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September 30, 2020

Hello Mrs. Jones

September 30, 2020/ Meryl

I am pleased as punch to introduce my friend Cameron Jones. This lady styles the best shelfies - is a busy wife to Jack and mom to Forrest 6, Gray 4 and almost 7 month old Mac - all while heading up a thriving Interior Design business Cameron Jones Interiors in Raleigh, NC.

Cameron thank you so much for being here and sharing time with my readers. So let’s get started - can you tell us a bit about growing up. “I grew up in Raleigh with my younger brother Hunt who I am still very close to. It was a pretty typical childhood…I have great memories and if anything I hope I can offer my own kids a similar upbringing.”

I love how Cameron used grown up art in her oldest sons bedroom.

Cameron your Interior Design work is delightful - tell us did your love of design start when you were young - did you decorate your bedroom while you were growing up? “Yes, but I wasn’t obsessed with design at an early age. I spent my childhood thinking that I wanted to be a filmmaker and anything I could think of to be around movie stars. I spent a summer at NC School of the Arts studying film and a year at UNC-Wilmington during my college years studying film under Frank Capra, Jr. I think that the thing that stands out to me more so than wanting to do interior design is that I had that entrepreneurial spirit from a young age. When I was in high school my best friend and I raised money by selling candy, homemade magazine subscriptions, baked goods, and mixed tapes so that we could go to California to search for movie stars. Nobody thought we’d stick with it and lo and behold after four dedicated years, we spent a month in California and we had the time of our lives! We were in the audience for the Price is Right, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Leeza and several other television shows. We got to see lots of movie stars (Ben Stiller, James Earl Jones, Minnie Driver to name a few) and did all the fun touristy California things. It was total dedication and determination. I’ve always gotten giddy at the thought of going into business for myself.”

“Back to design… It wasn’t until I moved into my first apartment that I really started caring about design. Obviously, there were budget constraints, but I still wanted things to look pulled together and also uniquely mine. With every subsequent home I lived in, I began to care more and more about what my spaces looked and felt like. And people would start commenting, oh, I really love this. Or they would start asking me questions about what they should buy or where they should hang art. Eventually I started a blog, Adorned Abode, about all things home and that was a big creative outlet for me.”

You just touched on this but, can you share where you studied. “I have an undergraduate degree from UNC-Chapel Hill and during that time I spent a year at University of North Carolina – Wilmington studying filmmaking. I hold a Master’s Degree in Cultural Studies (MSc) from The University of Edinburgh in Scotland where I lived for two years. It’s my favorite city in all the world (that I’ve been to so far anyway!). In 2010, I completed a Certificate in Interior Design from The Interior Design Institute.”

Why did you create Cameron Jones Interiors - what was the light-bulb moment when you I’m doing this! “I had two very close friends hire interior designers and they both had really bad experiences. One of them was pressured into buying several very expensive items that were not their taste that their interior designer convinced them they had to have it and then they were stuck with. The other hired a designer who she clearly outlined the budget and their lifestyle (they had two young kiddos) and this designer sourced window treatments for their home that would have taken up the entire budget for the whole house. They both called me really upset and asked for my help.”

Client Work

“For years and years I kept thinking about ways to start my design business and to make it not only viable but to differentiate it from how others approached design. I had always said there needs to be someone doing design for people who don’t have huge budgets. There are so many people out there who are just STUCK. Stuck trying to figure out how to arrange their rooms; stuck trying to maximize their budgets; stuck knowing how to make their rooms feel like the grown-ups they’d now become; stuck trying to unify different styles after marriage – the list goes on and on. So, I knew before I started that this was going to be my target client base. And after my friends sought my help it was then that I decided that there really was merit to my plan of affordable design services.”

I know you lived in the Washington DC area for a considerable time would you like to touch on that time in your life. “I spent 15 years in the DC area. I worked at Georgetown University School of Medicine for the majority of my time there in a few different roles but ultimately served as the Associate Dean of Student Affairs at the medical school. I loved my career and my colleagues and most of all the students I had the pleasure of working with. It was hard to leave DC and all of our friends but after our daughter Gray was born our house was just too small and I wanted to find something that would allow me to spend more time at home with my young kids. We suffered from infertility and it took us many, many years and treatments to get our babies and I just didn’t want to miss out on being with them as much as I could. So, we moved to my hometown to be closer to my family and for a lower cost of living and slower pace of life.”

her grandmother’s chair with her own special twist a giraffe fabric in her diningroom

What influences your personal design style. “I don’t think I realized it until I got older but my grandmother was one of my style icons. Her home was always filled with beautiful, elegant pieces but still had a comfortable, welcoming warmth about it. Her aunt Harriet was an interior designer in Washington, DC (think about how long ago that was!) and bestowed on her some great pieces like a mirror we still have hanging in our bedroom. My grandfather also brought back art and furniture and antiques from all over Europe during his time in the service. Because I inherited a lot of pieces from my grandparents, my home is very grounded in traditional elements. However, I have a great appreciation for more modern pieces as well and so over time and as my budget has allowed, I have worked to bring in more updated styles, colors and patterns, mixed in with the vintage, traditional pieces I already had. I appreciate so many styles and sometimes dream of redoing spaces for a totally different look but, I know that will never happen because I am deeply sentimental about the things I have inherited from my family members so incorporating them into my décor is what makes my home - mine. From a current design standpoint, I am very inspired by the works of James T. Farmer, Mark D. Sikes, Meg Braff, and Elizabeth Hay just to name a few.”

