Many, many moons before the Internet existed and personal computers were only the luxury of the Federal Government, I had a weird little dream to help people decorate their homes in an easy and cost effective way. Little did I know in the late ’80’s that a mere 20-sumpin’ years later my dreams would become an incredible reality. I went to college, studied hard, learned and read everything I could about interior design. I stayed up all night and completed project after project (one including blood from my thumb that almost got cut off). I struggled through low paying jobs, not making any profit on design projects because someone screwed up and learning the ropes the hard way in business.
In 1997, I got this weird idea to sell interior design services on the Internet. Little did I know people wanted to buy interior design services on the Internet, now called “e-Design.” From that weird little idea this site was born.
Over the next 4 years or so, I wrote a book called The Decorating Bible, I designed hundreds and hundreds of rooms for people that I have never met and rooms I have never seen, I watched as the Internet sprang to life and made millions of dollars for other people only to watch those same people lose even more when the Internet crashed. I have watched technologies come and go and some who still plug along with the same ol’ crud.
Today, I gladly sit and write to you with years of experience I have received from decorating homes on the Internet, decorating my personal homes and helping clients in my area to make the right decisions in decorating their homes.
Things have changed however…. The Decorating Bible is exploding and every time someone purchases that book, I am happy to know that I will be assisting them create their perfect rooms.
The Decorating Store has turned out to be the best gift the Internet has had to offer me. When I set out all those years ago to create a “Virtual Interior Design Showroom,” I had no idea how long it would take and honestly I didn’t know in what form it would exist. Today, I am so very happy for the hours and the time I have invested to create a wonderful place for you to easily and securely shop for anything you could possibly desire for your decorating projects.
MyInteriorDecorator.com continues to grow every single day and more and more people find me and learn right along with everyone else how to decorate homes that reflect who they are to anyone they invite into their lives. It is a great blessing and I am honored for each visitor I have to this website. Thank you!!!
But who am “I”?
My name is Rhonda Morin. I was married in 2004 and prior to that my name was Rhonda Layton. I knew from the time I was 13 or 14 I wanted to be an interior designer. I just didn’t know what it meant and what all the job entailed.
I started my college education at a small interior design school in Washington, DC called the International Institute of Interior Design. It was incredible. I was among beautiful embassies and historic buildings in an incredibly old city. I was blessed with private home tours of many historic homes and embassies. I learned a lot while I attended school but soon realized the world was placing too much emphasis on being accredited and this school was not. I then transferred to Northern Virginia Community College to receive my Associates Degree in Interior Design. It may sound silly or odd that I attended a community college for a degree but it was the BEST education I could have hoped for. I learned more about how to design a home, run a business and the real nuts and bolts of running a real design project than I would ever experience even in my own design business.
After graduation from NVCC I transferred to Colorado State University where I finished my Bachelor’s Degree in Interior Design in 1992. It was a great experience as well in commercial design and opened my eyes to the construction management side of interior design.
I have worked for design firms, owned my own design firm, worked for a designer furniture showroom, I have decorated model homes, worked on restaurant projects, private residences, office projects, retail display projects, among other things. I had a review written about my decorating services in the New York Times, had several articles published in Homes & more, The Charlottesville Observer, Canadian home magazines, several magazines in South Florida and I wrote the forward in a the book entitled The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Decorating Basics.
I have an internet colleague who tells people she is the publisher, owner, webmaster, author, designer, emailer, advertising and marketing department, and the chief bottle washer (thanks Rosalind). That basically covers what I do. I own the site, I manage the content, the layout, the artwork, the graphics, new pages and ideas to be added, I write most of the articles, newsletters, find new things to add to The Interior Design Store, I manage all the marketing and advertising, I answer your questions about interior design projects and anything else that needs done to this website.
I am blessed and I love my job (s). Thank you so much for the incredible opportunity to share my experience with you in such a way that I hope it blesses you and your decorating projects. I also want to thank you for allowing me to continue to offer MyInteriorDecorator.com to you. Without you visiting and telling your friends about my site, I would be unable to continue doing this and for that I will be eternally grateful.
Thank you and . . .