An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Last but not least, one final tip to spark joy in your space is to create a calming and soothing bedroom. Peaceful. Serene. Soothing. Most people want their bedroom to feel like a true refuge from the outside world: a calming place to rest and restore their energies. Getting a decent night’s sleep is easier said than done — but getting intentional about the energy in your bedroom is going to be the best place to start. Layer in lots of texture, rugs, drapes, linens and pillows. Varying the textures in your space will give a sense of lushness and luxury that instantly relaxes the body. Using soft, natural colors also leads to a quiet, tranquil, and inviting energy in your bedroom.
As part of my series on the “5 Things You Can Do To Help Your Living Space Spark More Joy”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tina Delia.
Tina Delia is the Founder & Principal Interior Designer of Delia Designs. Tina and her team offer Boutique Interior Design Services for the Hospitality & Residential industries in Philadelphia, PA & beyond. Tina just launched Bloom, a bedding and bath product line promoting personal empowerment and serenity.
Thank you so much for joining us in this series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
My journey to interior design was not a linear one. I am an attorney turned interior designer. I practiced law for five years before going back to school for my Masters in Interior Architecture and Design. It’s the perfect career path for someone that wants to combine analytical and creative endeavors. Interior Design is about public safety and welfare with regard to code compliance in spaces and yet it aesthetically touches the lives of the people who live, breathe and walk through those spaces.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?
For the past couple of years, I have been working on a passion project. My new bedding and bath line called Bloom. These days, we spend more time than ever in our homes, and consumers increasingly seek to find ways to reflect their personalities in their space. Bloom was developed to help students and young professionals take the often difficult first step toward achieving that goal. Your bedroom is a haven that serves as a special space separate from the rest of the world — and chances are, the way you design your space is a pretty good reflection of who you are as a person. As I developed my first collection inspired by the carefree days of summer, I invited feedback from younger and older people to gain insight into what customers want from the home decor pieces that they invest in.
Bloom was born out of memories of trying to find my personal style in my teens and early twenties, and how difficult it was to understand my own aesthetic vision and distinguish it from that of my mother, who had decorated my sisters’ and my room during our childhood.
We are used to thinking that beauty is something physical. But the truth is that beauty is a feeling before anything else. Bloom’s first launch features 16 unique designs, all hand-drawn to appeal to different styles and tastes, which will be custom-printed on luxuriously soft duvet covers and pillow shams, as well as shower curtains.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backward. So, you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” Steve Jobs
What I have learned is that we think we have a plan. But plans, no matter how planned, are never perfect. Only in hindsight can they appear that way. As I’ve lived my life, often plans appeared to be scattered and messy, as if I didn’t have a plan. It can feel overwhelming, and it just looks like what in the world is going on with her? Later, when you look back at the events, twists and turns I’ve taken, it looks like a finely crafted novel. But at the time, it didn’t at all.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I have so many generous people to thank for helping me along the way but the one person who stands out for me is Paul Georges. He is the managing partner of the architectural firm, JKRP, here in Philadelphia, PA. I was introduced to him by a former mentor. What I am most thankful for is that he took me under his wing and helped me develop myself professionally. After a few years of knowing one another, I took and passed the interior design licensing exam (NCIDQ). I reached out to tell him the good news. We met up for a congratulatory cup of coffee and Paul said it was the perfect time to introduce me to his other partners to see if working together on some projects would be a good fit. This relationship (mentorship) helped to propel my career to the next level. I went from designing small residential projects to designing multi-million-dollar amenity driven spaces.
Thank you for that. Here is the main question of our discussion. What are your “5 Things You Can Do To Help Your Living Space Spark More Joy” and why. Please share a story or example for each.
First and foremost, I believe that being organized is one of the best things you can do to live a happier life at home. Clutter can take a toll on your health by increasing your stress levels — even if you don’t recognize it. Getting organized can reduce your stress levels because it can end the last-minute scrambling in various situations. I can’t tell you how many times in the past I’ve been stressed out over where my keys are. I’m late as it is and instead of putting everything in its place, I left things laying around causing me not to see the things I need in the moment. A huge component of avoiding stress is being proactive. It’s about taking the time to put things in a dedicated space so every time you need it, you know where to find it. It’s about not leaving your coat on the sofa or your mail laying out on the kitchen counter. Believe it or not, you can get organized with the way you approach your stressors.