“It is so cliché to say that I have my dream job now but I really do. For years and years I would pour over design magazines, help my friends decorate, and redecorate and zhush my own home and I am so grateful to my husband, my aunt and my brother for giving me the push and the confidence to go for it. It is scary to start a new venture and to not know if anyone will like what you do or want to hire you. But, as my husband said, if I didn’t do it, I’d always wonder (actually, I’m pretty sure he told me to “$h*t or get off the pot”). Now not only do I never have to wonder about it, but I can proudly say I did it! Also, one thing that I think has helped me succeed is to recognize that this business isn’t all about interior design…at the heart of it, it is really about people. To do this job successfully, I believe you have to want to help people, to listen to people and to really HEAR what they are telling you. At the end of the day, I enjoy making people happy and that makes me happy.”

Cient Mood Boards

I love to share links to publications/sites where my readers can find you. “I write my own blog since 2009 Adorned Abode. I was voted Best of Houzz 2020, I’ve been published in: Walter Magazine, Suburban Living Magazine twice: Brunch In Style This Spring and Host a Halloween Gathering On a Not So Scary Budget. I took over the Raleigh Moms Blog IG Page. I have been shared on Ballard Designs, Pottery Barn, Framebridge, Wisteria, Hygge and West, Scott Living, Stout Textiles.”

shop Cameron Jones interiors

Please tell us about your shop. “I started Shop Cameron Jones Interiors early on when I established my business. I would be out sourcing for clients and find things that were really cool but that I didn’t have an exact need for at the time. My husband jokingly refers to me as a hoarder (I really am not) so to prove him wrong I couldn’t hold on to all of it. And since we are bursting at the seams in our current home, I decided to sell the things I found so that someone else could enjoy them. It is also fun because I have kind of a rotating gallery of new items since I style the things I photograph to give people ideas of what they could do with them in their own home. It is a part of my business that has taken a back burner lately as I’ve been juggling client work and kids however it is something I really enjoy and that I hope to continue into the future. I am excited about a couple of new vendors so I plan to expand the shop’s offerings next year to include new accessories as well as continue the vintage, one of a kind sales.”

Shop Cameron Jones Interiors
A thoughtfully curated shop of beautiful, collected & affordable pieces for your home.

I know Covid has thrown a wrench in many a plan this year… but, is there anything upcoming you wish to share with the readers. “I’ve been so fortunate that even with a pandemic, my business hasn’t slowed. In fact, I’ve been busier than I imagined. It’s a combination of great clients coming back to complete additional spaces in their homes, referrals and new business. I think it is because people have been cooped up in their homes for so long and now they are sick of it and ready to start tackling projects! 😊 I am the slow-poke right now because I am having trouble finding time to work between navigating three kids and virtual school. But, my clients have been so patient with me and I try to be up front about my time limitations. I’ve got several master bedroom projects in the works, a fun nursery reveal that I’m looking forward to and am working on a beach house right now as well. I also have two whole house projects that I’ve been collaborating on that I hope to have professionally photographed this year at some point. Lastly, I am excited about a couple of new wholesale vendors that I’ve found that I plan to start selling some of their accessories over in my online shop in 2021 as well as to use in client projects.”

Cameron that certainly is wonderful news! I can’t wait to see what you do the rest of this year and beyond! Thank you a bunch my sweet friend for taking your precious time to be here!

You can find Cameron on her Website, Instagram and Shop.

Til next time friends stay safe and wear a mask!

Images: Cameron Jones

August 26, 2020

Paige-ing Interior Designer Rien

August 26, 2020/ Meryl

I count myself lucky to say this wonderful talented Interior Designer and very funny lady Paige Rien is a friend - one of the very first I made on the Gram! I’m excited to share my little slice of the Interweb with her this week!

Paige lives in the Maryland suburbs with her husband Francis, 4 kiddos and as she put it 1 horribly trained dog!

She shared how her parents building their family home had a formidable effect on her view of home, decor and set the tone for the rest of her life. “I grew up in a suburb of Philadelphia. My parents built our house when I was in third or fourth grade, then they saved up to buy things to furnish it. We had empty rooms for a while and when we did get furniture - the rooms were seldom used. This influenced my philosophy a lot because I don’t believe in waiting and for the most part I’m too impatient to but, I also think the marketplace has changed such that things are more affordable and there are more options direct to consumers as well. My home is livable for my entire family.”

“The first time I ever went camping - I moved all the furniture around in the cabin because it didn’t make sense to me. I was in the fifth grade.”

— Paige Rien

I like to ask every design creative if they decorated their bedroom while growing up. “Absolutely, I decorated and I was super into collages - I made collages all the time and I was really into self-expression and color!"

