Welcome!
Hello, and welcome! I wanted to use this first blog post to introduce myself, provide some background, and let you know what to expect from Enchanted Home in the future. My name is Nicki Rae Titus, and I’m the owner of Enchanted Home Design, LLC. It has been a lifelong dream of mine to own a business, and words can’t quite describe how lucky I feel to be doing this now. I come from a modest background, born and raised in Eastern Massachusetts. On those beautiful old streets I developed a reverence for historical places and the buildings within them. Fascinated by the stories they told, communicated to us through feeling rather than words, I felt an incredible connection to humanity while visiting places like Back Bay and historic Salem. My work today is constantly inspired by the moody, charming streets of New England cities.
Acorn Street in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood. Photograph by Michael Browning.
In 2016 I graduated from UMass Amherst with a BS in Psychology. My years there were the best of my life, and anyone who went to college in Amherst would likely say the same. There is simply nothing like getting to know yourself in a place as magical as Western Massachusetts (and honestly, the parties were incredible). For a couple of years I worked as a Research Coordinator for the Million Veteran Program. If you or a loved one is a US Veteran, I urge you to look into signing up. The research being done there is top of the line, and hopefully in the future it will provide far greater medical care for our Vets.
While this work was so rewarding, I’d always felt like something was missing. One day in 2017, someone close to me asked “So what do you want to do?”. As simple as that. My heart answered before I had a chance to think, and it said “interior design”. Back then, I didn’t really have a clue as to what interior design actually entailed (we’ll cover this in a blog post soon!), but I knew that it was exactly the creative outlet I needed. It combined my interest in the human experience, my love of the arts, and my natural predilection for decorating and organization. Four years later, this May, I graduated with a Master’s degree from the New York School of Interior Design.
As for my personality, I’m a tree-obsessed homebody addicted to finding beauty in our sometimes very un-beautiful world. I dabble in many passions, from baking and cooking to refinishing furniture. Walking down a cobblestone street on a cool, foggy Autumn day with a warm coffee in hand ignites my soul like nothing else. In a way, I try to bring this exact soul-stirring feeling into each and every piece of work. That mystifying sense of being precisely where you should be is something I long after so terribly.
Pioneer Valley, Massachusetts. Getty Images. I mean, come on! How perfect?
In 2020, I moved to the New Jersey suburbs with my partner, Ben, who will show up in plenty of blog posts hereafter. We purchased an adorable c.1894 house with a bit of an identity crisis. A large part of this blog will showcase our valiant efforts to restore its original features while bringing it a bit more into the modern age. I believe deeply in preservation, and that most historic buildings can thrive in our society today with a little care and a lot of planning.
This is my first time operating a business and a blog, and I’m very much taking it in stride. On the blog you’ll find articles covering a wide variety of topics, mostly related in some way to interior design. I’ll be keeping it casual and unfiltered here, while the Enchanted Home website will be a little more formal. I’ll be posting new content to Instagram a few times per week, so give us a follow @enchantedhomedesign to stay up to date!
Lastly, I believe wholeheartedly in the spirit of transparency. While much of my content will be edited and crafted for photoshoots, I’ll be showing the real stuff too (i.e. those ugly knick-knacks your partner won’t let go of, perpetually messy kitchens, construction mishaps, etc.). Ironically, all of the Gallery images currently on the EH website are photo-realistic renderings. I need a way to show potential clients that I am in fact capable of designing their homes, but my only experience to date is on my own home. I will always let you know when an image is computer generated. Because I am so new to this, I am able to keep my rates low and my business flexible.
If you have any questions, or you’re interested in scheduling a design appointment, please reach out at hello@enchantedhome.design. Feel free to comment on any of these posts to say hello or ask a question! Let’s get to know each other, because it’s so much more fun that way.
Warmly,
Nicki
