Today we’d like to introduce you to Claire Muniz
Hi Claire, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was 22 years old when my husband and I bought our first home in 1987 in Montclair, Ca. It was a total fixer upper and was in pretty poor shape, but we knew we could take on the challenge. I couldn’t wait to make our first home, “ours” and with my husband’s carpentry experience and skills, we knew we could do it! I often refer to ourselves as the OG DIYer’s because we had to DIY mostly every home improvement, without the resources of YouTube, Internet or any HGTV. We started with the easiest, most cost effective improvement: paint. We then moved to the exterior to work on more paint the landscpaing. I loved that little 3 bedroom, newport blue and white ranch home.
As our family grew, DIYs gave way to raising our kids. Any passions for DIY, crafting or home improvement went on the back burner until 2016.
That’s when we became empty nesters. We went back to focusing on our creative passions to fill our newly freed up time with home improvements, DIY’s, travel and embarking on a new journey: social media. I would share our woodworking home decor products on my Instagram and people would reach out to ask about them and if we sold them. We then realized there was a demand and opened an Etsy shop and used Instagram to help market our products.
For almost 4 years, we worked long nights and weekends after our full time jobs out of garage fulfilling orders for small decor home products. Hubby would do the woodworking part and I would come up with the designs ideas, do the finish work and shipping. It was a really busy time in our lives. We had over 1300 sales before we closed our shop until 2020 when the pandemic hit. That was when we decided to “retire” the woodshop and just focus in another passion: interior design and home improvement.
Instagram is where I share our neverending home improvement projects, interior design styles, sharing recipies for everyday and entertaining, with my home decor community I have built over the years. I’m usually in sandles or barefoot, California style when you see me in stories or in reels! I love connecting to those who have been on the journey since the beginning and the new faces that pop up everyday to follow along! My page is a place where my hopes are to inspire and encourage others to find ways to save money with DIY projects and to make your home, yours.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
If anybody knows anything about home improvements and DIY, it is definitely never a smooth road and things don’t always turn out the way you want them to
I would say that the main challenge was when we opened up the Etsy shop and we’re working full-time jobs in addition to this part-time gig, spending lots of hours and weekends without ever going on a vacation because that’s how busy we were. That definitely showed me that we needed work life balance so Covid in hindsight was a blessing.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I would say I specialize in loving my home and making it a safe cozy Haven for my family. Making the smallest get together’s a special and memorable event by using the fine China or special place settings.! All the while realizing this well into my 50s!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.shopltk.com/explore/Hunters_Ridge_Designs
- Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/huntersridge_designs/
