Fun Factuals about Me!
I was so excited to get such great feedback when I asked you all for a few things you wanted to know about me! Hope you enjoy getting to know me a little better and a lot more about my business in interior decorating and styling.
And without further ado...
1. What is your favorite cocktail or beer? – If I don’t have the option to order a specialty drink from wherever I am, I usually choose a vodka mixed drink (because, obvs, I’m a girl), probably with cranberry or lemonade. Yum! Instead of beer, I normally opt for a hard cider; Wyder’s Pear is super yummy!
2. Do you offer online consulting or styling advice? – Not yet, but that is totally in my Phase 2 plan! I’m working on a plan that would allow me to give a general lay-out of a room to client and include links for paint colors, furniture pieces, and accessories that would help finish out the space. I would also welcome clients to share items they already own so I can incorporate them into the plans.
3. How long have you and your hubby been married? – 13+ years. We became friends circa 1998, started dating in 2000, and made it official July 12, 2003.
4.What ignited your passion for interior decorating and styling? – Whenever I get asked this question, I always have the same answer. I have literally been doing this my whole life. When I would stay at a friend’s house growing up, all I would want to do would be to clean, rearrange, and decorate their room. Well, that, and play their Nintendo…because we didn’t have one. If I wasn’t redoing a friend’s room, I was at home, music blasting, moving around my own furniture. Usually with the door shut because I wasn’t really supposed to be doing it.
5.What are some of your hobbies? – We love road trips! Whether they’re a quick day-trip or a week-long, different hotel every night adventure…we love them all. We love to eat at hole.in.the.wall restaurants, stop at all those random road-side attractions, and just enjoy nature.
6.What is your favorite beverage? – I have an unabashed love for Diet Coke. It completes me.
7.What is your favorite purchase? – Since I’m all about decorating and making spaces pretty, I’ll limit my answer to that theme. I don’t know if I have a favorite “thing” that I’ve ever bought, but I do have a certain type of item I always look for. I love estate sales because I feel like I get to learn a small part of a person’s story. I always try to find something personal at an estate sale, not necessarily anything rare or valuable, but maybe a photograph, or a memento of some sort. I have this intense feeling that it’s my duty to preserve these pieces, helping them to find a home where they’ll be loved.
8.Do you have a reoccurring dream? – I do. It always involves a tornado. I’m not necessarily always in the same place during the dream, but there is always the threat of the tornado, and trying to take cover. Must mean I’m feeling stressed, or something…maybe someone can help me answer that?
9.What is the one meal you would eat for the rest of your life, if you could only have one meal? – That’s tough because I’m really a salty/sweet person. Like, if I eat a frosted sugar cookie, I better have a Doritos chaser.
10.What is your favorite garage sale/thrift store find? – My answer for this is simple. Vintage Pyrex. I love it, I collect it, and for a while, I was scooping it up everywhere. It’s hard to find these days…plus, I’m limiting myself to only really cool pieces. The rarest bowl I every found, though, was in a random consignment store in small-town Iowa. The store had only put $2 on it because it wasn’t marked Pyrex (Side-bar…not all Pyrex is marked…only a super nerd collector like myself would know that). I saw the diamond-patterned beauty from across the room and ran for it. I knew what it was and my heart was beating so fast! The “white bowl” its sticker read was worth much more than its $2 price…like it sells for over $500. I never thought of selling it, though, I was just so excited to have found it!
11.What was your favorite book growing up? – I have a few favorites: The Box Car Children, Where the Red Fern Grows, The Call of the Wild, and as a young adult (and still to this day) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. A good book connects with you, transports you to a different place and time, and after you read it…changes who you are just a bit.
12.What room do you enjoy decorating the most? – I love all of them, but I think the one that really stands out to me is a family room. Some a room all to themselves and some connect to the dining and kitchen areas. No matter where it is in the house, though, the family room is where everyone comes to relax, do homework, play games…but, ultimately, to spend time together. It should reflect all the people living in the house and should be a place everyone is comfortable and proud to call their own.
13.Where did the name Rustopia come from? – For me, it was just a fun play on words. I love vintage items, the chippier the better…and I think they should be incorporated into every space. I think items with age and stories help to create a really interesting home…your own personal “Rustopia.” However, after I had been operating with this name for about 3 years, I decided I wanted a website. When I went to purchase the domain name, though, Rustopia.com already existed. I thought…well, that’s funny…I don’t remember buying that. After a little investigating, I discovered that there’s this video game out there called Rust. Apparently Rust has this whole following of people that call themselves Rustopia. Huh, who would’ve thunk it. Anywhoo…to quote Cher from Clueless: “If the government (or, I Hilary) could just get to the kitchen, rearrange some things, we could certainly party with the Haitians (or the Rustopians in my case). So, I added Consulting, bought a new domain name, and I’m up and running!
Stay Stylish,
Hilary
