An Interview with Kimberly from Swoon Worthy

It’s that time of the week again when we share an insightful interview with one of our favourite interior bloggers. This week, we spoke to Kimberly from Swoon Worthy about how she balances work and blogging, the interior projects she’s most proud of and what she’s planning in the new year.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I’m an American ex-pat, living in Manchester with my partner Wayne, our two cats Meisha and Pablo and our 7-month-old pup Quito. I work as a freelance writer and blog consultant – and I blog about interior design on Swoon Worthy too.

When did you start blogging and why?

I started back in July 2010. We had just moved into our home and I really wanted to catalogue all of the changes we were making to the house. Wayne is a pretty great at DIY and I’ve always loved interiors, so we were eager to start putting our own stamp on the house. I’d been a fan of interior design blogs for a while, so figured I’d give it a go myself.

How did you decide to blog about interiors?

It’s just something I’ve always been passionate about and when I finally had the chance to really sink my teeth into a project, it seemed a natural topic for a blog. While I have other interests as well (cooking, beauty and travel) it made sense for me to concentrate on the one topic I love the most.

How do you manage your time to keep up with your blog?

Thankfully I am a freelancer now so I schedule my blog work alongside my client work. I worked full time for 4 years before going freelance, so there have been a lot of sacrifices in the past: I used to blog in the evenings and weekends, which didn’t leave a lot of free time for working on a house! I’m much happier now that I have more time to concentrate on the blog and I tend to work on posts during the week, when my other half is at work. I still work evenings and weekends on occasion, but when you’re doing something you really love, you just end up making time for it.

What other interior designers and bloggers do you follow?

Loads of them!! I find other interior design bloggers really inspiring and the interior design blogger community is a really great supportive group. Some of my favourites include: The Hunted Interior, French for Pineapple, Emily Henderson, Bliss at Home, Christine Dovey, Burlap and Lace, Design Crisis, The Design Daredevil and Cuckoo 4 Design.

How would you describe your interior style?

I describe my style as “Eclectic Boho Glam”, which involves lots of gold luxe finishes, cheeky animal prints, touchable textural fabrics, bold pattern mixing, a touch of vintage and bohemian-style comfort.

Where do you find inspiration?

Inspiration is everywhere really: it could be at a really cool pub or restaurant, a hotel while travelling, or even when I take some time out to reconnect to nature. I’m also wildly inspired by so much of what I see online in other blogs, digital magazines and, of course, Pinterest!

Can you describe the style of your current bedroom?

The walls are black, but I have a regency style headboard that I had custom-designed (in bright yellow velvet) and a really large abstract painting that I created myself. That kind of dictated the rest of the room and the colours we could use, so I have bright blue bedside tables – with gold hardware – and bold artwork in gold frames. Then, we have a vintage chest of drawers with a wall of art above it. It’s definitely an eclectic space, but I love it.

What interior trends are you looking forward to in 2016?

Despite using gold and brass in my interiors for the last 4 years, it seems that I’m finally on trend, ha! So I guess I’m just happy that something I’ve always loved is in fashion and much easier to find on the High Street. I also love white marble – it’s just such a luxe material.

Which article on Swoon Worthy would you consider your favourite?

That’s so hard because I have actually written over 700 posts! I think one of my favourites was when I finally revealed our bathroom remodel. The whole thing took a year to complete and it was just so long and drawn out. It’s our only bathroom, so we had to keep putting the whole thing “back together” at the end of the working day. It was a little crazy and such a relief to finish. Sharing that finished project with my readers was pretty great though and I had so many amazing comments on the post – it was really nice.

Which interior project are you most proud of?

Another tough question because we’ve done so much on the house that I’m proud of. We finally completed my office remodel this year and even though we turned it around in a really short time frame (about 6 weeks, from ripping down ceilings, putting new floors in, re-plastering walls, etc.) I was so happy with how it turned out. The space is just really ME, so, of course, I love it!

What is your next interior project?

The kitchen and dining room are my priorities next year. I want to replace all the tiles in the kitchen and put in new worktops, a new sink, some new taps – and we need to finish the flooring in the dining room. Plus, I’m going to be completely changing the colour scheme. It should be quite a fun project! What’s been your biggest inspiration for your bedroom interior? Let us know in the comments section below All of the images featured in this post belong to Kimberly Swoon Worthy. Please contact Kimberly if you wish to use any of her images.