem so overwhelming.
 

I particularly like her post on the huge task of SPRING CLEANING

http://www.totallytogetherjournal.com/super-simple-spring-cleaning

Julie