Have you ever waited for something to come into fruition for so very long, that you felt as if the anxiety, excitement and anticipation were just too much to bear? Have you ever had a secret project you've been working on for God knows how long, that the longer you waited...the more you broke your own rule of not revealing that secret? You know what happens...you're just too darn excited about it and the excitement alone just won't sit still in neither your spirit or on your lips!! So you share it with one, no two, no three...screw it, you share it with more than just a handful of people. But, you always make sure to begin and end by stating, it's a secret project I'm working on, so please don't share. Because somehow putting the disclaimer out in the atmosphere, at least makes you and your project feel safer right?
Well, guess what? Since I failed horribly at keeping my secret project a real secret and shared it with one too many people...I no longer have to break my own rule. Because today is
ABD-DAY!!! The day I can say to the world and re-confirm to those who already knew...
"Welcome To Allured By Design!"
OMG! Typing those words alone is the biggest sigh of RELIEF. Jesus, I've been waiting for so long to type those words and your humble, patient, busting at the seems with excitement servant, can now finally welcome all to my happy place. Let the church say AMEN!!
Sources:
Interior Styling & Gallery Wall By: Allured By Design
Photo Still By: Asolid Photography
Shooting Location: House Piazza
Wardrobe: White Blazer - The Limited, "Good As Gold" T-Shirt - Shop with Tene, Red Midi Skirt - Shop with Tene
Home Office: Furniture & Decor Sources for Home Office will be shared in a future post
The great thing that has come out of me revealing early to my host (Did I say host? I meant a little more than a handful. That's the story I'm sticking with, so just go with it!) of family and friends what I've been up to and working on, is that most of them all shared in the excitement along with me. That alone warmed my heart to have so much support and encouragement from close friends and even store retailers and vendors who've also become a part of my world and I, theirs. There was such a great level of love, support and daily encouragement from my close circle of friends, all bursting with as much anticipation as my own, for my launch day. And, I'm sure some of them felt like...If you text me one more freakin' home decor or design photo, or your latest amazing find from one of your favorite home decor stores, or one more photo angle of your home, I'm going to SCREAM! Yep. I was that girl.
Sources:
Interior Styling By: Allured By Design
Photo Still By: Asolid Photography
Shooting Location: House Piazza
Decor & Accents: Garden Bowl - Gordon's of Metairie, Spheres - Pier1 Imports, Rachel Damask Mirror - Kirkland's, Metal Hammered Candleholder - Home Goods, Curtain - Pier1 Imports, Lamp - Lesle Veca Designs
Sources:
Interior Styling by: Allured By Design
Photo Still by: Asolid Photography
Shooting Location: House Piazza
Decor & Accents: Rustic Lamps - Niche Modern Home, Gold Sculpted Accent - Niche Modern Home, Mercury Apothecary Vase - Pier1 Imports, Arlington Brass Hurricane, Pottery Barn, Small Art Deco Canister - Gordon's of Metairie, Rustic Gold Tray - Gordon's of Metairie, Empire Console - ZGallerie
Sources:
Interior Styling By: Allured By Design
Photo Still By: Asolid Photography
Shooting Location: House Piazza
Decor & Accents: Quilted Hurricanes - West Elm, Mercury Grid Vase - West Elm, Champagne Buffet Tray - West Elm, Square Candlestick - Tiffany & Co, Large Glass Vases - Home Goods, Ivoire Candle Pillars - Home Goods, Rustic Leaves - Niche Modern Home, Faux Hydrangeas - Michael's, Rustic Finials - Lesle Veca Designs
Allured By Design has been my secret, yet not so secret project for over a year now. Yes, over a year! Now do you understand why I couldn't hold this secret in that freakin' long?!?! Insane right? So what's the deal with it being kept a secret in the first place, one might ask? Well, I'm happy you did. I have a story to share, don't mind if I do...
I've loved Interior Decorating and Interior Styling for as a long as I can remember. The art of curating a look with different textures, tones, patterns, and colors has always come naturally to me and it's always been so inspiring and mesmerizing all at the same time. I'd like to believe that the seeds for my gravitation to Interior Design in general, and more so decorating were planted very early on in my life from all of the furniture and home decor shopping excursions with my Mother at the early age of five (if not younger). And, I just never realized it would take root within me and outgrow it's hobby phase into more of an obsession, to ultimately becoming the very thing that brings me such peace and tranquility.
When I'm curating a look in my home, it puts me in a creative space like none other that I can explain. And, as much as I have a deep love for writing and for being a filmmaker, I have to be honest...Decorating is just simply much more fun! For the longest I felt conflicted and even began to feel a little guilty about the fact that I was starting to love Interior Decorating more than I do my career as a filmmaker. But guess what? I no longer feel guilty about it, which is the EXACT reason why I chose to embark on this journey and in addition...made the decision to not only embark on the journey, but to share it and take you all along the journey with me, if you will.
Now while I'm not a licensed Interior Designer (maybe one day in the future I will be - let's put it out into the atmosphere, as I'm a firm believer there is both life and death in the tongue, and we all have the power to speak and believe things into existence), what I am is a lover of all things in the Interior Design world and I have an exquisite eye for what pairs well together. In addition, I'd like to believe I have exceptional taste as well. At least that's what I've been told, so who am I to not agree ;)
Allured By Design is my creative space and brand, where I'll be utilizing my home as my primary portfolio to share all of my current looks and future projects with you all. Lots of fun things planned and oodles and noodles of eye candy visuals I'll be sharing with you all. But in the same breathe, I'd also like to be as organic and spontaneous as possible. I'm a planner to a fault and my Type A personality and perfectionist brain tend to function better when I plan. However, when I'm creating interior looks, my inspiration comes quite organically. It's never forced or planned. It just comes and I'm learning more and more to trust my creative instincts and to allow my creativity to flow and come as it will. So as you all come along this journey with me, we'll all discover where creativity will take us.