Paige can you tell the readers where you went to college and what you studied. “I attended Brown University, initially to play basketball but, I didn’t play the whole time I was there. I really wanted to pursue architecture but, didn’t feel like I had the academic chops to do it so I settled for ”Urban Studies” which was a combination of architecture, history, sociology and urban planning.”

“There is a class at Brown that was essentially the introduction to modern architecture and the professor’s name was Dietrich Neumann he explained the history of design from early traditional historicism and the dawn of modernity. How the cultural forces led to modern design and it was fascinating. Modernity came about as an aesthetic but, was rooted in a sort of rebellion or reaction to what many thought as the moral shortcomings of traditional design. There was a great desire to strip away all of the unnecessary - and anything that was overly fussy (all of the cornices/artifice/ornamentation of buildings) that was for some reason seen as not only completely useless but, attached to an outmoded way of thinking and living. I could go on and on about this I found it truly fascinating and it makes me look at every building and every example of design through this lens.”

Paige told me she cringes when she spies people squinting and deliberating over paint chips in a store. “I want to politely say, “You should really be doing this at home. The lighting in here is nothing like your house.”

Paige Stenciled her Kitchen Floor in May 2017 - It still looks brilliant!

Why did you create Paige Rien Design. “This is a long story but, after 9/11 I wanted to become an actor and I felt like it was worth going for it - lots of auditions - I did a bunch of commercials, I was on QVC, lots of theater. On a parallel path (my now husband) Francis purchased a fixer-upper townhouse in Washington, DC that needed a complete overhaul. It had been essentially chewed to the bones from termites. After that we bought three more total fixer-upper‘s and worked on them. I had often gone to auditions with drywall dust on my sleeves. At a certain point my agent said, you know there’s a lot of house shows and they might be a better fit for you and so we started to pursue that.”

“This coupled with the fact that I found out that being 6’1” doesn’t really fit for a lot of the acting jobs I wanted and I also was starting to build this expertise through our fixer-uppers and so first I did an episode of Curb Appeal and then I went on a lot of auditions and did a bunch of pilots and then finally got the job for the show Hidden Potential for six episodes. Six episodes turn into fifty and it was a really great experience for 5 years of my life.”

Tell us why you decided to write your book Love The House You’re In. 40 Ways To Improve Your Home & Change your Life.“Working in TV was great but, I could never really get my full idea expressed because everything was edited down and oversimplified. I also found myself in a position of dictating design to people. I was genuinely constantly interested in the homeowner and what made them tick as a key driver of the design - but this was not the HGTV way - this isn’t the traditional design method either (where the first focus is on the space) I felt like the focus needed to be on the people that were using the space. So I just thought gosh I have a lot to say about this and the idea for the book was born. I want people to really ask themselves who they are and what they really want in life as an integral part of creating their home. My goal has always been to educate, inspire and encourage readers - that they can have a home that they truly love, if they put the work, thought and time in.”

Paige went on to tell me that her helpfulness grew out of her participation in the 12 Steps program.“In my early 20s I went through a crisis and I had to sort of re-learn values and I got a chance to do that through the 12 Steps program. One of the core values of the 12 steps is service and not only is it a value - it’s a tool for gaining sobriety and getting healthy and I think this informed my approach - to be of service to a client, to be of service to the world. I’ve spent plenty of time being self-serving and self-focused but, it has just turned out better when I try to serve and support the needs of others. I also understand that human beings have many different unique needs - we all need and are drawn to different things. Interior design can be very homogeneous and assume that we all want the same thing which is not true. In the 12 steps program you are asked to develop a program of living based on what you need and this is part of the maturation process. I think that has influenced my approach as well.”

Redesign of the Livingroom Built Ins

Paige’s entry hall with art of the Virgin Mary

“I’m at 12 stepper and converted Catholic and my faith is a big part of my work as well. I think the home is a big part of our path to holiness or sanctification or salvation or recovery or healing or whatever you want to call it. The home is a place where not only do we want to express our faith but, I also have the tools of our faith all around us.”

I know Covid has thrown a wrench in plans this year but, do you have anything you would like to tell the readers about. “I’m really excited about a program I’ve developed Revived & Renovated with my friend and mentor Victoria Duerstock. Revived + Renovated merges two passions for me - the home and personal growth. It was created so Victoria and I could share conversations we had been having on all the parallels between the work on the self/in the soul and the work on the home. Victoria helped me understand and appreciate that I had more to say on the house than the garden variety home decor commentary - for both of us, home transcends decor and artifice - it is where we nurture and minister to our families and our own needs - where we work on faith and healing. So many of the same words apply to both self work and home/design work - restoration, revival, renewal, recovery. Each episode focuses on a particular “R” word. We are both excited to have these conversations with each other and share them with the world.”

“People can find us at www.revivedandrenovated.com and on IG. I hope your readers will join us!”

Not only has Paige been on HGTV Curb Appeal and Hidden Potential - Her sons nursery was featured on Apartment Therapy. She is a winner of Pier 1 Imports' Design & Conquer Challenge. Paige was featured in the Fill Home with Art That You Love article and she’s been on the Podcast Ruah Storytellers.