#070: creating spaces that support your season of life with jean stoffer

MAKE SPACE with Cara Newhart // home design & diy

Today’s episode is super special because I have the honor of sitting down with award-winning home designer Jean Stoffer. Jean is a designer, an entrepreneur, a mom, a grandma, and a Magnolia Network star of The Established Home. Jean just published an incredible book called Establishing Home. We are here today to not only dive into her vast experience as an incredible designer and all of her expertise and tips for creating spaces you love. But we also get to unpack her story and hear about her journey and all of the lessons she learned while building a successful business, creating incredible spaces, and raising her children. Through Jean’s incredible career and amazing spaces she has so much wisdom to share not only about practical tips for creating a home you love but also how to evolve your home depending on the season of your life and really just beautiful insight into the journey and what it looks like to create spaces that support your life. You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify – or listen to it below! listen now in this episode [02:58] Jean’s background and building her own home design company [11:37] Writing her book, Establishing Home [14:28] Creating spaces that work [23:48] Tips for evolving a home through different seasons [31:21] Finding your style [42:35] Homes not functioning the way we need them to [43:56] The Established Home tv show [52:43] Design basic & quick tips links Make Space Podcast Website Cara on Instagram Cara on Twitter Color Curator Workshop DIY Coaching Session Design Consultation connect with jean Jean on Instagram Establishing Home connect with cara: Cara on Instagram Cara on Twitter [02:58] Jean’s background and building her own home design company My story in some ways is very typical for a lot of people in our industry. I went to school for something completely different. I had a business degree with a focus in marketing and I found it difficult to find a job in that field when I graduated from college. I finally was able to find a job as an administrative assistant for an interior designer. That was the place where my eyes were opened to design in a way that I had never seen or had any concept of before. I was fascinated with what they were doing so they took me under their wing a bit. One thing led to another and soon I was given an opportunity to help someone else and that turned into something else which turned into something else which turned into a business. [11:37] Writing her book, Establishing Home It was quite the experience writing the book and the first time I had written a book. I was so happy for the opportunity that was given to me. I've spent quite a bit of time mentoring young women in various aspects of life and I have enjoyed it so much. I received so many inquiries and direct messages from people of all ages, who have questions about all kinds of things. I felt like, by telling my story, I could answer a lot of those questions. [14:28] Creating spaces that work Good design has to be both functional and beautiful. I spend quite a bit of time learning what people's needs are, what their family structure is, how they host guests, and how they view cleaning and maintenance. Those really influence a lot. I get to learn about the people, their families, and the things that are really important to them. We get a better feel for things as things go along. The beauty of having a different house and different clients mean that you come up with all kinds of different ideas and so each project is unique. [23:48] Tips for evolving a home through different seasons When I was younger, budget was a big deal for me. I didn't have a lot of extra money to go out and buy whatever piece of furniture I wanted. So I often found used pieces,