Growing up with three brothers helped me on my journey to interior design in Brantford, Ontario. I designed my parents’ kitchen in grade 8 and knew from there I wanted to design. I took interior design at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario.
My co-op placement during my first year of college wanted me to stay and work for them, not return to school in the fall. As flattering as that was, I wanted to return to school and finish my education soI went back. The Friday after my schooling ended they called and asked me if I could come back and work for them. Seeing as how I was getting married, I accepted and began working for them. I worked for the local father-son company for 16 years, serving Brantford and the surrounding area for 16 years until the owner died following a massive heart attack.
Taking the positives out of the tragedy, I decided to act on my dream of owning my own business and went out to learn more about the field. It led me to working at a granite stone company to learn everything I needed to know about granite, quartz, marble, and any stone in between. From there, I worked for a contractor that had a local showroom. I was named the kitchen design specialist and account manager on renovation projects which allowed me to pay attention to the boss and learn extra things for when I eventually opened up my business that I had been dreaming of since taking an entrepreneurial studies class in high school.
Building enough experience and knowledge with my previous jobs, I finally achieved my dream in 2016 when I opened Misty’s Kitchens & Design. Being a people person, I like to spend as much time as I can when meeting my clients. I spend at least an hour with each of my clients, sometimes two to ensure that every detail is mapped out and the vision they have can be transferred from their brain into their kitchen. Anyone who spends less than 15 minutes initially meeting their client is unprofessional, in my opinion. You can’t figure out the dreams and desires someone has for a design in 15 minutes. A typical project with us from initial meeting to completion takes anywhere from eight to 12 weeks time before the pandemic.
Though the pandemic had a lot of people stuck at home, we didn’t take on any projects other than kitchens during the pandemic unless it was a bathroom attached to a kitchen or a very special case and we had the time.
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