When you find a truly talented interior design blogger on Instagram, you click “follow” and then proceed to swoon at everything you wish you could put in your dream home. When you find out there's a swoon-worthy interior design blogger (with over 20k Instagram followers) living in the Lehigh Valley, you spend an entire day in her home, gawking in amazement, trying to soak up every inch of its beauty. As far as blogger Julia Konya's home in Northampton goes, we truly mean every inch (even her salt trumps all other salts—it's pink!).
Konya is a German-American DIY, decorating, design and lifestyle blogger. She moved to America when she was 21 years old for a marketing internship at Mannesmann Rexroth and ended up meeting a man, falling in love and staying. Having gone to school for graphic design, Konya's Pinterest-perfect career path is no surprise to her. Its name, however, is. “Cuckoo4Design” pillars itself around a sparkly, gold cuckoo clock on her website. The cuckoo clock, a cultural icon for Germany, is something Konya could never stand as a child.
“I hated them,” she says, explaining that her parents gave her one as a gift to be funny ten years ago after she moved to America, and now, she embraces them. Well, embrace them is an understatement—you can find one in almost every room of her home. She paints and refurbishes each of them the way she does every other item in her house. “I can truly say that I was one of the first ones to do that before they showed up on blogs,” she says, explaining that she painted the first one to show her dad how much better it could look in a fun color, but the one her parents gave her is still untouched and is displayed in her son's bedroom.
She says she has always been this way and that she used to sit in her room for hours and hours coloring. Now, her daughter does that very same thing and often asks why she has to go to school when mom's allowed to stay home and have fun. Konya smiles and tells her that that's why it's so important to find something you love. And what's not to love? Once emails are in order, mornings are spent perusing other blogs as well as Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook. Konya doesn't have a virtual assistant like many other bloggers do, so this task is left up to her. The rest of her day is devoted to either working on projects (in her garage, dining room or on her kitchen counter) or photographing projects. “I always have a camera close to take photos,” she says. “If I finish a project, or even just a room-refresh, I take a ton of photos that have to [be] edited on the computer, which also takes a lot of time.” She writes approximately three blogs a week, usually in the evenings, and also works as a contributor for Better Homes and Gardens.
While Konya is adamant that she loves what she does, she also makes it clear that she never truly views her home as a finished product, saying all she sees is what needs to change or be fixed. But how can one afford to transform a home as frequently as Konya does? Easy. The cuckoo clock in her living room was originally brown and $20 on Craigslist. She got her coffee table at ABE Used Furniture & Antiques (a thrift shop in Allentown) for $25, and the desk was retrieved at a Tom Hall auction for $35 and originally orange. She prides herself in saying that she has never had to call a professional, although she did have to go to the chiropractor after tackling the crown molding.
Considering that she is never satisfied with it, her home is an immaculate work-in-progress. It's like stepping into a real-life Pinterest board. It is pristine to the point that one can hardly believe this is also the home of three cats and two boisterous children: Noa, 13, and Lilly, 9. Konya claims to have “hoarding tendencies” (though you would never know it by looking at the place), but says she has never regretted them, explaining, “I frequently shop my own attic where everything is stored.” The rest of her home is clutter-free. Her coffee table neatly houses a stack of fashion and design books, two of them by Jonathan Adler, whom she calls her biggest design inspiration.
She describes her own style perfectly, calling it quirky, eclectic and chic. Everywhere you turn, there is something new to look at and admire, and every last detail has a unique story. The gold stripes on her bathroom walls? Made with water-based Sharpie and perfected with Magic Eraser. The decals on her television unit? Made in Adobe Illustrator. The list goes on and on.
When asked how she makes time for all of this, she responds, “I don't.” Konya accumulates lists upon lists and just does her best to cross everything off. “If it doesn't all get accomplished, I have to be OK with [that] and try not to beat myself up over it,” she says. “And I always put my family first.”
While she may be low on time, there is no shortage of creativity on Konya's blog. Her DIY projects range from “My first toilet installation” to “Picking new area rugs for fall” to “How to pierce a doll's ear.” Chances are, if you're looking to be inspired, or if you just need some quick tips on how to fix up your home, you will find it here.
