I was an English teacher for 11 years, and when I was making the decision to switch to interior design, I felt as if I was making a poor moral decision. The way I saw it, I was either changing a life through teaching or simply changing a room with design. But the more houses I do and the more people I meet, the more I realize that by changing people’s homes into places where they feel content and happy, places where they feel solace, I am changing their lives at least a little bit; I am making their time at home more beautiful and thus a better place for them—and their families—to be.

My career as an interior designer actually began by accident. I have always loved designing my own homes and also loved answering questions that my friends and family had about theirs, but I never thought it would actually turn in to a career. I had always thought that everyone could do what I did with my home, but that some people simply made the choice not to do it. What I’ve found out through designing is that I was given a gift of being able to visualize how to make something beautiful. I can’t even explain how wonderful it has been to make this realization and to mold it into a career at this point in my life.

It all began simply enough when a friend’s mom came to my home and asked me if I had ever considered decorating professionally and offered to hire me to decorate her home. She became my first client, and through her, I gained the confidence to do more. With the help of her referrals, and then referrals from my new clients, I worked with one client a month while I was teaching, often being booked 4-5 months ahead, until finally it came to the point where there were literally so many people interested that I had to make a choice between teaching and designing. After much consideration, I chose designing and have been so grateful for that decision ever since. I am now also a monthly contributor to an e-magazine, writing articles about decorating, and feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to meld my two loves, writing and decorating, into one.

To me, great design is different for each person. Sure, rules exist for design: a picture should be hung at a certain height, clustering of objects should be done in odd numbers, and colors should complement each other but not overwhelm. But my role for you is not to create a room that looks like a model home nor one that looks like my own house. My job is to create a home for you that is distinctly you and thus distinctly beautiful, and I will do this for you. I promise.

Danielle writes a regular column for Mom on the Go and is a member of Mother Venture.

We recently moved from a home that we had lived in for 35 years. We sold and gave away most of our furniture and décor before we left for our new house. Needless to say we were overwhelmed with the decorating task that lay ahead of us in the new house. We wanted our new home to have a fresh look, with creative designs and arrangements, a sense of adventure to the look, with color tones and accents that had imagination and beauty to the eye. In reality we knew that we could not do it ourselves. A friend highly recommended Danielle to us. And since giving her the commission to do the job, we have felt blessed in every way to have her as our decorator.

– Diane M.
Plymouth