Welcome! In this week’s Chaise Lounge, Nick May sits down with Nicole Salceda, interior designer and owner of Eye For Pretty in Danville, California!

Nicole attended St. Mary’s to earn a teaching degree. She later got married and the couple purchased a house, which she would decorate and re-decorate. Visitors would ask her if she was an interior designer. She played around with the thought and did design work for friends and family while teaching part-time. After becoming popular on Instagram, Nicole decided to drop her teaching career and officially become an interior designer. She opened her studio Eye For Pretty on the bay area of Danville, and her team is comprised of hard-working moms.

Nick and Nicole discuss the business and operations side of running a design firm – or any kind of business. They go into hiring the right people, being flexible with our employees, and building a strong team. Nicole reminds us to keep ourselves in check; establish what kind of business we want to have and who we want to work with. We need the courage to decline projects we can’t tackle, even if they are our dream projects. Additionally, she lets us know that design does not have to be ultra-formal, and that it’s okay to add some personality for flavor.

You can connect with Nicole through her Instagram @eyeforpretty and her website www.eyeforpretty.com. You can also check out her retail store at eyeforprettyathome.com. If you want to have a chuckle, check out @eye4petty, a parody account ran by Nicole’s husband!