How I became an interior designer after moving to France

I moved to France in 2016 after meeting my husband Antoine, 39, some five years previously.

In my native Netherlands, I was a professional hairdresser and had made quite a name for myself in Amsterdam, where I often worked runways at fashion shows. 

I loved keeping up to date with the latest looks and finding great new ways to style my clients’ hair. Life was hectic and exciting.

When I first moved to France – specifically, to Foix (Ariège) – I assumed that I would be able to open a salon and bring some of my individual flair and talent to my new area.

 Sadly, I discovered that because my qualifications were all from the Netherlands, I would not be able to set up my own salon without redoing them in France. 

With so many years of experience under my belt, I was really surprised to come up against that roadblock.

Uninspiring work

I took a job in a local salon but sadly I found the work quite unfulfilling. One of the things I had loved back in Amsterdam was working with cutting-edge styles and developing new looks. 

The clientele in my quiet, rural area had very different needs and I found myself doing more conventional haircuts and styles. It was frustrating and I longed to engage my creative side again.

However, the idea of redoing my qualifications in France didn’t appeal – it seemed unnecessary and I could not bring myself to enrol. I had also begun to realise that even if I did open my own salon, the demand for the kind of high-end, dynamic hair work I had been doing previously might not be there locally. 

I was building a new life in a new place and needed to find something that would work for me here.

Then Covid hit and I stopped enjoying the human interaction I had valued previously in the salon; it seemed like a great idea to explore other options.

Online learning

I am a creative person, always buzzing with ideas. One of my interests has always been interior design and I was often trying out new looks in our home. 

When I mentioned to Antoine that I might like to retrain in this field he was all for it. ‘Anything that will stop you moving our furniture around all the time!’ he joked.

I enrolled at Centre Européen de Formation in summer 2020 to do a three-year, part-time diplômé in interior design via distance learning. To bring in some income while I studied, I also secured a part-time role in my local pharmacy where I worked on the tills and helped customers. 

I completed my diplômé in June 2023, just two months before giving birth to my second child Livio – it was definitely a busy time!

As soon as I qualified, I set up as a micro-entreprise and began to look for opportunities.

Starting a business in a new field and in a new country is not an easy undertaking and it has taken me a while to get my name out there. One obstacle is that many people in my area are happy to keep their homes as they are – often preferring to continue with furniture passed down in the family and not looking to revamp their living space.

Gradually, however, I am picking up more work. I have redesigned living rooms, kitchens and bathrooms and word of mouth has begun to spread. 

Whereas with the hairdressing I wanted the big clients, dramatic new looks and bold statements, here I am hoping to help elevate the homes in my area, helping people to make their spaces work for them and giving them a breath of fresh air on a budget.

Perhaps one day I will want to work with bigger clients – to take on big-budget jobs. But for now, building my business in the place I now call home is my main ambition. It’s hard work, but I’m excited about the future.