Once Upon a Time
When I was a kid, my parents let me try everything. Literally everything. I tried all different sports until we finally accepted that my shy demeanor and apparent lack of hand-eye-coordination held me back from ever scoring or even touching a ball. When it came time to choose a musical instrument, I made the clear choice for any 10 year old girl...the slide trombone! Not my finest moment. I quickly decided I had chosen wrong and instead wanted to pursue the harp. Much to my parent's delight, I chose an instrument that requires a second mortgage and a perfectly-sized Volvo station wagon to transport it. They never even questioned it. My parents were saints. Anything I showed an interest in, they fully supported, no matter what it meant for them. The day I decided I would be the next Ansel Adams? They went ahead and set up a vintage dark-room right in our basement. To justify their enthusiasm about all of these new ventures of mine, I would never just dip a toe in the water...I always dove in completely. A year after learning the harp, I played at a wedding as the bride walked down the aisle, and decided that it was time to make business cards and get things started. I was 13...needless to say, it didn't go far. While spending summers on Cape Cod, I realized we had the perfect corner location for a bake sale right by our house, and decided I needed to make the most of it. While most kids my age we heading to the beach or camp for the day, I loaded up a wagon with homemade muffins, breads, cupcakes and cookies every morning and sat out in the sun until I sold everything. At that point, I would head home and start baking again for the next day. I did make enough to buy myself an awesome Razor scooter, but alas, that was the end of my baking career...I was then on to the next thing.
It took a lot of attempts and adventures for me to narrow down my path in life. Given all of the experiences and ambitions I've had, I can honestly say that a career in Interior Design has been a complete dream come true. I realized it in the 8th grade. I remember staying up all night with my best friend, Ali, and sketching out plans for our first adult apartment while she designed our future wedding gowns. Soon after, I started working at a family friend's architecture firm every day after school. Naturally, despite everyone's warnings, I went on to study architecture at Northeastern University and then to get my Masters in Interior Design from Suffolk. After multiple internships, co-ops and full-time jobs in a variety of architecture and design firms, I am venturing off on my own to build Devon Grace Interiors and could not be more excited! It started as such a simple dream and now, 13 years later, I get to spend every day designing people's dream homes and bringing these visions to life. (And incidentally, Ali went into a career in fashion and just recently became engaged!)
Given my "entrepreneurial" ambitions as a kid, it was only a matter of time before I took things into my own hands and built a practice of my own. It's a big step, but this has easily been the most exciting chapter of my life thus far. I have to credit Homepolish for allowing the transition to be easy, fun and incredibly busy! I've been fortunate enough to be a freelance designer with them and get to create incredible new homes throughout Chicago. This time, the business cards are here to stay!
Thanks so much for visiting the page and reading my first blog! I'll be the first to admit that writing is not my strong suit, but I am so excited to share this journey with all of you as I learn the ups and downs of building my own design practice. Come back soon to see photos of my recent work. The first photo-shoot is scheduled for this Monday, 9/19 and there will be plenty more to follow!
-dgf
