Designing Duo!
/I’m excited to share my chat with the talented ladies of Trim Design Co.
Annabel Joy and Jen Dulac
Annabel & Jen
How did you meet? How did Trim Design Co. come to be?
Annabel: It started when we began working together at an interior design firm; we bonded immediately over our shared background as teachers and our love for vintage kilim loafers. We realized there was a huge gap between the available design models of eDesign and full-service. That a huge swath of the population wasn’t being served, people who want homes not dominated by dorm room leftovers or kid’s toys (we’ve termed it Frat House Syndrome). We felt we could bridge this gap. We could offer more than a cookie-cutter eDesign - a more accessible option than a traditional full-service model; although we offer that as well for clients who desire it.
Jen: Annabel and I were working for a designer in Boston when we met. We both loved vintage furniture and decided to strike out on our own, always keeping our love of vintage at the heart of all our designs!
Annabel and Jen created Trim Design Co. as an answer to the mass-market "churn-it-out” rooms typically associated with eDesign, their model fuses the convenience of eDesign with the best aspects of traditional full-service interior design including close designer-client collaboration, impeccable attention to detail, and customization. They include vintage and artisanal items in all their designs to create homes which are soulful and sustainable. For us, interior design is all about making a home one-of-a-kind and ensuring it is an extension of our client’s personality and lifestyle. In addition to our Luxury DIY eDesign Packages, we also offer a 5 Hour Design Package as an a la carte option for the client who wants to do most of it themselves, but wants guidance.
Let’s learn more about this accomplished pair.
Annabel & Kean
Annabel lives in a Boston condo with her husband Kean, their french bulldog Mona and Baby girl is arriving in April 2020!
Annabel: Growing up in Arlington, Virginia I was very close with my mom. I was an only child and my dad died when I was four, so it was always just the two of us and I definitely get my eye for design and my love of antiques from my mom. From an early age she took me with her to go antiquing and taught me how to help with her various decorating projects around our house. She also set an example for me in terms of hard work and taking smart career risks. She worked as a lobbyist on Capitol Hill before I was born, and stayed home for the first few years of my life, but when my dad died, she needed to take care of me full time and support us, so she reinvented herself as the office manager of my K-8 school and also worked part time at a local stable so that I could take riding lessons. When I graduated, she left that job to start a real estate business and today she’s one of the top producers in the state.
Annabel: We had to downsize the summer before I started high school and she bought a small fixer upper in a great neighborhood. When we moved in I had to sleep in the semi-finished attic for the first six months, because the ceiling in the second bedroom had collapsed. With that house, she really taught me the power of having a vision for a space and bringing it forward into reality. I have fond memories of pickling the wood paneled walls in the basement and using straight razors to peel layer after layer of nicotine stained wallpaper off the walls. She still lives in that house and it is absolutely gorgeous. It will always amaze me that she was able to envision what it could become when it was all wall to wall shag carpet and linoleum.
Jen Dulac and her husband Andy have three daughters Kate 14, Elise 11 and Sophie 8; after overseas stints in Singapore and Tokyo and living stateside in Arlington, VA, Portland, OR, Portsmouth, NH and New York City they now live in Marblehead, MA.
Jen: I’m the youngest of four children. From early on, my parents gave us what I think just might be the best gift someone can receive: the gift of travel.
The first big trip I remember was when I was four. We all piled into our Chevy Suburban: four kids, my parents, my grandparents and our golden retriever. The 8 of us (plus the dog) set off for a 6-week road trip from Long Island, New York all the way across the country to California and back. We saw it all: Mount Rushmore, the Badlands, Devil’s Tower, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Los Vegas, the California Desert. So many amazing places. Despite the car air conditioning dying in Arizona and me being in the way-back with the dog and windows that didn’t roll down, I got bit pretty bad by the travel bug. Travel is hands down my biggest source of inspiration for design. I like to describe my style as a bit of a global nomad—I love when rooms pull in pieces from different points on the globe and different eras in history. The stories these varied pieces tell make a room lively and inspired.
Everyone I interview has a passion for their work as children - so tell me did you move your bedroom furniture around, decorate clubhouses or dollhouses when you were a child?
Annabel: My mom was really great about including me in the design process from an early age. I remember “helping” her pick paint colors and fabrics since I was very small; she would teach me how to build a color palette and what made certain pieces classic or special. She also let me design my own bedroom and bathroom and I still laugh when I think about how strong my personal aesthetic was even way back then. I chose a toile wallpaper for my bathroom with matching curtains in the same pattern. Then for a bit of an edge, I insisted on leopard print towels. It was very Bunny Williams of me. For my bedroom I selected the palest blue wall color and a vintage iron bed frame painted cream with a mosquito net canopy. I had the most incredible antique dutch dresser that my mom found at an auction. It’s absolutely massive- 5 feet wide and 5 feet tall. It’s still at her house and I’d steal it if it would fit in my car! Annabel added: As an only child, I was really good at playing by myself and my favorite thing to do was play with Playmobil. I wouldn’t act out scenarios with the people, I would just set up their houses over and over again in different combinations and styles. Looking back, it’s pretty obvious that I was designing even at that young age.
Jen: I did - I loved decorating my doll house. I remember birthdays when I’d ask for a gift certificate to the nearby doll house store (I don’t think those types of stores exist anymore!). It was so much fun to go in there and look at all the miniature furniture and pick out different pieces to bring home and set up. My mom also used to bring home discontinued books of wallpaper from a local paint shop. Not only did I enjoy wallpapering the rooms in my doll house, but I also loved just thumbing through those books, looking at patterns and feeling the different textures. I still love doing that when I get wallpaper samples now!
trim design client
What did you study in school?
