FAITH

 Faith...not necessarily the kind of faith that may come to mind immediately...you know...the God thing.  The kind of faith I am talking about this morning is faith in yourself, your abilities and talents, faith that what you are doing is going to work.  I guess this really does come full circle to the God thing...at least for me.

 All week long people close to me in my personal life and  businesses have been asking me, "what are you thinking...where is all this stuff going to go...why are you investing so much cash in this business?"  The answer is simple.  I have faith in my design sense, my taste level, and the my ability to sell fine things at a fair price.  

 In 1997, when I left the fashion industry to go into interior design and open a to-the-trade workroom in the tiny town of Ayden NC many asked if I had lost my mind.  That business ended up taking me from Trump Tower to Port Royal (Naples Fl) via private jets to supervise drapery installations.  In the meantime, I developed a large private clientele of my own for everything from whole house renovations to room by room redos.  I shopped the East Coast for antiques and gained the reputation of being the decorator that could take "new money" and make it look like "old money".  Instant ancestors!

 In 2007, I started to wind down the workroom due to my labor force aging out...young people do not want to work with their hands to create beautiful and time consuming drapery and bedding. People around me once again thought I was nuts.  I went into the real estate business.  Six months into this new venture came the crash, the worst crash in the real estate market since the depression. I prospered and ended up 7 years later with my own successful boutique firm.  This was not in my plan but it happened organically. Faith.

Now I have come full circle.  Real estate, property management and now back to interior design with the addition of a retail showroom plus a fabric, wallpaper, and custom upholstery library. Selling a lifestyle.  It just took a leap of faith!

As always...xx.DT