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Interior designers are always up for a challenge. And when a client called Sara Hopkins to tell her that hed bought a new 8,000 square foot house and wanted Sara to decorate and furnish it in five months, she just took a deep breath and got right on top of the project. The client moved in right on time.
I enjoy the challenges of my profession, she says. And I love the fact that every client wants something different. Like the client who asked Sara to do a color consultation -- and make a leather dog bed for her German Shepherd. After the leather bed leather is very durable, natural material I also made a custom-sized bed with a real mattress, bed skirt and bolster. For the dog!
Saras career path has taken some unexpected turns. My father was a professor of English at Fairfield University and he refused to let me go to art school. He didnt think that was academic enough for me, she says. So with a degree in French and German and no interest in teaching, Sara got a job in retail. I was always very creative, so I ended up in the visual merchandising departments, but I really didnt enjoy it. The interior design program at Fairfield University had recently been started so Sara signed up and discovered her true calling.
After graduating, she opened The Enchanted Cottage in New Canaan, selling gifts, design services and antiques. Several years later she worked at Persnickety and at Safavieh, and eventually she set up up her own interior design business. Today Sara works on projects all over the tri-state area. My clients appreciate the fact that I have so many resources at my fingertips and can help them create exactly the look they want. Sara is also financial director on the board of the Connecticut Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers.
She lives in Easton, in a big old rambling farmhouse built in 1725 by Captain John Smith. "I am a simple person and I just love the peacefulness of living here," she says.
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