http://networkedblogs.com/9NbxV
here is the interview....Have a great Halloween!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
An Interview with Nancy Duffey
Nancy Duffey of Scout for the Home won our ad space competition for this issue of
We think her ad looked beautiful, don't you?
I wanted to ask Nancy a few questions about her background, and she was so great to answer. I loved learning more about her story.
So... here we go :)
Blayne: How long have you been interested in Interior Design? Were you one of those kids who always moved the furniture around in their rooms, or did your interest come later?
Nancy: I have been interested in Design my whole life. I can remember in 5 grade getting to design my own room for the first time. Of course I choose a Laura Ashley bedding set which I can still visualize. I would often change around the furniture arrangement of my room. I think its something about being ADD, ha. My mom is just like me, always moving furniture around, so I grew up with someone that loved her home and her things and wanted them to be fresh and look beautiful. Also my godmother was a huge influence, Carolyn Malone. She would let me work for her some summers and that was probably my first start. I would say that was late high school into college though.
B: What did you major in? How has it impacted your career?
N: Unfortunately when I decided to go to Ole Miss they had just taken away the Interior Design major. I wanted to go there so bad so I went into Art History major instead. I think it was a great thing for me but I do miss some of the things that I would have gained from majoring in Interior Design. I think I got to choose what my taste was and find myself in design. I of course love art and got to experience so many different periods while in my major. Its interesting to go to college and none of your friends are taking the same major. Most of my friends were in business so I would always be off to these random buildings for hours at a time. I think I gained some confidence there because I didn't have anyone to lean on.
B: What was your first job out of college?
N: Ha, my first job was an internship with Dan Carithers. Not unlike a lot of my other girlfriends here. I went from there to helping Susan Bozeman a little bit then I landed a job with Keith. It was a new start up interior design firm and it was very exciting at that time.
B. Why did you decide to open Scout for the Home?
N. I thought about opening Scout about 1 1/2 before I actually did. It was a real leap for me. I always knew I would love my own interior design firm but I began to think how hard it would be to just start. So of course this is no original idea but I decided that if I had a store then it would kind of round out my firm. I was also engaged to Ryan whom also worked at Keith's office and thought it would be nice to have separate jobs before we came back together at some point in our careers.
B: How did you decide on the name "Scout For The Home?"
N: I struggled with names a lot. Then someone said "why don't you name it Scout". I was like well that is perfect but it has to have something else right. So my mom came up with the "For the Home". My dog is named Scout. She is named after my favorite book "To Kill a Mockingbird". I liked the play on words. It's not original as I have come to find out but it makes me happy.
B: I know you recently renovated your own home. How did that go? Are you pleased with the renovation?
N: I LOVE our home. My husband worked so hard on that renovation. He did such a good job.
This is the house before it was renovated.
We really transformed the whole front of the house.
I have lived there for 5 years now and renovated twice, so I think this is the last time for that at this location, ha.
I will say we added a fireplace and screened porch and those are my two favorite things.
B: How did you go about designing your own home? Was it different that designing for a client? How?
N: Well that process is definitely not over. I have a very hard time doing my own home because I see new cool things all the time so I change my mind constantly. I am just not like that with clients, ha. Now my house is very neutral white, flax, brown, and grays. The downstairs is all one room so it has to flow well. I love the palette because it is so calming.
B: What are your plans for the future?
N: That’s an interesting question right now. As me in 6 months, ha. We are planning to live in our home for another 4 or 5 years then I am sure we will move and redo another house. I can see in our lifetime having many moves. Both Ryan and I love to redo and change so that makes for an interesting set of homes. I think that I will expand the store at some point, but never huge. I would just like a little more space. I love designing and have some fabulous clients right now so hopefully I will be lucky enough to keep doing that. This has been a very interesting first year but so much fun and worth every second. I love what I do so hopefully I will be able to continue it!
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions Nancy! I have loved getting to work with you through this whole ad competition. I love your store and everything you plan to do! I can't wait to see all you do.
To Learn more about Nancy please check out her website and her blog.
Thanks everyone for reading! COme back tomorrow to learn about the two FANTASTIC sales that have happened at Beacham & Company in the past week!!
