Welcome to our series spotlighting our Featured Vendors from our Vendor Guide. The guide includes carefully curated vendors from the baby and children’s industry in design, retail, special services and much more.
Shalena Smith is the founder of her own interior design firm, Shalena Smith Interior Design, and an online boutique, GaGa Designs. She brings more than 20 years of innovative interior design and management experience to her clients. As a celebrity designer who specializes in custom baby nurseries, children’s bedrooms and play spaces, Shalena offers personal and discreet services, including a baby concierge package that has been invaluable to many of her clients.
What about Shalena Smith Interior Design makes you most proud?
I’m very proud of our personal service and the great relationships that are established through our baby concierge and interior design services. It’s never just work for me—every client is special to me, and I put my heart into each project. I’m a borderline life coach and the expert in everything baby since I’ve been in this business for over 20 years. I love giving parents peace of mind and ease in the areas of preparing for baby that would normally cause stress and anxiety. I also love that people associate my brand with quality as well as safety.
Where do you find your inspiration?
I get my inspiration from my clients! I interview them so that I can create the space of their dreams. I ask them a series of questions so that I will have a clear understanding of their likes and dislikes, hobbies, favorite colors, etc., and afterwards, I’m completely inspired. I’m currently working on a Hobbit-themed nursery in Virginia, and prior to meeting this amazing couple, I had never even considered creating that type of space. Now after diving into everything Hobbit over the last few months, this nursery is going to be the most fanciful space I’ve ever designed.
What is your biggest piece of advice for new parents?
It’s going to sound so cliche, but all you need is love! Family is everything, and I believe if you put God at the center of your family, you don’t need anything else. That answer might not be too good for business, but all our children really need is our time and love. While I’m designing nurseries and running around to prepare for last-minute details before the baby’s arrival, I always reassure my parents-to-be that they already possessed the one thing the baby truly needs before I was hired. That’s my biggest piece of advice—give your baby your love and time, and I think that’s the good news for everyone!
What can we expect from you this year?
I’m super excited to reveal a nursery that I recently designed for one of my celebrity clients. After months of working with Steve and Sheree Burton in Tennessee, the nursery is finally finished, and it’s truly a little girl’s dream nursery—I can’t wait for you to see it. I will also be launching my own product line soon, and the most exciting news is that after years of development, I will finally have my own television show. As soon as I have more information for you, I’ll be sure to share it with Project Nursery readers.
What do you think people might not know about Shalena Smith Interior Design that you’d like to share?
I specialize in rooms for all ages from baby to teen, play spaces and baby concierge services, but what I think most people don’t know is that I also work on whole house design projects. I am a full service interior design company, and I travel nationally and internationally to create amazing spaces that are designed with each family’s or individual’s needs in mind. I’m currently working on a new church plant development and a new construction home in Studio City, California.
Your motto?
Go gaga, and make all your dreams come true! My online boutique is called GaGa Designs, and I originally chose the name because babies go gaga, but truthfully we all go gaga at some point in our lives! Go gaga, go crazy, be fabulous, have fun and design a space that screams, “I went Gaga!”
To learn more about Shalena Smith Interior Design, visit her listing in our Vendor Guide.
If you are interested in applying to become a Project Nursery Vendor, please click here.
Comments
Sherri Blum, Nursery Designer
Congratulations to Shalena for her upcoming show! So well deserved for this pioneer in the field! Can’t wait to see what else she has in store.