Meet Chloe Watkins of Parker Rose Design in Santa Monica

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chloe Watkins.

Chloe, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I haven’t always had the dream of being an interior designer when I was older, I actually started out wanting to be a veterinarian. I took my time in community college, targeting mainly to transfer to a four year in hopes to become a vet one day. My mind was drastically changed when I was hired as clean up crew after surgeries at an emergency animal hospital.

Through this, you could say, I really got to know the ins and outs of what it looked like to be a full-time veterinarian. After a summer of cleaning up the most horrific messes, you could imagine, I finally came to the conclusion that this just wasn’t for me. Frustrated and feeling lost in my direction, I started to clean, organize and re-decorate my home to help myself relax. In doing so, my sister brought to my attention that I should look into going to school for Interior Design. This quickly leads to applying to a local interior design school in Newport Beach, finishing my degree as an interior designer and being hired at Parker Rose Design as one of their designers.

Has it been a smooth road?
Being an interior designer is not a smooth road whatsoever. Interior design school is a struggle itself. Back in High school, I was diagnosed with a learning disability, which made it almost impossible for me to get a grade higher than a C on any given test or quiz. So you could imagine my anxiety going into a specialized school worrying about failing something I wanted to pursue as my future career. Going to interior design school consisted of sleepless nights finishing huge projects, paying hundreds of dollars for just one project and presenting your work to a professor who just never seemed to ever like anything you designed. This constant stress of never being on top at my own school made me feel like I would never be able to make it in the interior design world. Not only did school bring me down, but the struggles of getting someone to hire you and properly pay you is another obstacle I had to face. During school, I usually had 2 or 3 jobs I would juggle, but I wanted to work for a designer so badly. Unfortunately, no one wanted to hire someone with little design experience and no degree, until I stumbled across a craigslist add one day looking for a Home Stager.

I ended up interviewing and landing the job, but soon after found myself in multiple sketchy and uncomfortable situations consisting of being left installing a home by myself moving huge and heavy furniture around to noticing money being slowly subtracted from my paychecks with no notice or reasoning behind it. I knew this was not how I wanted to work in this industry, so I quickly left that company to focus on finishing school and find the right job for me. Right as I was finishing up my last semester before graduation, I had two interviews lined up for a Jr. Designer position; one with Restoration Hardware and another with Parker Rose Design. I was on the fence about taking the job at Restoration Hardware, but as soon as I interviewed with Parker Rose, I knew joining this woman empowered team is the perfect fit for me. Now, I design in high-end buildings all over Southern California and am encouraged to bring out my creative style in all of my projects.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Parker Rose Design – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
I am a Designer at Parker Rose Design. I spend my days designing residential homes, condos, penthouses, and model homes for new developments. What sets me apart in the home staging industry is I like to involve the neighborhood into the design.

Currently, I am designing a three story model in LA, where the client is wanting it to be designed for a “creative and artistic person,” so I decided, what better way than incorporating local artists in LA to be involved as well! I have a collection of art that will be involved in this project that will really make this model feel more incorporated and representing the surrounding community. I also was able to connect with the local shops surrounding the project who were more excited to donate a few items to be incorporated into the design as well. I am really proud to be apart of such a supportive environment at Parker Rose Design, who allow me to reach beyond the boundaries and letting me create freely without feeling put down.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I really enjoy the amount of creative people in LA, I have found it to be a great way to connect and be inspired by everyone I meet. Every person I have met has some sort of exciting story of how they got to where they are now or are quickly excelling in their career in the LA community. Its a city full of ups and downs, but is built on inspiring people. LA is a great city, but I cannot stand the traffic that I constantly get stuck in whenever I have to travel for an install.

Contact Info:

• Address: 10075 Mesa Rim Road
  San Diego, CA 92121
• Website: http://parkerrosedesign.com/
• Phone: 8588752117
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @designsbychloec

Image Credit:
Intertide Properties

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