She went to the hardware store to buy five gallons of paint in different colors.

“I wanted to make a mural in the corner of my bedroom,” she said. “And then I realized it doesn’t take 5 gallons to paint a few square feet. But I was stuck with $200 worth of paint. So I decided to just paint my whole damn house. I did a giant mural going down my entire hallway, down the stairwell, my cabinet and wall trim, my ceilings, I was just like, I’m getting rid of this paint. That quickly changed my house to be colorful and bright.”

“It was very much art therapy,” she said. “And it made me feel better. I had always wanted to make my space my own, but I just couldn’t. This was the first time where I was like, I have a canvas, I can do whatever I want!”

Slowly, she turned her home into a work of art. “When my friends saw my house, they told me to post it online, and I said, ‘This is crazy, I’m way too old for TikTok!’”

But during a slow period at work, she decided to try it. She cut two shots into a simple video, showcasing a bedroom window surrounded by a DIY greenery wall, and posted it to TikTok. Within one day, it had a million views.

The greenery wall that started it all, via her Instagram.

“It just went viral, my very first video!” she exclaimed. “I had no idea that was special! I didn’t really use TikTok. I just thought, this is so easy, anyone can do this!”

So she continued creating videos, documenting her painting, sharing renter-friendly decorating hacks, and making response videos to some of the crazier comments. “Boomers call it a tacky preschool aesthetic,” she said. “People think it’s young, but I just think it’s fun!”

She says she doesn’t read her comments anymore, since some are quite toxic, especially on TikTok. “I can’t believe people get upset about how other people decorate their homes. It’s not your home, chill out!”

In January 2023, she lost her full-time job, a casualty of the big tech layoffs at the time. But rather than look for another job, she decided to lean into content creation. She parlayed her internet fame into a new career as an interior decorator, taking on projects for open-minded clients that give her free creative rein, doing brand partnerships, and creating her own wallpaper designs.

The post The web’s greatest DIY decorator lives in San Francisco | by The Daring Italic | Feb, 2024 appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.