When I Grow Up: Becoming an Interior Designer & Stylist

Hi friends! Today I'd like to introduce you to Nina Dee Rattenbury, an interior designer and a stylist based in Brisbane, Australia. Her style is impeccable and her website is lovely. But see for yourself on her website, and read all about her below. 

As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up? I never had a specific title i wanted to be, all I knew is that it needed to be creative but also exciting. As long as I can remember I've always poured myself into the visuals of a glossy magazine wanting to re-invent those images in some way or make them come to life.

How close (or far) is your current career from that dream? Pretty close! Being creative isn't something you can escape. Working for myself, making up my own rules on how to do business and defining in my terms what an Interior Stylist is, is the dream, and I'm achieving it. That said the dream always gets bigger. I still have a lot to learn and achieve.

What is your official job title? Interior Designer & Stylist (Owner of Nina Dee).

Ok, now what does that really mean? I hustle! Being my own boss means having to wear many hats but for the most part I work on a number of interior projects ranging from private residences to prop styling for editorial and retail.

What is a typical day like? I could be out all day selecting furniture an other beautiful things or on-site delegating an installation to spending hours huddled over my laptop developing my online side of the business. Travel is also a vital part for my business. I need to know what's out there, experience different cultures, be on top of trends, source unique products to be creatively dynamic in my work.

How did you end up in this career? Like every self-respecting Gen Y'er there was no other option but univeristy and like the rest who didn't know what they really wanted I enrolled in BA of Arts. Eventually I realized I wanted to try Interior Design…

I started my first graduate role and kept pushing forward from there. I jumped around a bit finding my feet and niche but I have to say it’s always your first proper job that has the most influence on your career, whether it is positive or negative. Mine was both! But definitely set me on an entrepreneurial pathway and specialising in residential design.

What kind of education or training did you complete for this career? I completed my Bachelor in Interior Design and later went on to do a post grad in Business and Marketing. But nothing beats on the job training. Especially in this industry. So whilst i am proud of my formal qualifications I no longer rate it as the only pathway to gain entry into the industry. You can be taught the technical aspect of design but style and being able to visually translate concepts into reality is something (I believe) comes naturally. Travel and life experience is also a big thing. If you’ve been a little sheltered or not experienced other cultures then you have no reference to develop the depth that is needed for innovative and thoughtful design. Be it architecture, decoration or styling you are “designing” environments for people, therefor insight and an awareness of the world is required.

What advice would you give to someone who wants a similar career? Travel and then travel again! Gain some sort of technical foundation, don’t be afraid to move around and try different segments of the market. This is how you discover your individual style.

The industry is tough and competitive and unfortunately it really is all about who know. Therefor Passion Is A Must! But in the end stick with your strengths and you’ll go far. For me I wasn’t the best technical designer but have natural stylistic flare...and since transitioned from your more traditional interior designer to working on interior decoration and prop styling.

Do you have any other career dreams? What do you want to be when you grow up? I guess it would be to be a fully-fledged style adventurer! What does mean? Travelling the world as a stylist, whilst incorporating adventure along the way.  To travel more with my business and work teaching others what I’ve learnt so far.

Any last thoughts or encouragement for others trying to decide what they want to do “when they grow up”? If being successful means making a living out of what you love. Don’t think your creative passions won’t cut it. It is the only thing that will cut it in the end. Passion and determination is everything.

Thank you so much for sharing your story, Nina! If you'd like to learn more about Nina check out her website or find her on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest.

Previously on Mrs Robbins Sparkles...

The Daily Grind

It's 11:20 am here in Oklahoma, and I'm listening to a podcast at my desk and updating my calendar with all the coffees, lunches, and calls I have coming up. The check I just wrote for our rent is sitting on the edge of my desk, my blog editorial calendar is open on my lap, and my Day Designer planner is open next to me. I have 10 tabs open, three Word documents, and Slack running in the background. 

The remnants of breakfast are sitting on the counter because last night's dishes are still in the sink. There are puppies barking at the window and a cat rubbing on my ankles. My coffee is getting cold and the candle I light to signal "work time" is sitting next to the lamp, still dark because I forgot to light it. The yoga pants I'm wearing definitely did not make it to yoga today. 

The podcast I'm listening to is called the Daily Grind, and it's hitting super hard today. My routines are still not in place. I need to designate writing time, but emails and phone calls have started to fill my calendar instead. Yesterday I meant to eat breakfast, but by 1:00 pm I still hadn't eaten lunch because I'd burned not one but two lunches. I'd put some leftover pizza in the oven to reheat and forgot it first. Then I tried to reheat this chicken dish and forgot it as well. I finally made myself shut the computer down and made some Hamburger Helper, because I was starving and it was 2 pm. 