My second tip is to keep the kitchen counter accessories to a minimum. You spend a huge amount of time in your kitchen each and every day, so you want somewhere you can feel as calm, happy and productive as possible. A kitchen with clean counters will serve you well in so many ways. Not only does it look sharp and orderly, but empty counters also offer you the most cooking space possible. Minimal counter clutter also means less stuff to clean because you can wipe counters easily — so cleared-off counters also tend to be clean and healthy counters, too.
Even if you like the lived-in look of a few intentionally placed items set out on the counters or you refuse to put the coffee pot away because you use it at least once a day, the more you can get off of your counters and stored elsewhere, the better. Using the closed space that you have in the best way possible is all about maximizing your storage capabilities and ensuring every item has its own place. Storage racks, bins, baskets, containers, turntables, under-the-shelf and over-the-door organizers will make your life much easier because you can quickly find what you’re looking for.
Once you are feeling organized and uncluttered in the kitchen, add in some plant life. Extensive research by NASA has revealed that houseplants can remove up to 87 per cent of air toxin in 24 hours. Studies have also proven that indoor plants improve concentration and productivity (by up to 15 percent!), reduce stress levels and boost your mood — making them perfect for not just your home but your work space, too. Plants essentially do the opposite of what we do when we breathe: release oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide. This not only freshens up the air, but also eliminates harmful toxins. As well as enhancing your mood and creating a living space that is soothing to be in, plants can also help with loneliness and depression: caring for a living thing gives us a purpose and is rewarding — especially when you see that living thing bloom and thrive.
The perfect addition to our green, organized and uncluttered space is lighting. Whether natural or manmade, lighting is more important than it might seem. Besides being functional, the light fixtures, lamps, and sconces in your home can add style to your space and create a cozy vibe. But lighting can also affect your emotions in complex ways, impacting everything from your mood to your productivity. Studies have explained the link between sunlight, our circadian rhythms, and mood. People with seasonal affective disorder (SAD) experience depression during the fall and winter months because their serotonin levels drop when there’s less sunlight. Even if you don’t have SAD, less exposure to sunlight can also mess with your melatonin levels and circadian rhythm, causing you to become sleep-deprived and grumpy. To maximize your home’s natural light and keep your serotonin levels up, position mirrors next to or across from windows to bring in sunlight, and opt for window treatments that allow the most sunlight to come through.
Last but not least, one final tip to spark joy in your space is to create a calming and soothing bedroom. Peaceful. Serene. Soothing. Most people want their bedroom to feel like a true refuge from the outside world: a calming place to rest and restore their energies. Getting a decent night’s sleep is easier said than done — but getting intentional about the energy in your bedroom is going to be the best place to start. Layer in lots of texture, rugs, drapes, linens and pillows. Varying the textures in your space will give a sense of lushness and luxury that instantly relaxes the body. Using soft, natural colors also leads to a quiet, tranquil, and inviting energy in your bedroom.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
If I could start a movement that would have the most amount of good to the most amount of people, it would be to teach students from a young age about emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and defuse conflict. Emotional intelligence helps you build stronger relationships, succeed at school and work, and achieve your career and personal goals. It can also help you to connect with your feelings, turn intention into action, and make informed decisions about what matters most to you. By understanding your emotions and how to control them, you’re better able to express how you feel and understand how others are feeling. This allows you to communicate more effectively and forge stronger relationships, both at work and in your personal life. In addition, being in tune with your emotions serves a social purpose, connecting you to other people and the world around you. Social intelligence enables you to recognize friend from foe, measure another person’s interest in you, reduce stress, balance your nervous system through social communication, and feel loved and happy. Ultimately, emotions are important pieces of information that tell us about ourselves and others, but in the face of stress that takes us out of our comfort zone, we can become overwhelmed and lose control of ourselves. With the ability to manage stress and stay emotionally present, we can learn to receive upsetting information without letting it override our thoughts and self-control. Being able to make choices that allow us to control impulsive feelings and behaviors, manage our emotions in healthy ways, take initiative, follow through on commitments, and adapt to changing circumstances is the goal.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might see this, especially if we tag them 🙂
I am a huge fan of the tv show, The Profit. So, I would love to have a private lunch with Marcus Lemonis. Lemonis is a self-made millionaire who started from humble beginnings. He is the true symbol of entrepreneurship. What I admire most about him is that he has helped many struggling small business owners turn things around for the better and thrive.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
Visit my Social Sites for the latest updates below:
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Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational!
Tina Delia Of Delia Designs: 5 Things You Can Do To Help Your Living Space Spark More Joy was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.