As a child, Maegan Blau was always painting walls, rearranging furniture in her bedroom and spending after-school time in her family’s furniture store in Arizona. She had an eye for design from a young age, but never saw it in the cards as a professional career .Blau sustained a C8 spinal cord injury right before enrolling at Arizona State University as an environmental science major. But when her post graduation search for an accessible apartment became a nightmare, her career path took a dramatic turn to interior design.
Frustrated by tour after tour of “accessible” units with nothing more than grab bars in the shower and one-to-two-year wait lists at all the complexes with good accessibility, Blau decided to buy a home and renovate it to fit her accessibility needs. She fell in love with the whole process, everything from the design to the construction and the problem-solving in between. Inspired by her own experience and driven to help other wheelchair users, she enrolled in a six-month, in-person certification program at the American Institute of Interior Design. She learned the history of design and furniture, design elements, how to explain design features, and how to create custom items. In 2018, Blau started her interior design business, Blue Copper Design. Blau means blue in German, and copper pays homage to Arizona, as it is both the state metal and an element she loves using in her designs. The company offers three levels of consulting and design — Full Service, Design Only, and Barrier-Free Consulting — so clients can decide how much help they need. Every day is different, depending on the project, but here is what a typical day looks like as an interior designer.
6:00 a.m. The first thing I do is I feed my dogs: Odin, a 10-year-old Belgian Malinois, and Luna, a 4-year-old Corgi. I drink some coffee and I do my bathroom routine. And then I get ready for the day and eat breakfast with my husband, Chris.
8:00 a.m. I do my morning warmup, get my bearings for the day and complete any tasks to help make my day go smoothly. I catch up on emails, phone calls or admin tasks so I can get that out of my head before I start the day. I need that uninterrupted time to gather myself.
9:00 a.m. I have a virtual meeting with a new client. If the client is local, sometimes we will meet in their office or at a co-working space. During the initial consultation we discuss the scope of work, whether it is a new build, renovations or just furniture selection. For our full-service clients, we take care of everything and closely collaborate with architects, home builders and contractors with that service. With three different services, I can be working on 10-15 projects at once, with three to five being full-service design projects.
10 a.m. After meeting with a client and discussing their vision, I start creating a plan. This includes designing a floor plan, solidifying measurements, ordering furniture, window treatments, lighting, and selecting materials finishes. I send the client the plan for approval and edits.
12:00 p.m. Since I have a home office, I make sure to take time to separate my personal and professional [lives]. I take an hour to refresh, have lunch, take my dogs out (again) and watch something on Bravo — I’m a huge Real Housewives fan.
When I’m not working: I am watching documentaries, traveling with my husband, taking pictures of my dogs, swimming in a pool, or — let’s be honest — in a furniture store somewhere (because design never rests).
1:00 p.m. Time for a site visit! My everyday vehicle is a Kia EV6: I’ve had it for two years, and I love it. It is electric, which means I no longer have to pump gas, which is a huge accessibility win! For a project in Arizona, we usually go visit the site about five times during the process for all the milestone projects. I’ll meet with the contractor before we start, once framing is up, to check on electrical features and to do a final walk-through when we add furniture and take photos. A brand-new build from scratch typically goes a lot smoother than a renovation. We have a better schedule with new builds, but with renovations, we pop in a bit more unexpectedly. Because our design firm has an emphasis on accessibility, I usually have no problem maneuvering [around in] the spaces. But I always carry a portable ramp with me just in case, and if a project is really inaccessible or has multiple stories, I have someone on site gather pictures, videos and measurements of the spaces I cannot get to.
3:00 p.m. I take a client call regarding our Barrier-Free option. This is a one-time, 90-minute consultation where we review your project, suggest customized accessibility solutions, and instill confidence in how to best move forward. Most of this work is done virtually with clients in other states. I prioritize this service, and 70% of my projects focus on accessibility. We’re only as independent as our spaces allow, so I love improving the quality of life of disabled individuals through design.
4:00 p.m. I finish off the day by catching up on emails, spending time on social media and taking care of business tasks like balancing the books.
6:00 p.m. After work I feed my dogs, have dinner and then I relax on the couch and watch one of my shows. When Chris gets home from work, we take a dip in our hot tub and recap the day.
9 p.m. I go to bed early. I love sleeping and I have no shame about being asleep by 9 p.m. I take a shower, get into bed and read a few chapters on my Kindle before I fall asleep.
BY: Shannon Kelly
Comments