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Hello friend.

My name is Malia and I'm the creative behind Graced Designs. My path to design was not one of the ordinary. I had made up my mind in grade school that I would follow in my father's footsteps and go into the world of dentistry. Near the end of my second year of college I realized I had a need to be creative and dentistry wasn't going to cut it. That's when I stumbled upon the career of my dreams, interior design. 

The year I decided to change my career I also got married and moved to what seemed a world away from my family. At the time my husband, who was a drywall contractor, had recently become unemployed during the recession we all came to know a decade ago. He had recently obtained his contractor's license and just two months after getting married we decided to start his own business, Affinity Drywall. During Thanksgiving, Christmas, and summer breaks from the design program, I would be on the job helping my husband as his assistant. It was my first taste at construction and I was hooked. I watched how my husband's life had changed from working for someone to being self employed and while it was no walk in the park, I knew I wanted to one day start my own business. A degree later, a babe in arms, and six months after working for another designer, I decided to start Graced Designs.

Commonly asked questions:

q: How long have I been doing design?
a: I started my business nearly 8 years ago, shortly after getting my Bachelor's degree
in interior design from CSUF (Fresno State).

q: Do I only do one style of design or stay within residential or commercial design?
a: No and no. I need a good challenge and I would get bored quickly if I did the same
style of design day in and day out. I also like the freedom with commercial design and
while I would never want to do commercial full time, I do love throwing those projects
in every now and again.

q: What is my favorite room to design?
a: I swore I would never design kitchens but it took just one client to trust and push
me to step outside of my comfort zone  (The Mediterranean Project) and I now
can't imagine not doing kitchens. They are my favorite!

q: What is my personal home style?
a: I always strive to make everyone happy on a project, even when styles conflict.
The same goes in my own home. I was a bit devastated when my husband let me
know his design style was Spanish. Mine was French. Through much research and
trial and error, we found a way to seamlessly blend the two styles in one home.
Through research I came to love the Spanish style just as much as my husband.

q: Do I have any help behind the scenes?
a: I have had help throughout the years here and there. I have an architect that
does drafting for me on some of my projects and I had an intern in '21 & '22 that
I loved! Typically it is just me, unless I pull some help along for installs.


There's a little about me! I hope to learn about you, your dreams for your home, and how we can work to make that possible in the near future.
QQ?

And

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