Today in our designer spotlight we have the talented interior designer, Cristi Holcombe of Charm Home design in Atlanta, Georgia. She’s been quite the busy lady, but I was able to catch up with her between projects just long enough for her to answer a few questions.
Cristi Holcombe of Charm Home Design
What’s the best piece of advice you received as a new interior designer and what advice would you give to a design student starting out today?
This is such a hard question to answer because throughout the years I’ve received so much great advice from people in the industry. I think the most important thing that anyone has ever told me [and the most important thing I could ever pass on] is to be confident in your designs. If you are confident in what you have designed then it is much easier to back it up if you ever have to explain yourself or your design to someone else. This is so very true too. There will always be someone who will question something about a design that you have created but you have to remain confident that you have put together a well-designed plan. This is not to say that your plan shouldn’t ever be tweaked or changed. There can always be changes made to a design. It happens to the best plans. If you are a designer people are paying you because they want you to tell them the right way to decorate their home. If you walk in and you aren’t confident in what you have planned for them then they will lose confidence in you as a designer.
Designed by Cristi Holcombe of Charm Home Design
What is the one thing you can’t live without in terms of tools of the trade?
This is a little more than one thing but I definitely can’t live without my toolbag. I have a tiny little bag that I carry with me almost everywhere. It’s really small but there is so much that I couldn’t live without in it. The main pieces in it are a screwdriver [the kind that has the detachable bits that are stored in the handle], a hammer, variety of nails, blue tacky stuff that I use to keep pictures in place once they are hung [can't remember the name of it], tape measure, picture hanging kit, a few tiny paint brushes, scissors, sharpie, needle-nose pliers, and a few more random things. It’s pretty much a life-saver.
This isn’t my bag but it looks really similar to this one.
Can't be with out it!
Please fill in the blank. A room is completely designed when…
I can walk into it and feel comfortable. Design is always evolving, and it’s hard to say that a room is ever complete…it just might be comfy for the moment.
Cristi's Tablescape
What would you say is your number one, no fail “trick” that you find yourself using again and again?
Take the window treatments as high as you can. That always makes any room feel more grand. I wish there was a law against selling 84″ panels in stores so that people would stop buying them.
Full length or nothing!
If you were a room, what kind of room would you be and what would you look like?
I love family rooms….the kind that open up into the kitchen, so that’s probably the room I would be. I would be comfortably and cozy. I would have a slubby linen slip-covered sofa and some kind of ikat print in me somewhere. I would probably have a lot of blue and orange because I love that combo. The furniture would be a mix of industrial and vintage pieces, and I would most definitely have a gallery wall somewhere.
Inviting & Friendly Family Room
Thanks so much for this great interview. I loved answering all of these questions! xo, Cristi
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Great interview…love “the little kit” you carry…and sooo agree about how confidence is so very important and believing in what you do so that others will too. Great job!
That’s about whats in my bag too, a designers toolkit is so important! I also have fishing line for securing cords & furniture pads. There’s always something that I add after each install, so it’s getting pretty heavy!