How to Renovate with Interior Designer and Reno Expert Carmen Darwin - a podcast by Cindy Lin | Staged4more School of Home Staging
from 2016-09-14T22:09:21
On today’s show, I’m interviewing Carmen Darwin, who’s an interior designer out of Brisbane, Australia. Carmen is an expert on renovation and she also had a real estate and garden design background. I love her energy, she’s a mom of 3, so she has a lot of practical advice and tons of experiences in helping her clients to achieve their objectives for their renovations. We haven’t really talked about renovations in depth on the show, so I thought it would be great to have Carmen on and chat. Even though she’s based in Australia, but design principles are pretty universal. So I think you will still gain a lot out of today’s show, even though she’s not based in the States. Carmen Darwin is the creator of CarmenDarwin.com, the Evolution House Blog and the associated Design School and design services for the everyday woman. Having realized that her multitude of experiences and business ventures could be of value to many women seeking help for their home design and decoration, she set out to make a difference by offering something unique in the way of design schools. With a background as an interior designer, renovation planner, garden designer, property stylist, real estate consultant and teacher she now brings to the table her skills to help women around the world to create a home that they love. Carmen is also the founder of her own Design and Lifestyle Tours, taking women to stunning places in Italy and Australia to experience amazing design and lifestyle experiences. You will also find Carmen on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter. On today’s show, we discussed: Real estate market in Brisbane, Australia Selling real estate and what differentiated Carmen’s real estate business How Carmen helps someone to create their dream home Finding out who the clients are and help them with their budget when it comes to renovations Tools to help homeowners to figure out what are the must’s and budget friendly items in their renovations or updating the home Carmen’s design process with her clients How to choose furnishing & finishes How to work with clients to narrow them down with their choices How Carmen helps homeowners take control of the look and feel and the style of their homes How home owners can keep up with the styling after working with designers Why good design from the beginning is so important Common mistakes homeowners make when it comes to renovation How homeowners can start the renovation process What can homeowners expect when they renovate their homes How you can boost your curb appeal How to schedule work to save money and time for updating or renovating your home Hard landscape and soft landscape The basics of garden design How long will it take for you get your ROI back on your renovation? How to avoid costly mistakes with renovations The danger of over-remodeling How to select colors & finishes for the home How to do different colors in the room Tricks to make small rooms to look bigger Carmen’s trick with artwork selections What to do if you don’t have any artwork Selecting tiles How to pick fixture finishes Key design principles Listener Q from Haley: It's awesome that she is empowering the client as well as designing the space. How does she find that balance between having creative freedom to design the space ;but also to allow the client to be included so that they truly love the finished product . And she also wants them to feel like they learned something about the process too? How do you go about packing all of that into one job? If you enjoy the show, please leave a review & rating on iTunes! <3
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Further podcasts by Cindy Lin | Staged4more School of Home Staging