As I mention in my "Welcome & Introduction Video," my husband and I had our first home built on the Northshore side of New Orleans three years ago, this past August 2016. For those outside of the city of NOLA, the Northshore is roughly 35 to 45minutes or more from the city (all contingent upon what area you're in). The Northshore of New Orleans is considered to most city folks, including myself as a city girl and NOLA native, to be the country suburbs filled with beautiful subdivisions, manicured lawns, lots of lush green grass and landscaping, trees on top of trees, acres of land and property, and home to Fontainebleau State Park and Beach.
I made a promise to my husband after years of him encouraging me to please consider doing something in the design world, that once our home was built, if I could stretch my creative hands and feet the way I always knew and believed I could...I would finally consider pursuing and sharing my secret talent with the world. When I made that promise, I had NO IDEA the end result would materialize into a Design Blog. Blogging was the one thing I absolutely had no interest at all in doing, nor did I want to make that type of commitment given my very demanding film schedule. And, while we're talking about my filmmaking career allow me to share what I actually do.
I'm a Production Coordinator in the Film Industry, or sometimes I serve as the Asst. Production Coordinator. What I actually do is alongside of my Production Team, I coordinate the logistics for a film project from beginning to end. I like to refer to my Production Team as the Hospitality Dept. Why? Because we make everything for a film and television project happen, whether we want to or not. Our hospitality, blood, sweat, and tears go into making sure every dept., all of our Executives, Writers, and our Cast & Crew are all well taken care of. A career in filmmaking is extremely demanding and often times stressful to say the least. It's very normal for me to work twelve to fourteen hours a day (sometimes longer) and sometimes six day weeks. When I'm coordinating a film project, I have little to NO time at all for myself, let alone any of my own creative projects. It's been the struggle of my life as a filmmaker. Why? Because I'm a creative myself and all creatives desire to do one simple thing, C R E A T E!!
While I highly enjoy coordinating logistics and I'm actually quite good at it, my creative passions suffer and often times have to take a back seat when I'm hired to coordinate a project. The harsh truth...there just isn't enough time in the day, or little to no energy left within myself to give my full attention to executing logistics all day and then come home and tend to my own creative projects. I've tried, multiple times. It doesn't work. It's not a formula set-up to work. So how do I make it work? In between film projects, when I have time off, I work on my own creative pursuits. But let's get back to me and my husband's new home and stretching my creative hands and feet...
Before my husband and I even broke ground on our land, I had already begun the process of drawing out early design sketches and shopping around for what looks I wanted to execute into our new home. I immersed myself into every aspect of styling and curating every single corner of our home...selecting our furniture pieces, choosing our colors, our themes, patterns, textures, etc... The more I immersed myself, the happier I became. The more my looks came together, all the more happy I became. Finally one of my good and dear friends, Brandon Martin, planted the seed in my ear to launch a design blog. His words - "The looks you're creating are too amazing for you to not share this stuff. You'd be surprised that just by you sharing your looks and your creative talent with others, it may help someone that's completely stuck on how to decorate their own homes."
My initial response was of course, NO. Actually more like HELL NO! Again, I didn't have the time for it and it was a huge commitment. In addition, judging from the sidelines of following some of my favorite pop-culture and design bloggers, I could see how much work goes into developing, building, and maintaining a blog. I wanted NO parts of that, especially considering the fact that I would be doing everything solo with no team to aid. As a filmmaker, I have a TEAM that I work with to get the job done. This would be all me. Could I do this? Could I make this happen? The fact that the questions were swirling further made me consider it. Crazy right? And, for some strange reason, Brandon's words stuck with me and I couldn't get it out of my head. His words made me think about one of my favorite Interior Designer's, Rebecca Robeson of Robeson Design and how much watching her Youtube channel gave me daily inspiration. I'd watch Rebecca's channel and get filled with so much inspiration, in addition to being educated on a plethora of design tips, I'd never thought of.
So as a good Southern Belle and Southern Baptist Christian (I mean, c'mon I do hail from the Bible Belt) that I am...I prayed on it. I pushed my fear and all of my initial reservations to the side and said what the hell - Let's Do This! Let's Create! Lets Have Dialogue and Let's Enjoy The Process. And, here I stand. Or, rather here I TYPE ;)
And, before I make this post any longer let me start winding down with a few final thoughts...
Instead of making a huge public announcement of a set launch-date beforehand on social media, I made the decision to just put in the work and enjoy the process of styling my home. I didn't care to create any added pressure of making a premature announcement and pigeonhole myself into preconceived notions from others. Or, God forbid an onslaught of unwarranted advice from others, which can often times be the absolute worst. I wanted everything about this process and this journey to be enjoyable, free to be me and free to execute my visions the way I desired to, and as stress free as possible. As I mentioned before...Interior Decorating, Interior Styling, and Interior Design are all my happy place in it's most pure and fresh form. And, I never want that feeling to go away.
I've been fortunate enough to build relationships with a lot of creative people and I have a plethora of film colleagues and resources I knew I could tap into, to aid me with the very least of executing my Photo Shoots and a Video Shoot. And, that's exactly what I did. For over a year, I've been styling and creating behind the scenes and made the decision to go live when it felt right, when it all looked right, and when it was right.
So once more...Welcome to my blog and let's have some fun getting to know one another through the world of design. If you haven't already, please visit and follow my Instagram page @alluredbydesign for daily interior visuals. Also, feel free to follow my personal page @ladythp for all sorts of random visuals of my life behind the camera lens. And, once again, thank you so much for visiting.
With Love,
Tachic-