Interior designer Christina Kim is known for warm, soft, and modern homes. Based in Manasquan, New Jersey, Christina first got her start with her own home renovation. She soon realized interior design came naturally to her, and founded her eponymous firm on the core belief “that people are empowered by living spaces that are clean, well-edited and steeped with personal style.” Drawing upon a combination of a formal design education, world travels, and a lifetime of training her eye, Christina knows how to make a space people will love. Learn more about the gal behind the design in this edition of #5MinutesWith:
MY LIGHTBULB MOMENT:
My husband and I renovated a 100-year-old house together. It was a lot of DIY, trial and error, and I’ll admit it, a bit like that old Tom Hanks movie, The Money Pit! I had a million magazine tear sheets and inspo images that I would bring all around with me. When we went to sell that house, we got multiple full priced offers within the first week. I enrolled in design school and never looked back.
I CAN’T START MY DAY UNTIL:
I have my coffee and a massive amount of cuddles from my youngest daughter (the only one up as early as me), our cats and French bulldog, Meatloaf. They’re all up early too!
SUCCESS IS:
Not having to rush. I have 4 kids, a husband and a busy firm. These years feel super speedy! I fantasize about a day that I can enjoy slow drips of time with my family and on a design project, savoring trips to the antiques market, giving my ideas space to evolve…
YOU’LL NEVER SEE ME WITHOUT:
Eyeliner, sunglasses and coffee.
DREAM COLLABORATION:
I’d love to design a development of turnkey beach house residences. I could also design a killer barn for Bruce Springsteen (the Jersey girl in me)!
THE ONLY CITY BETTER THAN NEW JERSEY:
California! Paris! New York! Can’t choose.
WHEN I FEEL UNINSPIRED
I watch glamorous movies with the sound turned off. Like all the time! I can be inspired by a doorknob in a hotel scene, and it will send me off into daydreams…
ADVICE I WISH I HAD 5 YEARS AGO:
You have everything you need to succeed right now, in every moment. You only need heart and common sense. And the willingness to work really, really hard.
IN 5 YEARS, FIND ME:
Designing a line of furniture! We laugh all the time in the studio about how we’re going to design the perfect piece for every hole in the market we encounter: counter stools, a super wide flush mount light. In 5 years time, I want to be indisputably good at this job.
ABOVE ALL ELSE:
Laugh! Freakin’ laugh!
