We recently connected with Meghan Dougherty and have shared our conversation below.
Meghan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?
Back in 2019, my friend and I were talking one day, just about daily mom life, relationship struggles, and not being able to afford much of anything in terms of creating an environment that felt good to be in. I wasn’t really on social media at the time; I didn’t understand how Instagram worked at all, but she was telling me about how she would post content on Instagram as a little side hustle. I remember thinking…”this is a thing? It can’t be, it sounds too good to be true”, and kind of left it at that for a while.
Even in my earlier years, I’ve always enjoyed tinkering in things, getting my hands dirty, arts and crafts with my kids. Nothing mind blowing (actually, many laughable projects), but I still loved it. In March of 2019, around the time of this conversation with my friend, my older brother passed away. To say this crushed me, is an understatement. It was beyond difficult, and I struggled immensely. At that time, I had a two year old and a six month old, I was diagnosed with postpartum anxiety (which I didn’t even know was a thing, and really should be talked about more openly) and experienced not the first, but the second loss of a sibling over the course of a decade. My world was shattered, and without a support system at home I really struggled. I felt lost, alone, didn’t understand anything about what happened, and felt this emptiness every single day. I knew I couldn’t keep going like that. I have kids that depend on me, and I didn’t want to feel this sad all the time. I was looking for something that was just for me; something that I could pour my heart into (outside of my kids), to quiet my brain, and that would give me an escape from the realities of day to day life.
At some point, I remembered the conversation with my friend – so I logged into my Instagram account, which had a whopping six posts, and maybe 12 followers at the time, and started to look into it. I didn’t dive head first initially; it was more of a slow, skeptical crawl. I wasn’t sure exactly what direction I was heading in, but I got the distraction I needed. It wasn’t until my son, Elijah, (who was then three) started talking about wanting a dinosaur room; specifically a Jurassic Park room, that really got my wheels turning. I have always been an incredibly visual person, and although I cannot always put it to paper, tape definitely did the trick. Inspired by Isla Nublar from Jurassic Park, my son and I got to work creating his “dream room”, which, by the way, it’s incredibly difficult pulling ideas from a three year old’s brain, but I made it work. With nothing more than tape, paint, and sheer will to not fail my incredibly judgmental toddler, I created a kickass mural, that with his bed just so, feels like he is right there on the island. I also hand painted more dinosaur footprints than I care to admit (although he has told me it’s not nearly enough), to create a unique faux wallpaper. There is a lot more to his room than the painted walls, but it was at this point that I realized I can do this. And not only can I do this, I’m good at it. I can take what’s in my head, and make it reality, without the massive high costs. His room fueled that fire in me; it unleashed this creative side that was probably always there, but I hadn’t yet tapped into it.
I should mention, I’m very much a “go big or go home” kind of person. I knew I didn’t want to just paint walls – I wanted to build things. Things that I could never in a million years afford to buy or pay someone to do for me. I wanted to get my hands dirty, I wanted to do something badass. So with exactly zero experience building anything, and no idea how to frame something out, I decided I was going to build a fireplace. A big, bold, arched fireplace from scratch. With very little reference to do this, it challenged me mentally and physically in ways I can’t even describe (a lot of tears were shed). At the time that I was building this fireplace, not many people had built fireplaces, and an arched fireplace was even less likely to be found. But I did it, and as I write this, I’m staring at my proudest build to date, and love it even more today.
As far as my name goes, House Makes Haven, that is a nod to my daughter, and this house. I’ve never felt like our house was a home. You walked in and it just didn’t feel good. A conglomerate of hand me down items, and beat up Ikea furniture. Old carpet, and outdated everything. But slowly, I’ve been turning this house into a home. A reflection of our chaotic, messy, lived-in home, that is full of love, much more aesthetically pleasing (thank you anxiety). and will always be a safe place for my kids. If you follow along on my Instagram, you will see that by my side throughout every project is my fearless, go-getter daughter, Avery Haven.
