Today’s episode is going to be windy, so buckle up! I am sitting down with my friend Kyla Herbes from House of Hipsters. Kyla is an incredible designer. She is the queen of evolving and reinventing spaces, rearranging them, and changing things over time. She is also really amazing at thrifting and finding super unique pieces and she has been featured on Apartment Therapy, HuffPost Refinery 29, Style Me Pretty Living, Weekly Magazine, and more.
Today Kyla and I are sitting down to talk about tips and tricks for styling your space. We also talk about social media inspiration and how the landscape has evolved with both the pandemic and TikTok coming into the picture. It is a little peek behind the curtain into how home influencers create content and all the changes that have happened through short-form video becoming the new way we get our inspo versus photos. It has changed the game and we dive into what is going on, the push for authenticity, and how we have adapted and changed. It is a really interesting episode if you are curious about where home inspiration comes from on social media if you want a peek behind the curtain at what influencers do, or if you are a new or seasoned influencer that wants to hear how we are thinking of things. We go on a lot of tangents and it is a lot of fun.
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in this episode:
[02:58] What drew Kyla to home decor and interior design [04:54] Kyla’s design blog [07:42] How she found her style [11:15] Happiness is the process [13:30] Kyla describes her style [17:31] Kyla shares her design planning process [24:43] Authenticity on social media [29:43] Social media platforms in 2022 [37:12] How Kyla used to post versus now [38:38] Kyla & Cara’s TikTok Experiences [49:51] Power Tools & Power School [57:16] Sharing the love with otherslinks mentioned
- Make Space Podcast Website
- Cara on Instagram
- Cara on Twitter
- Color Curator Workshop
- DIY Coaching Session
- Design Consultation
connect with kyla
[02:58] What drew Kyla to home decor and interior design
When I was a kid, my mom was a professional seamstress. She worked for an interior design company and furniture company local to our small town in Wisconsin She would do drapes and pillows and valances and things like that. So I kind of grew up looking at wallpaper samples and jumping over like big bolts of fabric on the dock but I didn’t really think about it. But it was one of those things I thought was interesting but I didn’t really realize you could go into interior design when I was in college. So I went into graphic design because that just seemed normal to me. My parents were like, you can’t make a career as an artist. You need to actually have a career. So I went into advertising.
[04:54] Kyla’s design blog
In 2017, I started the blog. I kind of used social media as my client. So I was working in advertising and we didn’t have any social media clients. So I decided I was going to learn all about social media and I just kind of figured it out. Then I got laid off, and I decided I was going to do this full-time.
[07:42] How she found her style
I think it’s just a process that is ever-evolving. It never stops. I don’t just design a room and then you’re like, Okay, I’m gonna live in this room like normal people. I’m constantly looking at the room, thinking I wonder if this chair would look better here or I see something and I’m like, Oh, that would look really good in this corner. It’s just constantly changing and constantly evolving. I’m trying to be much better this year.
[11:15] Happiness is the process
For me, happiness is the process. It is the actual tweaking, moving, and reinventing that makes me happy.
[13:30] Kyla describes her style
When normal people decide to create a room, a lot of people go to Pinterest, and they’ll search to get some ideas. I tackle it like I did with graphic design. I would take one thing that I like and just start building randomly around it and not pull any inspo because I didn’t want it to look like anybody else’s work. But I think that’s probably part of the reason why my work is so different from everybody else’s because I’m not pulling from anyone else. But it’s also really difficult to explain what that style is like. I used to call it an eclectic modern. Every room looks a little different. It just kind of flows because nothing is alike. It just is random all the way through.
[17:31] Kyla shares her design planning process
When I did my first room I actually sat down and created a mood board. I put it into InDesign because that’s what I use. I use InDesign because that’s what I’m familiar with as a graphic designer. Then I actually moved things around and created the room, and did a real space layout. I’d never done that before that point because I have ADHD and so I’m kind of all over the place. So sitting down and actually planning something out just wasn’t normal for me. It really did help keep things in the budget and keep things on track.
[24:43] Authenticity on social media
I’m going to put a lot of people on shout right now, but I’ve noticed a lot of people saying they want to be more authentic, especially on social media. They want to show the realness of my life. So I was surprised that just now everyone is talking about authenticity. You don’t have to tell everyone what you’re doing.
[29:43] Social media platforms in 2022
2022 is really going to make or break platforms. TikTok is great, evolving, and even doing odd things. Instagram is kind of like trying to follow TikTok and be the new TikTok, but everybody doesn’t really want it to be. So it’s going to be interesting to see how that changes and stays the same. I don’t think Facebook’s ever gonna go away.
[37:12] How Kyla used to post versus now
So I’m going back in and I’m fixing old content, and I’m reading all of my old posts while that’s always fun. It is also really embarrassing. But I post these things like my to-do list and I show the ugliest part of my house that needed help. I still do that now. Going back and seeing the posts and how I used to post versus kind of how I post now, which is a little bit more polished. I really liked my old content versus the new pretty stuff.
[38:38] Kyla & Cara’s TikTok Experiences
Cara was fashion blogging and TikTok reached out to me about being a new social media app and they were offering way less than what she was making for posting on Instagram at that time. She realized she could make so much more on Instagram and unfortunately didn’t have time at that point. Then like years later, she went to Workbench and everyone she knew was talking about it so she decided to try it out.
When Kyla got on Tik Tok, there were no brands on Tik Tok. When she looked at home decor and there were only about 5000 videos posted it was kind of confusing on how to show home decor on the platform. I started showing the one room challenge.
[49:51] Power Tools & Power School
Kyla really wants to learn how to use power tools this year. Cara is slowly building Power School. Her vision is to talk about the first five tools and walk through each one and build a project. She just needs to push past the perfectionism and start filming.
[57:16] Sharing the love with others
I do also love how we not only just maybe inspire others to beautify their homes or to create these awesome shells and different things in their homes but they might also share it on social media, too and all of a sudden, in a year, they’re us. The most fun journey is watching someone, like do their first project and then a year later, like they’re crushing projects. It literally lights me up so much.
let’s talk about it!
What do you think!?
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