From its simple style aesthetics to its belief in a healthy work-life balance, the Scandinavian way of life prioritises happiness, contentment, and a deep respect for nature, and for Swedish-born interior designer, Mia Karlsson, this Scandinavian pragmatism runs deep. “From an early age, I was always rearranging my childhood bedroom, often using decorative items found in nature like twigs, shells, and stones, or making things, knitting, stitching, and painting. So, many years later, when I chose to go into interior design, I finally realised it was a career that combined all my artistic and creative skills with my practical and organisational prowess. All the credentials that are important in this industry,” says Mia.
Here, she shares tips on starting out in the industry, scaling steadily, and adopting failsafe business software that efficiently manages her design projects from start to finish.
Carve Your Own Path
Like many interior designers, Mia didn’t start out as an interior designer. She originally studied histopathology (the diagnosis and study of diseases of the tissues) at university. It was her adventurous spirit that took her around the world to London, New York, and Paris, finally settling in the UK, where she became a manager at a large restaurant and live music venue in Covent Garden. It was this role that ultimately set her on the path to becoming an interior designer. “I was the go-to person for any design decisions in any of the nightclubs and restaurants,” she says. So when her two children were a little older, Mia decided to enrol in an interior design access course at the London School of Printing. “I loved it! It made perfect sense as all my interests and skills came to flourish in the occupation of interior design.”
After securing a first-class degree in Interior Design and Technology, Mia went on to gain experience as a freelance designer for two prestigious London design studios. “It was the best thing that I could have done, I learned so much, and I still stay in touch with these designers,” she says. “It’s so important when you start out that you create a network with other interior designers. I quickly became a member of BIID to grow a larger network and learn from more experienced designers.”
Taking her time to network and build her design skills paid off, and within a year of launching her design practice, Mia Karlsson Interior Design Ltd, she’d hired her first employee and taken over the entire living room in her house. “We've grown steadily since 2004, and now have eight people in the team, and the firm is about to move from its design studio into larger premises to grow further,” says Mia. “It’s been a steady growth trajectory following years of hard work.”
Channel Your Unique Strengths
By tapping into your design strengths and focusing on the areas you feel strongly about, you're more likely to produce high-quality work and find it easier to appeal to clients you’ll work well with. For Mia, reworking spaces in a smarter, more efficient way has always been her passion. "I love to re-organise a floor plan. I can’t help it, I am Scandinavian,” she laughs. “A home or building must flow and work on a practical level first and foremost. It can make such a fundamental change to the use of a home and the happiness of the inhabitants when a property works on a functional as well as aesthetical level. I also love to introduce surprises, fun and quirky and preferable personal (to the client) elements that make you smile, lifts your mood.”
Want to give designing room layouts a go? With Houzz Pro’s 3D floor plans you can help clients visualise their future home, and use the augmented reality feature to give them a life-sized tour so you can get them on board with your vision.
Maintain Client Satisfaction
With a stack of glowing reviews and 17 Best of Houzz awards that add to the credibility of her work, Mia’s Houzz profile has served her well over the years, reaching many new clients and securing interesting projects. "We were one of the earliest businesses to join Houzz as we were keen to be seen and reach clients,” she says. However, it’s not only the appealing professional photography and 4.9-star rating that attracts clients and encourages them to work with her time and again. Clear and transparent communication is key to her team establishing and maintaining great client relationships, and she puts it down to the innovative management software they have adopted allowing for greater collaboration. "Since Houzz Pro was launched we've used it for all our procurement, proposals, billings, and budgets,” she says. "However, the game changer for us was enabling our clients a link to their project dashboard to have a better overview and involvement with their project.”
Using Houzz Pro’s Client Dashboard, Mia’s clients have easy on-demand access to all communication history, schedules, daily logs and project details, ensuring they always feel supported and in control. Mia can also share photos and files, while messages, conversations, and approvals all live in one place, so nothing slips through the gap. "We introduce our clients to their dashboard as part of the onboarding, so that they understand how they can keep abreast of all things financial," says Mia. “This creates a transparency between us and our clients, which is excellent.” Establishing this transparency between an interior designer and a client is fundamental when it comes to a smooth-sailing project. When trust is established, decisions are made easier, payments are processed quicker, and the project delivers the client’s ideal outcome.
Operate an Organised Studio
It’s no surprise that Mia likes to conduct an efficient design practice, after all, the Scandinavian philosophy is to keep things simple and functional. “Regardless of how great you are as a designer you need to have the legal and administrative side of your business well organised,” says Mia. “It is very easy to make a loss on a project with a poorly thought-out contract and poorly communicated rules of engagement with the client. I firmly believe that if you have the organisation of your studio worked out, you are freer to strike out and be creative and design beautiful spaces for your clients.”
To achieve this, Mia relies on Houzz Pro to efficiently organise and streamline her business practices and communicate with clients clearly, allowing her and her team to concentrate on winning clients and completing exceptional projects. “When I started my business all my project finance and FF&E procurement was done on an Excel spreadsheet I had painfully created. From this spreadsheet, other documents such as estimates, budget sheets, and invoices were created. It was tedious with a lot of copying and pasting, and was very time-consuming,” she says. “However, when we adopted Houzz Pro it completely transformed this process, giving us a clear streamlined platform to propose and organise FF&E for our clients and ultimately place orders with our suppliers.” She particularly likes the convenient Clipper Tool that saves images of the perfect products that can then be used on mood boards, selection boards and proposals. "It’s really useful as it allows us to efficiently bring across product information and pricing from supplier websites, saving us valuable time.”
Achieve a Good Work-life Balance
The Nordic countries apply the principle of ‘lagom' in their everyday life, a concept that focuses on prioritising well-being and striking a balance between work and leisure time to avoid stress and burnout. This is a principle Mia strongly adheres to and believes other interior designers should try and achieve for harmony. “As an interior designer you become very involved in the client’s life and it can become all-encompassing being on call all day every day to answer the client’s concerns,” she says. “I have learned to set clear boundaries and communicate these with the clients so that we have a good understanding of the terms of our engagement during the project. It is essential to have clearly defined roles and responsibilities for all involved in a project and that includes the clients, in order to have a smooth project path with all collaborators treated with respect.
Most of us could do with adopting some of these idyllic Scandinavian principles for a more harmonious lifestyle, such as reconnecting to nature and living at a less stressful pace. As for Mia’s equilibrium, we are sure she’ll continue running a smooth ship and collaborating openly with her clients. “I love being able to tease out my client's wishes and in turn create something that is entirely recognisable as their home, but so much more."
Learn more about how to make your interior design workflow more efficient with Houzz Pro.
