Introducing ybarraDESIGN

I have always loved interior design. When I was thirteen, I started rearranged the furniture in my room frequently, making my own décor decisions, and completed my first DIY project which was a stick-up corkboard used to physically pin-up (yeah, before Pinterest kids) my décor and fashion inspiration as well as teen crushes (Kirk Cameron, I am looking at you). While the corkboard was a mainstay for many years, the pink bedspread with butterflies and rainbow trim was quickly replaced.

At thirteen, I also discovered another passion, debate. I participated in a mock trial competition that my school won and the presiding judge said he saw a bright future in law for me and he was somewhat right.

By twenty-five, I had graduated from the University of Utah law school (go UTES), worked as an intern at the Utah Court of Appeals, and later the Utah Attorney General before I was hired by a small law firm. I continued to work for this firm remotely in (very uncommon then) when I relocated to Washington state. This was also the year I purchased my first house (a very small starter in Shoreline, WA), discovered HGTV, and tried some more ambitious DIY projects such as painting, kitchen cabinet reconfiguration, laying porcelain tile, and installing drywall, never again on the latter!

Working remotely eventually became too isolating and I was fortunate to have a good friend who worked at Microsoft who hired me to manage contracts and incentive programs for large software resellers. Explaining this career shift to my parents after 3 years of law school and just over a year of practice was interesting, particularly because they were not very familiar with Microsoft.

Over the next twenty years, I had an incredible career that included supporting Microsoft through the infamous Department of Justice anti-trust case (what a waste of taxpayer money) and working as a sales executive responsible for launching Microsoft Windows, Server, and Office products with retail and computer manufacturers.

Not sure my parents ever really understood my job, but they became more familiar with Microsoft. During this time, I was fortunate to travel to many countries for work including England, Germany, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Morocco, and made some amazing friends including one who introduced me to my future husband, Mike. I also hand two amazing boys, Mason (21) and Gavin (16), who are the most amazing humans I know.

Throughout all these years, I remained an HGTV addict and spent most of my free time decorating my home (both real and virtual) and dreaming of starting an interior design business. I recently retired from Microsoft and relocated to Newport Beach to allow Mike, formerly with Microsoft XBOX, to pursue his dream job at Activision-Blizzard where he continues to “work” many late nights playing his favorite games such as World of Warcraft and Diablo.

Now that I have more free time, I am focused on interior design which is my true passion. My goal with this blog is to share design ideas and inspire you, both independently and with my help, to make some design updates (big and small) that will make your house a home.

So, you either made it to the end or perhaps you just skipped here because I was rambling on, either way, thank you! Please follow my blog (promise more pictures and fewer words going forward) and reach out to me if there are design updates that you are thinking about making in your home. I work for cheap – mostly just before and after pictures that I can feature in this blog. Just in case you are still questioning my design taste given the pink bedspread fiasco, here is a picture of my current bedroom which I think is much improved.