I cannot say that I knew for sure that this would be a worthwhile endeavor, or that I would succeed; I think success is relative to each person. But I knew that I didn’t have any other option than to try. Our lives are just made up of a series of events – wonderful, tragic, and everything in between. It’s what you do with those events that mold your life. My kids not only get to see their mom be strong, resilient, and meet life head on, but they’ve gotten some pretty cool things along the way that mom built just for them.
Meghan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I am a DIY & Design content creator. My goal is to share how to create spaces and things that you love, on a realistic budget, within a realistic timeline. I have two young kids at home, in addition to an outside job working nights and weekends so that I can take care of my kids during the day. Building, designing, and creating is not my full time job (although I would love it if it were), and I am on a very limited budget. I recognize that this is a highly common lifestyle for so many people. It’s fun to watch these shows, and big accounts on social media, with their huge homes, endless budgets, and tons of child care help, but that’s just not reality for most people. Unfortunately, I think it can have this really negative effect of “I don’t have a big budget, or a big house, so I’ll never be able to have these things”, and that is just not true. I want to show you that you can still have these spaces that make you happy, it just needs to be done in a different way.
My projects are very budget friendly. I also live in a small 1200 sq. ft home, so I understand limited space. It’s all about optimizing the space that you do have, and stretching your dollar as far as it will go. It requires a lot of creativity, and that is where my expertise comes in. I also want everyone to understand that these things take time. 24 hour room makeovers are not realistic, and it’s okay if a space takes you longer to accomplish because you are busy caring for your kids, or have an important deadline at your job, or both. I enjoy sharing the realities of what goes into a project, with the hopes that it will inspire you to create something you can be proud of, on your own timeline.
My business came about from wanting something for myself, outside of motherhood, and the desire to have a home that I felt good living in. I knew I could not afford to hire someone to create beautiful spaces for me, so I had to get creative. I taught myself how to use power tools – what I couldn’t figure out on my own, I asked friends, and researched on Youtube. I love to share the step by step process of building or DIY’ing, so that others can either replicate it, or take what I’ve done, and put their own creative spin on it. Either way, I want to give you the encouragement, and knowledge that you can do this too. Your home is for you, and I am here to provide the tools to get you to where you want to be within your home.
Do you have multiple revenue streams – if so, can you talk to us about those streams and how your developed them?
Yes; there are many ways to create revenue in this line of business. For me, my most advantageous stream of revenue is through brand collaborations. This is where I work with companies to demonstrate or display a product that I love, and/or find helpful, and share with my audience. Brand collaborations are by far where the most money can be made. I keep my collaborations pretty minimal right now because of how much I juggle behind the scenes, but I hope to be able to take on more when my kids are in school full time, and I can prioritize this aspect of the business.
There are other smaller pockets of passive income that can be made through affiliate links, such as LTK (LikeToKnowIt). I am a huge fan of LTK, because it is essentially a library of all things I have linked in the past, that allows for easy reference for someone else to click on. So, if I really love my living room rug (which I do), I can share that through my social channels, and link back to it. For anyone who purchases something through that link, I earn a very small commission at no cost to them. It’s a great way to continue earning (albeit small) amounts of money, that help ease the cost of future projects.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Every day that I wake up I get to choose what I want to do. The power of creating is in my hands. If there is something that I don’t want to do, I have the ultimate power to say no, this is not for me. I also get to decide how much I want to lean into something creatively. Some days I am gung ho and want to build a fireplace, or built in cabinets from scratch, other days I want to try my hand at a simple frame for art work, or tie 200 tassels by hand for my daughter’s chandelier. There is a never ending supply of ideas running through my head, and I get the ultimate say in if I want to try it or not. It’s a pretty amazing feeling to be 100% in charge of something. With each build or project that I do, I learn more, and am able to put that knowledge and skill towards trying something on a more advanced level. At the end of the day, when I’m relaxing on the couch, I look around at all that I have created, and it just feels so good that I am able to provide for my kids a home that they can be comfortable, safe, and loved in. A home that is unique to us, that didn’t break the bank – and I’m just getting started.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/house.makes.haven/
- Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@house.makes.haven Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/housemakeshaven/
Image Credits
@House.makes.haven