The daily grind is real, but I'm so thankful for it. It's going to take some time to figure it out, and I have to give myself the grace to deal with dirty dishes in the sink. I need to decide what is important and make time for it (exercise, writing, paying bills) because it is so easy to let the urgent take over. The tyranny of the urgent is real and must be fought. 

I'm also asking you wonderful people to give me a little grace right now. I may not get a post up every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It may be Tuesday and Wednesday, or Wednesday and Friday. But I'll be here! And I promise that every Wednesday between now and October 1 there will be a brand new installment in the When I Grow Up series. So just now you can always count on that for now! 

Until tomorrow, friends. Have a great day!

Previously on Mrs Robbins Sparkles...

Cooking with Blue Apron

Taking a break from the When I Grow Up series this week to tell you about my latest experiment: Blue Apron. I was going to wait to write about this until next week but when I shared some photos last night I had several people express interest in it. So I decided to tell you about it today! 

Blue Apron is a company that I've been hearing about for awhile. They sponsor a few podcasts I listen to, and I've always thought about trying them. When a friend from college posted on Facebook that she had some free vouchers to give out, I jumped on the chance. (Which means this post is in NO WAY sponsored by Blue Apron - they don't know who I am or that I'm writing this. So it's all my opinion and I got no compensation for it.) 

Basically Blue Apron sends you everything (well, almost) you need to prepare three amazing meals a week. You receive a box once a week full of fresh produce and meat, measured to exactly what you need for each recipe. All you have to do is chop it up and prepare it. (But it does take longer than you'd think!)

When I signed up I was given a few options. First, I was able to decide what day the delivery would take place. I chose Tuesday. Next I was able to choose three meals from their menu. Each week they offer 6 options, half of which are vegetarian. For this week I chose Chicken Milanese, Vadouvan-Spiced Lamb Burgers, and Cod & Miso Soba Noodles. And then I had to wait. 

On Monday I got an email letting me know my meals had shipped, and they arrived around 3 pm on Tuesday. The box was left on my front stoop by the FedEx delivery man, and probably would've been fine there for the entire afternoon. Since I was home I brought the box inside and started going through it. 

The box held a shiny refrigerated bag and three recipe cards. Once I opened that I found the produce and knick-knacks were on top. They weren't super cold which worried me, but now I realize it was packed perfectly because some of the items (like the buns) shouldn't be kept super cold. I pulled out all the produce and found a huge ice pack. When I removed that I found the fish, chicken, and lamb meat resting on top of another ice pack, so everything was still super cold! 

Blue Apron recommends cooking seafood dishes first, because obviously it doesn't last as long as other items. So around 5:15 I started dinner. This meal was supposed to take about 35 to 45 minutes, but it took me closer to an hour. That's one common complaint I've heard from other people - for cooking novices like me, it will take longer than their estimate. 

To get started I laid everything out to make sure it was all there. I was surprised to see white eggplant, which I've never had before. (Spoiler: it was delicious!)

Once I verified everything was there, I started chopping. It didn't take too long - peeling and mincing the ginger took the longest, mostly because it was more delicate than chopping up everything else. 

I won't walk you step by step, but after cutting everything up and mixing up the sauce, the cooking actually began. 

After cooking the first batch of veggies I moved onto the eggplant and started boiling the noodles. They finished up about the same time, and then it was time to cook the fish. I got them in the pan and got to work putting together the noodles, sauce, and veggies, as well as the toppings (peanuts, basil, etc). Cooking the fish was the worst part. I've yet to master cooking fish - it always sticks! 

Despite the sticky fish and the oil that splashed onto my hand giving me a nice little burn, everything turned out great! The noodles weren't anything I'd had before, but they were surprisingly delicious. The flavor of everything was great, and I was super happy with it! Even James liked it, and he's more of a meat and potatoes kinda guy. (He was skeptical about the noodles, though!) 

I think we ate around 6ish, so it took me closer to an hour to prepare it. But it was worth it! 

More details on Blue Apron: 

• You can choose a two-person or a family plan. 
• You can choose your 3 weekly meals from 6 options.
• You can skip a week at any time - and you can cancel at anytime. No contracts.
• You can choose your dietary preferences - will you eat beef, poultry, seafood, lamb, etc.
• You can pick which day you'd like your box delivered. 
• You keep the recipe cards and can use them over and over again on your own!

I'm not sure how much the family plan is, but the two-person plan is about $60 a week. I know that's pricey for some - it's a little pricey for us! But that's about $10 per person per meal, which isn't bad for such an amazing meal. 

Even though I've only cooked one meal so far I've decided to go ahead and have another box delivered next week. Mostly because one of the meals is steak and I'm so excited to see how that works out! I'll let you know how I feel after I cook the other two meals this week.

So have you tried Blue Apron? Or another similar company? What did you think? 

Previously on Mrs Robbins Sparkles...