West Elm + Pinnacle

One of the very best parts of my job (or anyone's job for that matter...) is seeing all my hard work pay off! It takes A LOT to pull of a good interior design: selecting the product, designing the room layouts, creating floor plans and mood boards, communicating with the client, revising the design plan, creating spreadsheets, ordering the product, scheduling deliveries, following up, pulling, purchasing and packaging the decorative accessories, organizing a ton of boxes, following up again, scheduling the installation team, making sure you have everything for the install (extra lightbulbs, cleaning products, steamer, etc.), following up a third time, loading the truck, and finally...installing the product and styling the space! And then there is all the post-install work: cleaning, discarding trash and boxes (more than you've ever seen in your LIFE!), replacing damaged items, following up (hehe!), returning unneeded accessories, and taking photos. You get the picture. Shall I continue?

It is, no doubt, a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to design a space, but, it is all worth it when I see the completed project and happy clients. It is also pretty cool - I'm not gonna lie. - to see my work posted on social media receiving positive feedback. I haven't always had confidence in my design abilities. I never went to school for design, so I've always looked at other designers' work and said, "They are so good! I don't know what I am doing!" But, slowly, I am learning more, getting better, gaining recognition for my work, and, steadily, seeing my confidence grow.

Back to my point. We installed a couple model apartments recently, and I wanted to share the concept to completion for one of them. The living room concept is above, and the after photos are below. I am in love with how it turned out! It is beyond amazing to see something that was once only in your brain as an idea come to life...to be able to walk in and around something you once only imagined.

The two bedrooms changed a bit once we were on site. The above bedroom (Bedroom 2) was a last minute design change. We originally designed it to be a kid's room as directed, but then the developers changed their minds and wanted it to be an adult bedroom. So, we swapped lighting, artwork, and rugs between bedrooms, changed up the styling a bit, and we love how they both turned out in the end.

The above bedroom photo was featured on Minted's Instagram! Thanks, Minted! You can see more photos from this project and others on my Instagram.

Cheers, Rachel

Location: Pinnacle Towers, San Diego