DESIGN INSPIRATIONS // Cotton Stem

Erin Kern: Initially, I planned to use this account as a way to showcase my design aesthetic for potential e-design clients, but since then, it has taken on a life of its own!  Now IG is a place to meet friends, connect with others in the business, and grow my own all at the same time!  Love me some IG.

LS: What was the single best thing you did to gain meaningful followers?

EK: Honestly, I’d say the best way to gain a REAL, genuine following is to be kind and be yourself.  I mean, give the people some pretty to look at, but what we all really want is to know each other and connect…thus the “social” in social media.  I’ve tried to be myself, toot-talk and all, and I think those who are “my people” have stayed…and then brought along their friends who like toot-talk and farmhouse pics, too.  😉

LS: What’s been your favorite DIY project that you’ve featured?

EK: My favorite project and creation I’ve shown (so far…) has to be the book wall.  The meaning behind it, the flow of the installation representing the flow of my life as shaped by literature, and, duh…who doesn’t love a good Jane Austen quote.  😉  Besides my four little girls, this is my best DIY.

LS: What’s your favorite farmhouse decor item?

EK: Chippy corbels, hollerrrr!!!

LS: What’s been the most rewarding part of being on IG?

EK: It might sound lame, but honestly the validation that my dreams weren’t a bunch of hooey.  😉  I’ve long since dreamed of doing interiors for others, of writing perhaps professionally, of becoming a “brand” of sorts to share my love of a cozy, beautiful home with others…and IG has opened so many dadgum doors I’d have never guessed were there for the opening.  In a handful of months, my life looks so very different from what it once did (in the best of ways!), and I can attribute so much of that to the kindness and opportunity to be found on Instagram.  Oh…and being in a real live magazine.  THAT was pretty freakin’ awesome.  Big time surreal moment for little ol’ me. 😉

LS: My Rae Dunn unicorn….?

EK: Oh man, did you know I used to design and decorate wedding cakes for a living??  So….when I saw the new mixing bowls and CAKE/BAKE pieces, my little cake decorator heart skipped a beat!  Maybe someday my unicorn will come….. 😉

Make sure you’re following Erin on her Instagram @Cottonstem and check out her blog here!

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