Before carving a career as a successful interior designer, Christina Anderson spent 20 years working as a chartered accountant for large, global organisations, and it was with this valuable experience she was able to transfer her skills from managing complex projects to efficiently running house renovations. “My previous career gave me a detailed understanding of numbers and timelines, which is crucial when it comes to delivering a project on time and within budget,” she explains.
Based in the North East of England, Wynd Design guides homeowners at every step of the renovation journey, from the concept stage to the finished result, as well as assisting with space planning, architectural drawings, window treatment selection, and the final touches. Here Christina shares how she’s grown her company from scratch and become tech-savvy to ensure client satisfaction and continued success.
Transfer Your Skills
Christina wasn’t completely new to the world of renovation when she embarked on her design career. Having grown up in a family of builders in Nebraska in the US, she was quite au fait with the quirks of a building site and the people on it. “I helped out on site from a young age, so I’ve always been comfortable around construction,” she explains.
Christina was also used to moving locations thanks to her and her husband's careers, and every time they’d settle in a new place, including London, it would mean a new house to do up. “My husband and I were moving around a lot as part of our work and each time I would be fixing up a new house. I realised I loved interior design and construction, so I decided to get my diploma in interior design at the prestigious KLC School of Design, and went to work at a high-end studio for a year to gain experience,” she recalls.
Then, in 2020 the couple decided to move to the north of England to be nearer to her husband’s family and Christina saw it as the perfect time to branch out on her own. “When we moved up north I set up Wynd Design,” she says. “Fortunately, with the contacts I had from old jobs and friends in London, I got a few inquiries and it grew rapidly from there.”
Build a Solid Foundation
At the early stages of Wynd Design, Christina chose to organise her business processes and streamline her workflow by using an all-in-one software management solution. “I’ve always used Houzz Pro since I set up the business,” she says. “It does really set you apart to have professional software that the client can access - and in a way that you want them to.”
As an easy-to-use tool that manages every moving piece of a project, Christina uses Houzz Pro to operate her business efficiently, coordinate her team so they can deal with anything that is thrown at them, and deliver high levels of customer service. “Houzz Pro has got a great client interface that my clients like, and at the same time everything is there for me at the back end to project manage for my customer,” she explains.
Expect the unexpected
Designers know how quickly projects can turn from smooth sailing to rough seas, whether it’s down to delayed delivery, labour shortages, or a miscalculated measurement. “No matter how much you plan in a renovation there is always going to be some sort of a surprise,” says Christina. “If you know that’s going to happen, it’s just about managing client expectations, being on site, and having the experience to know how to deal with it.” To preempt any unforeseen issues that may occur on a project, Christina’s secret weapon is her Client Dashboard - an innovative control centre that shares all the project details, schedules, daily logs, and communication history with the client so they feel constantly connected and in control. “With the dashboard, it’s easy to show the client what you’re sourcing and interact with them in a documented way,” she says. “There’s never a question whether the client has seen something and approved it because it’s all in the software.”
What’s more, with 24/7 access to the project dashboard, clients can check and double-check all the details as often as they want. Christina believes that keeping the homeowner informed as much as possible as the project progresses is the key to ultimate client satisfaction. “Most homeowners have never undertaken a major renovation before, so it really helps to walk them through the process from the start - including telling them that there will be a point in the project where they will be wondering why they have decided to take on such a big renovation as they are dealing with the mess and costs!”
This is also why Christina firmly believes all interior designers should have a positive, flexible attitude, so they can deal pragmatically with problems when they arise. “Sometimes something that stands out as a problem can prompt you to do something more creative that ends up even better than the original design,” she says. “For example, we had a project where a waste pipe could not be moved. We incorporated a ledge to hide the pipe with a quartz top - it maximised the worktop space and it actually looked brilliant when the room was complete.”
Market Yourself Professionally
In an industry that’s based on making a visual impact, it makes sense to focus your marketing efforts on showing your work off at its best, and for Christina, it’s all about professionally capturing her designs. “You can certainly take amazing photos on smartphones nowadays, but the difference between your photo and one taken by a professional is massive,” she says.
Uploading good quality photos to your website and Houzz profile can pay dividends when it comes to marketing your business. Beautiful images of your projects can visually communicate your skills and style to potential customers effectively and immediately, setting you apart from competitors and allowing them to envisage what could be achieved in their own homes.
Christina’s Houzz profile clearly showcases the Wynd Design aesthetic and the influences that find their way into her work. “I do have a unique perspective with my work. I’ve been in the UK a long time but I’ll always have a US influence running through my designs,” she says. “You can see the influence of both.”
She also makes sure she regularly uploads these images to other web platforms and advises to have a presence online and be consistent with social media. She does say, however, that you shouldn’t feel you have to post all the time, particularly if you don’t have much content. “Instead, be clever with the content that you do have, and keep to a consistent schedule.” This will get you seen by more people and extend the reach of your business further.
The client comes first
Designing someone’s home is an incredibly important job for any interior designer, having been tasked with creating spaces that the family will hope to enjoy for many years to come. Putting the client’s ideas, thoughts and concerns at the forefront of every project is critical to success, and Christina utilises Houzz Pro’s project management tool to help her collaborate clearly with the client and her team at every stage, from anywhere and everywhere. “We have at least weekly checkpoints with our clients - and we use the task list to check each week we have had a touchpoint with the client,” she says. “Using the Client Dashboard to share information with everyone involved in the project means all communications are kept in one place, so every team member can see the client correspondence and stay up to date.”
This customer-focused approach allows Christina to provide outstanding service, which has also won her Best of Houzz Service for 2023 and 2024. Houzz Pro has been instrumental in allowing her to deliver an exceptional client experience from start to finish. For example, Christina presents her concepts to clients using the impressive mood board tool, so they can instantly grasp her vision. At the same time, the immersive 3D floor plan function allows Christina to give her clients a life-sized tour of their future home. “I love using the floor plan and mood board tools, which I can easily send to my clients. I also use Houzz Pro for invoicing and producing purchase orders. However, one of my favourite features is the Clipper tool. It’s so easy to use and everything you clip from websites goes into your library, which you can then add to mood boards or proposals. It also saves all the details, such as measurements and price, for both our team and the client to refer to easily.”
So, what does Christina love most about her work? It’s working with great clients who want to carry out a full renovation and the constant action that every day entails. “No day is the same and every day is a little bit closer to the transformation of someone’s home,” she says. “The final reveal is always really fun.”
