{"id":19048,"date":"2019-04-10T12:25:49","date_gmt":"2019-04-10T11:25:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oakfurnitureland.co.uk\/blog\/?p=19048"},"modified":"2024-04-23T11:26:03","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T10:26:03","slug":"qa-with-kimberly-duran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oakfurnitureland.co.uk\/blog\/inspiration-station\/qa-with-kimberly-duran\/","title":{"rendered":"On the sofa with Kimberly Duran"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kimberly Duran is the multi-award-winning blogger and content creator behind <\/span>Swoon Worthy<\/span><\/a>, an interior design and lifestyle blog. Currently living in Shrewsbury, Shropshire with her partner, Wayne and their three pets, Kimberly shares her interior design knowledge as well as her inspiration, tips and DIYs with nearly 100k readers every month.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Kimberly<\/span><\/p>\n

With a love of eclectic design, glamorous finishes and bohemian comfort, we spoke with her about her style and some of her best interior design tip<\/span>s.<\/p>\n

Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into interiors?<\/h2>\n

I think I\u2019ve always loved interiors. I remember my mother had a great big interior design coffee table book that I loved looking at when I was just a little girl and then as I got older, I went from constantly redecorating my own bedroom as a teenager to decorating the rental flats I was living in. My landlords were always so impressed with what I did with their spaces and I used to help friends decorating their flats too. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Pink<\/p>\n

I started a blog called Swoon Worthy back in 2010 just as a hobby to start off with to express my passion for interiors. At the time, my partner Wayne and I had just bought a house outside of Manchester and I wanted to catalogue the changes we were making on the house. There weren\u2019t that many blogs quite like it in the UK at the time but I\u2019d seen US bloggers doing this so I wanted to join in the fun. It grew from there and my passion became my career, helping others to learn the ropes of interior design, even if they don\u2019t have formal training. <\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m so lucky that I am able to use the knowledge I\u2019ve learned over many years and share that with others. I pinch myself that I\u2019m doing something I truly love and through my blog and freelance writing, I\u2019ve been able to make a full-time career out of it and support myself and my family.<\/span><\/p>\n

We moved into our current home in the lovely historic town of Shrewsbury a year ago. It\u2019s a beautiful double-fronted Victorian house built in 1889 with lots of original features and so we\u2019re really excited about all the projects we\u2019re working on. We are currently creating a small extension, putting in a new kitchen and creating an open plan kitchen diner and so while my house is a bit of a construction site at the moment, it\u2019s wonderful to be putting our own stamp on this property and sharing the journey with my readers too.<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s the biggest interior design lesson you\u2019ve learned?<\/h2>\n

\"White<\/p>\n

I think the biggest lesson I learned is not to be afraid to make mistakes. I\u2019ve had many people over the years tell me how \u2018brave\u2019 I am with my interior design choices but I like to remind people, this isn\u2019t brain surgery \u2013 it\u2019s just paint and wallpaper! Almost everything can be \u2018un-done\u2019 \u2013 walls can be repainted, wallpaper can be removed, pieces can be returned. The only way you really learn is by taking a few risks and stepping out of your comfort zone. Everything you do is an opportunity to learn and that\u2019s how you improve your skills over the years.<\/span><\/p>\n

How do you describe your style?<\/h2>\n

\"Glamorous<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I consider myself a bit of a maximalist \u2013 I call it \u2018artfully organised clutter\u2019! I just think objects and items can reflect so much about a person, about what they choose to surround themselves with. I just love interiors with personality as a result and for me, that generally means gold luxurious finishes, a few cheeky animal prints, touchable textural fabrics, a touch of vintage and bohemian-style comfort. I usually describe it simply as eclectic boho glam.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you have any favourite pieces in your home?<\/h2>\n

\"Gold<\/p>\n

I have a really beautiful Pierre Vandal brass and smoke glass shelving unit from the 1970s that\u2019s probably my favourite vintage piece. I can\u2019t see myself ever selling it! Aside from that, I had been looking for a marble and brass dining table for ages but couldn\u2019t find one within my budget so I decided to have it made bespoke. It\u2019s a special piece because I designed it myself and it wasn\u2019t as expensive as you might think.<\/span><\/p>\n

Where do you get your design inspiration from?<\/h2>\n

\"Tall<\/p>\n

Of course, Pinterest, other blogs and Instagram are always good for inspiration as are design magazines, but my favourite inspiration lately comes from restaurant, bar, hotel and retail design. There are a lot of exciting things happening in commercial projects where designers can push the boat out a bit but if you pay close attention, there are always things you can take away into your own home. Pay attention to things like the way they make use of space in a hotel room or the finishes and textures that are combined in a bar or the lighting in a restaurant. There\u2019s inspiration everywhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

What are some of your best styling tips?<\/h2>\n

\"Antique<\/h2>\n

Take a holistic view of your home than viewing it as a bunch of individual spaces. While each one will be different in function, you can tie certain elements that join each room to each other. It could be an accent colour or colours that are used in various areas of your home in different ways or it might be certain finishes or materials that are repeated. It creates cohesion no matter what style you love.<\/span><\/p>\n

I also love creating small \u2018moments\u2019 or vignettes in my home and so on surfaces, I like to create areas to display things I love. So, my tip would be not to neglect your surfaces \u2013 flowers, plants, trays, candles, books and pretty decorative objects are all in my \u2018must-have\u2019 arsenal for decorating my home.<\/span><\/p>\n

What trends are you excited about this year?<\/h2>\n

\"White<\/p>\n

I love how we\u2019re seeing a movement back to warmer shades. I never thought I\u2019d say that I liked beige but trends are often cyclical and so it wasn\u2019t a surprise to see the coolness of grey making way for colours like stone and taupe. It makes a room feel really inviting. Using these as a backdrop, colours like deep rust and sage greens are big news and while pink shades are still going strong, there are more peach shades coming in for a really lovely tonal effect. I love it combined with burgundy shades too.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m also excited about the 70\u2019s revival \u2013 it\u2019s been bubbling for a while and houseplants have been such a huge trend for a really long time but we\u2019re seeing much more in the way of rattan and woven pieces. It creates a really great relaxed vibe that doesn\u2019t feel too forced.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m also loving the opulent art deco looks. I\u2019ve always been a huge fan of gold and brass finishes and combined with rich velvet and lots of fringes and curved shapes, there\u2019s an amazing resurgence in this iconic style for those who love a bit of glam in their homes.<\/span><\/p>\n

What question would you love to ask another interior stylist?<\/h2>\n

I’d ask a fellow interior stylist what’s an absolute must in their styling kit? I’m always looking for great shortcuts and stylists always have the best styling kits!<\/span><\/p>\n

Follow Kimberly on <\/span>Instagram<\/span><\/a> or head over to her <\/span>website<\/span><\/a> to see more of her great work.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kimberly Duran is the multi-award-winning blogger and content creator behind Swoon Worthy, an interior design and lifestyle blog. Currently living in Shrewsbury, Shropshire with her partner, Wayne and their three…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":19050,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[184],"tags":[285,230,462,367],"coauthors":[306],"class_list":{"0":"post-19048","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-inspiration-station","8":"tag-design-inspiration","9":"tag-home-interiors","10":"tag-interior-design","11":"tag-trends"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oakfurnitureland.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oakfurnitureland.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oakfurnitureland.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oakfurnitureland.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oakfurnitureland.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19048"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.oakfurnitureland.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28384,"href":"https:\/\/www.oakfurnitureland.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19048\/revisions\/28384"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oakfurnitureland.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oakfurnitureland.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oakfurnitureland.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oakfurnitureland.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19048"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oakfurnitureland.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=19048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}