My name is Kara Paslay. I am the main blogger here at Kara Paslay Designs, but about once a week you will hear from my incredibly talented and charming husband, Tim.
I grew up with a dream of playing Division 1 college basketball and pursuing that left little time for anything else. Although I did manage to meet my soon-to-be husband my senior year of high school. 🙂 My dream did come true and I went to the University of Tulsa to play college basketball and after that I went on to play 1 year of professional basketball in a country 1/2 a world away called Lithuania.
I didn’t realize my love for design until my sophmore year of college and unfortunately wasn’t able to pursue a degree in it because my college didn’t offer a program. So, I set about teaching myself everything I possibly could- mostly by trial and error.
After playing 1 year of professional basketball I decided it was time to hang up the sneakers and focus on my new dream of being an interior designer. Soon thereafter Kara Paslay Designs was born and I’ve worked on everything from residential to retail design while also doing some Art Directing and Set Decorating (for a couple of movies). I’ve also worked as the Display Coordinator for Anthropologie. It was a dream job, but I had to quit in order to pursue an even bigger dream.
I’m a big believer in 3 things: Having a job you LOVE, dreaming BIG, and the fact that everyone should know about the redeeming, incredible, unconditional love that Jesus Christ has for each of us.
Tim and I have a goal/dream of one day having our own television show, ‘Til Design Do Us Part, where we can help other couples through the trials of design and DIY projects. We know a lot about it since we bought our very first fixer-upper right out of college without having the slightest clue about the renovation process. The great thing about necessity- it forces you to learn. And learn we did- about renovating, surviving, and each other. While we are waiting for our big break, Tim is launching his own furniture line and I am designing any space I can get my hands on, including my own home- over and over again!
I love being inspired by other people who go after their dreams and shoot for the stars. So, hopefully you will find some of that here along with a whole lot of design ideas, projects, and tutorials!
Ooh I love learning new things about people I admire!
my husband and i have big project for our new home, first we try to hire designer but they keep forcing us to accept their concept and etc which is so frustating! then we decided to do by own. its almost 3000sft and im excited!
Ms. HS- Thanks for caring! 🙂
That can be a tough situation Ely. I hope that you are able to figure out how to make your home exactly what you want! Good luck!
i found your page from looking at younghouselove and i completely love your design style! what a great eye! and i am always psyched to see another Jesus-lover out there in the blog world. i’m seriously inspired by your talent. way to be 🙂
Jen
Your blog was brought to my attention for the work you did with Anthropolie, which is GREAT! I was interested to the point of wanting to know more about this designer by whom I was feeling so wonderfully inspired. Then I read you’re a CHRISTIAN who is a talented designer! I love how you describe finding beauty in “junk”, redeem it, give it new life like Jesus does for us! Thanks for sharing!
You and your husband are so talented-I would certainly watch your television show. My husband and I have already been inspired by your mason jar chandelier tutorial and are going to try it this afternoon to put in our old family cabin on the lake. Thanks for your inspiring ideas and for spreading the love of Christ!!
Hi Kara, I love what I just read. You and your husband Tim sounds like the perfect couple next door. So down to earth!!! I love some of your ideas. And I love the way you come across to people to make it sound so easy and great directions that anyone could do it. I hope you and your husband do get your own show, I’ll be a faithful viewer.
Hi Kara!
I found your blog a while back and got busy with work durning the crazyness of summer. I just wanted to say you are incredibly inspiring and your work is just mind blowingly awesome! I’d love to know where you get all of your inspiration from. You are ….. a creative genius! Keep up the awesome work & thank you!
<3 Lindsey
Hi Kara, I’ve been reading your blog for a while now but your Best of 2011 post caught my eye. I was especially interested in your “Something Very Important” post. I played D1 basketball as well and have also learned to love design. I am so inspired by your ambition to take what you love and make it your career, regardless of your educational background. You have done so well for yourself, I am definitely interested in learning more about how you have become so successful. Thanks for the inspiration!
Do you still work as Display Coordinator for Anthropologie? Where do you work on these wonderful displays? In the store or a studio? where are the offices located?
Hey Marjorie,
I do not work for Anthro any more. While I loved my job, the schedule wasn’t allowing me enough time to pursue my ultimate dream. I don’t know specifics about every store, but you can see a tour of the space I worked in here:
http://karapaslaydesigns.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-first-week-at-anthropologie.html
Not nearly as big as you would think huh? We would start at 6 in the morning which would give us quite a bit of time to work out in the store floor before it opened at 10. The offices and studio for our store are just in the back of the building. I hope that answers your questions clearly enough. Thanks for stopping by!
Hey Becky!
Isn’t it crazy how you figure out different parts to your personality over the years!? I feel like we are lucky to know what we are passionate about when so many people can’t figure it out. I am so glad you are inspired by the blog and my story. I definitely look forward to sharing more about my journey, but I’d also love to hear about yours as well!
Hi guys,
Noticed your reference to QT gas stations in one of your posts. Had to check out where you lived…also remembered I saw you on Nate and thought “I think they are from Tulsa…”
Anyway – I grew up in OKC and live in Michigan now – one of my favorite sights when I drive back to Oklahoma is seeing those QT signs. The depths of my mind think “ahhhhh clean bathrooms, large sodas, cheap gas…… It’s such a wonderful feeling.
Hey Karen! Isn’t crazy how yo can miss the things like QT? I certainly understand where you’re coming from! Sometimes all you need is a 32 oz diet vanilla cherry pepsi to make the world feel right again! 🙂