Say Hello To Your Decorator Friend

Hey y’all, I’m N’Ckyola [ní-ˈkō-lä], but most people call me Nikki.  I’m a Sustainable Interior Designer based in Houston, TX.

My goal is to help you live a beautifully functional natural lifestyle at home! Beyond an interior decorator, I’m a lot of things – a creative introvert, tech junkie, business owner, wife and mom, mental health advocate, foodie, naturalista – but bored is not 1 of them.

I’ve always been slightly shy and very introverted but I’m a Southern girl, so I can’t help but invite everyone in for food & sweet tea (or wine).

I spent the 1st half of my career in IT – 18 years – and I’ll probably be a tech/code junkie for life.  But I found my true calling midway through & my business was born in 2003 as a joint Event Planning venture.  In 2006, I shifted focus to Interior & Event Design when my business partner and bestie could no longer dedicate the time to full-on event planning.

Since my skill set was on the more creative & organizational side, it was natural to focus on my strengths and passions.  So Xtraordinary Eventz became Xtraordinary by Design.

“Artists with serious aspirations need to be left alone to follow the course of their own imagination.” ~ Robert Genn

For years I styled events, staged homes, and did 1 room makeovers while still working a corporate IT job.  It wasn’t until I forced myself to take a break from the corporate world that I decided to take the plunge and dedicate myself to my craft.

In 2012, I met a client with some unique requests.  She explained that she had a career she loved but that could be really stressful at times and wanted to come home to her own personal sanctuary everyday.  She had a limited budget, furniture she was not ready to replace, and loads of style!

Less than a year later, I met another couple with a child who struggled with mental illness.  They too wanted a sanctuary – there’s that word again – for themselves and their child.  Again on a budget.

And with that the Room Remix was born!

These experiences got me to thinking…

About budgets – every budget deserves great design.

About mental health – as a person who deals with mental health issues, I understand how important it is to have a home that makes you feel all warm & fuzzy & safe & happy.

About wastefulness & consumption – we spend a lot of money on things that we end up replacing in a few years, or that we are not in love with, or that we don’t need.  We pay little to no attention to how things are made, with what materials, and how that could affect our health, environment, AND budget.

How do I focus on Sustainable Interior Design?

I love to help my clients reuse and up-cycle what they love and recycle the rest.  On the blog, I love to share how I do the same in my own life & home.

When I got married & became a new mother again, after 15 years of living single with only 1 child, I literally became Mrs. Green AND started going green!  Yes, I’d been a naturalista for years – I ditched almost all commercial products for my hair and face – but beyond that I had no idea of the wonders of living the green life.  My littlest is a healthy little boy who loves… everything.  But his skin didn’t.  Being relegated to specialty detergents, soaps & lotions got me started on The Green Life and THAT led me down the road of looking for ways to live a simpler, richer life.   Now there’s no going back.  In my personal or professional life.

Mr. Green is really into astrology and I did find it interesting that he lives in the 4th Astrological House which “refers to the home and everything in it”.   Even more interesting that aside from my own 11th Astrological House I identify most with his, personally and in our design business.

Now that we are 1, we live in the 4th House on the Right.  We are on a journey to living The Green Life – living & providing a more sustainable lifestyle, at home and work, without sacrificing ANYthing.

I like to cook mainly because I love to eat and experiment (I don’t know how my family feels about that part). I love DIY projects because the feeling of making or fixing things is like nothing else (there’s nothing like the smell of sawdust in the morning… or afternoon).  And I enjoy sparking open debate discussion about things that affect our everyday lives and the world around us.

The Green Life is full of (almost) everything I love – from food & decor to natural hair care & beauty!

Stop by the 4th House on the Right anytime.
Come on in, grab a drink and let’s visit for a while!

N’Ckyola