Annabel: For undergrad I majored in Women’s/Gender Studies and double minored in Literature and Italian. I went to grad school for a teaching degree in Secondary Education, English Language Arts. I never trained formally for a design career.
Jen: I majored in American History and German language. Kind of a random combination, but I wanted to learn a foreign language so I could study abroad my junior year (that darn travel bug again!), so I took German. As for American History, I especially loved studying social history. Not the history of wars and politicians, but history’s unsung narrative: diaries of women at home during the war, stories of the working class, children, and immigrants. I really like the underlying tapestry that sets the scene for the major events that get the chapter headings in history textbooks. The power of the sleeping bear I guess. I think it’s why in design, I love rooms filled with pieces from different times and places. Each of those pieces has its own unique story tied to it—it’s own little piece of history that I think makes a room so much more interesting than if you go and buy stuff from a single website or catalog.
Trim Design Client
How did you land in the world of Design?
Annabel: It’s been a winding road, but to be honest, the more small business owners and entrepreneurs I meet, the more I realize that having a nontraditional background is totally the norm! And I actually think my experience as a teacher has made me a better, more holistic designer. Long story short, art and design were always a passion, but it was only a few years ago that I had the light bulb moment that I could do it for my actual job. I majored in gender studies for undergrad, thinking maybe I’d pursue a career in academia or public policy. Unfortunately the recession hit as I was about to graduate and I panicked that funding would dry up for what was then a “fringe” discipline. An advisor suggested I consider teaching since I had a literature minor, so after graduation, I moved to Boston for grad school (Boston College) and got my teaching license. I spent six years teaching English and special education at a public high school, and I loved my students and coworkers, but I was becoming emotionally drained and I spent all my free time designing our apartment and those of friends and family. Then, at a launch party for a design startup, I met a interior designer who, to my shock, ended up offering me a job. I took it and jumped into the design world feet first. It was there that I met Jen!
Jen: My husband and I were teachers and spent a good part of a decade living and teaching overseas. We got to see the world. It was the best experience ever. First we lived in Singapore and taught at the Singapore American School and then moved to Tokyo and taught at the American School in Japan. Singapore was where I fell in love with vintage rugs, furniture and decor from different countries. I especially loved going to Lim’s, a furniture store down the road from where we lived in Holland Village that specialized in antique Chinese furniture and some Indonesian pieces. We’d just meander through the store, admiring the different woods and the beautiful rattan work. You could haggle over prices there, which my husband liked, so we’d admire a piece and then see if we could get it for a decent price. I loved going to see the vintage rugs at the warehouses on Dempsey Road too. I don’t know if these places even exist now—Singapore has changed so much. At the time, my in laws lived in Beijing, and my mother in law really got into learning about Chinese pottery and antiques. When we’d visit she’d take us to the Ghost Market and the Dirt Market and we’d find all sorts of treasures. While I didn’t bring home nearly as much from my time in Japan, I did love scouring the Shrine Sales on weekends, when vendors sell all sorts of vintage pieces and textiles. Then my husband took a major career change - he received his Masters in Real Estate Development (that's what brought us back to NYC from Tokyo). A few years ago, he was showing warehouse space to an interior designer, who had recently relocated to Boston and was planning on re-launching his design firm and home staging company (the warehouse space would house staging pieces). They got to talking and Andy mentioned how much I loved all things design and how I'd fully taken charge of our own kitchen renovation and other home projects, etc. and before I knew it I was working for this designer and before Annabel came on board, I was his sole assistant. I got to wear a lot of hats and I learned a ton about the ins and outs of the design business - sourcing, ordering, managing projects, working with clients and the trades … all that good stuff! And that's where I met Annabel!
Trim Design Client
Annabel’s kitchen
Annabel’s condo is in a historic building filled with high ceilings, a working fireplace, hardwood floors, big windows and lovely moldings. Jen lives in a center hall colonial with period details including beautiful corner cabinets in the diningroom and a graceful entry foyer - and although both of these structures are different both designs are signature Trim.
Jen’s family room
Goals for 2020?
Annabel: Finishing the nursery! I know it doesn’t need to be done before the baby comes because she won’t even really use it in the beginning, but the designer in me wants to have it all squared away and beautiful before the chaos of a new baby descends on us. I am perpetually trying to strike a healthy work/life balance which can be especially tough when working from home. When you’re working for yourself it can be hard to force yourself to stop and be present for your family. I am also going to have to figure out being a new mom while running a business which is going to be quite an adventure, I’m sure!
Jen: To continue to grow this baby of a design business and help people incorporate vintage and artisanal pieces into their homes, creating soulful and sustainable spaces.
Annabel & Jen
I love how this Millennial and Gen Xer have taken their unique design vision and blended it together - I love their work.
You can follow Trim Design Co. on IG and Pinterest and sign up for their Blog to receive inspiration right in your inbox! They also have a shop full of wonderfully curated pieces - click here.
And you MUST take their Style Quiz: What’s your design style?
Our homes embody our signature “bohoditional style” (boho-modern-meets-traditional). As former English teachers, storytelling is close to our hearts and there’s nothing like the patina of a vintage piece to evoke emotion and bring a sense of history and gravitas to a space. Ladies everything you touch resonates with your unique style. I loved getting to know more about each of you and learning about your boutique interior design firms vision.
Til next time!
Photography by mboothphotography.com / Annabel Joy / Jen Dulac
