Meet the AFSH Design Challenge Winner: Melissa Browne by Sherie Holder
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f there is one word that Melissa Browne would use to describe her win at the Ashley Furniture Smart Homes Design Challenge, in association with Harris Paints, it would be “validation”. Oh sure, she was thrilled, excited, euphoric even. After all, Browne was named the Ashley Ambassador for 2018, and won $4 600 in prize money and a $500 gift voucher from Ashley Furniture. But for her, winning this competition was about something more. Winning was confirmation that she was charting the right path, a new path with a new career in interior design. Browne studied psychology and, like most people who leave school, she set out to make her life in the career she had studied for. But then she noticed a change within herself, one that became so overwhelming that she could no longer ignore it. Switching gears wasn’t easy, especially when she told people what she wanted to do. Instead of voices of support, her dreams were shot down, with some people even questioning her sanity. But despite the naysayers who shot down her dreams, she persevered until she found the Ashley Home Furniture Smart Homes Design Challenge, and instinctively she knew that she could shine in this arena. “Going on my own and pursuing a dream that is deemed difficult in Barbados has been challenging,” Browne revealed. “I like psychology or I’m intrigued by psychology… I’m intrigued by how people think and their different personalities. But to sit down daily and try to figure out problems and what people deem as their issues also drains me. Even though I went through this challenge the last five days, and I hardly slept, I looked beat, but I enjoyed it. I love to be mentally stimulated and to be creative, and interior design allows for all of that. It allows me to be creative and to also help people at the same time, so it’s a good mix.” For Browne, that mix of creativity and service to the client really came out when she met the homeowner whose house she had to
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redesign. “When… I met my client, I knew I had a challenge. She had an old house and she wanted it updated, but the challenge was how to do so with the budget that we had. So I tried hard to stretch my budget as much as I possibly could,” she said. “So I knew what I had to get as opposed to what I wanted to get. And that is really the formula for it. So for each room I utilised what I could. “The homeowner really allowed me to be me. Once I explained to her what I was doing and showed her the mood board, she was very liberal in letting me do what I wanted, so thank God for that,” Browne said. Despite the design hiccups she faced having to flip a door to the bathroom, or having to redo a paint job because of damage done by Tropical Storm Kirk, there was never a moment where Browne felt the redesign wasn’t coming together. Her use of bold blues on the accent wall, balanced with the white, gave a striking and modern look to a traditional cluttered space. “I knew what I wanted from the beginning and I knew it was going to be done,” she said laughing. “My team was incredible… If I got up at 6 o’clock, they were up at 5:30. I could not have done this without them and they really got into the competition as well.” But there was another secret to her success. “A lot of the ideas I had for this project came to me at 2 a.m. in the morning and did not leave my brain and would not allow me to sleep,” Browne said. While Browne does feel vindicated after the win, she knows that the hard work of building an interior design business now lies before her. “This whole experience taught me to never give up and to persevere,” she said. “It also taught me to ignore people and follow your passion. My mother is very supportive and my family has encouraged me. I’ve learned that when I see something that isn’t really working to switch gears and try something else.”