Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Catherine & Ian Hyde. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Catherine & Ian , thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

My husband, Ian, and I purchased a “fixer upper” in a thriving area of Memphis. We actually wanted to find the most dated home in the area. The home also needed to fit our budget and have great potential to put our much-needed stamp on it. We were feeling the need to give a 100-year-old home the love it deserved.

​ Right away Ian started working on the exterior trim and began removing the existing landscaping, which included plants and shrubs that had overtaken the home. We were both working over 40 hours a week in the commercial sector of design and construction at the time too; so we had a lot going on. A few days after the home was purchased Ian had a dumpster dropped off, and I took to painting the front exterior shutters. The home was so much to take on that I thought we needed something that could cheer us up every time we pulled into the driveway, and the shutters were an easy first step. I always feel that everything should have intention behind it, it’s not just about the end result, so I really tried to appreciate the step by step process.

​A week or so later we had a neighbor come down and introduce himself. He was quite interested in what we were doing and immediately asked Ian if we could help him build a garage for his antique cars. We told him there was no way we could manage another project though. But, despite repeatedly telling him we couldn’t take more on, he still asked repeatedly for us to build the structure. One late evening while we were painting, Ian mentioned that our neighbor had asked him again to take on the project. I had always felt lost in commercial work, disconnected and dissociated at times. I, suddenly, felt this need to take him up on his offer to do the project secretly hoping it would lead to more opportunities away from the commercial design industry.

After beginning the project, I immediately saw that residential work did not have the same professionalism as commercial work, and I believed Ian and I could change that.We wanted to create spaces that are a refuge and inspire daily rituals where homeowners could hopefully make more intentional decisions. They could then live a more conscious lifestyle long after the design and renovations are complete. Although I was a young 26-year-old woman, I had been through so much in my lifetime. I experienced quite a bit of childhood abuse and trauma, which is something I have chosen to continue to work through. On top of that, my father had passed away the year before, and I was longing to find my purpose. At that point in my career, I had been in and out of pretty much every form of commercial design, and it didn’t bring me the fulfillment I believed it could. My love for interior spaces and design developed early in childhood as a way of coping with my neglectful household. Rearranging furniture and changing my surroundings became a form of therapy and a way to create stability and happiness in my environment, which ultimately transitioned into adulthood. So although I had always loved it, I never believed that I could run my own Interior Design and Construction Company. Taking on this project for our neighbor not only gave Ian and I the outlet that we needed, but working with Ian on this showed me that I can make my dreams of finding fulfillment in interior design and architecture possible.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Together, Ian and I have specialized in creating brand new spaces and experiences of various sizes and scale for our Hyde Design and Renovation clients. Our love for the outdoors is reflected in our work providing inspiration, and motivation to be conscious of our environment. We believe in leaving any place (locally or globally) better than we found it.

We approach each project with intention and reflect on our client’s personality and lifestyle to create spaces that uniquely fit that individual. No space is alike, we do carry our own personal lifestyle approach into our process. We don’t believe in prioritizing how much you spend or how well your project photographs, it’s about how that space makes you feel when it is complete. So although each project inherently has a cost, we try to focus on quality and curating that space for its inhabitants. We are so bombarded with images of what perfection is and what we “should” be doing, because of social media’s presence in our society. Taking that comparison and negative energy into our daily lives creates an “I need it now approach.” This can destroy the beauty that we find in the process of life. Ian and I feel we have the responsibility to remind clients that this is theirspace and not their neighbor’s or their ego’s.

We believe that the creative process is a sacred one no matter how large or small the project is, and attention to detail and process is not an overnight achievement. So we don’t try to rush timelines or sacrifice quality to get the job done faster. We also specifically choose which vendors we work with and where we source our materials. Like I mentioned previously, our goal is to create spaces that are a refuge and inspire daily rituals. We want clients to live more sustainably and continue to make more intentional decisions and live a more conscious lifestyle long after the design choices and renovations are complete.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

Over the past seven years we have spent a great deal of time developing and fostering the relationships of our team. We are all generally after the same results, and sometimes it takes some reflection to really understand that. It’s important as business owners to check your ego at the door and to always be honest about disagreements. Relationships are not worth having if you are not honest about your needs/desires. If something is getting under your skin, take the time to try and understand why. Usually, 90% of the time it’s your ego. It’s important to heed its warnings but to keep it in check. Challenges and disagreements are inevitable, and we try to take this stance with every interaction. We think it is important to remember that the way you handle these challenges is indeed up to you and only you. In this chaotic world we can only control ourselves, and if someone else is not resonating with the overall intention behind the project then there should be a moment to pause and reset.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

From early on in life, I was a statistic always being measured and compared to “normal.” I was told I would never make it through high school let alone college and I was forced out of an elementary school when they could “no longer meet my needs.” Teachers tried everything from medication, isolation, and even a small group of young children from neglectful households, and nothing helped with my behavior or performance in school. I was still failing every subject. My Dad took to finding alternative school options for me and simultaneously got me tested for learning disabilities. The results were as follows: Auditory Processing, Reading Comprehension and Dyslexia. I was finally able to find a local school that offered smaller class sizes, one on one teaching, and even some snazzy blue paper. Until this point I saw the alphabet as a fun pattern that filled the walls of every classroom I entered, a fact I find interesting because I became a designer.

Although I did find a school that could “accommodate” my learning needs, I still struggled due to my homelife, and I barely made it into college. I was unsure of what I should study and I declined a scholarship for Tennis. I met Ian my senior year of high school, and we stayed together throughout college despite attending different universities. I eventually found my place studying Interior Design at Western Kentucky University, and for the first time in my life, I Was excelling at school, even making the Dean’s list. However, year after year, I still felt I needed more. When I found the Interior Architecture program at the University of Memphis I knew it was exactly what I needed. Now, when I look back on all of my academic struggles and the challenges I faced, I am incredibly proud of how much I have achieved and overcome. I proved all the people who told me I would fail wrong and defied the odds created by statistics. Most of all, I have a job doing something I love, that fulfills me, and that supports my family.

Contact Info:

• Website: hyderenovation.com
• Instagram: hdr_901
• Facebook: Hyde Design and Renovation
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/cth44384/

Image Credits
Steve Roberts PicThis House