Hello Hello!! We realized it’s been quite awhile since we did a post on the face behind the designs! With so many new followers we thought it was best to re-introduce our owner and lead designer, Karrina!
How about A-little Q & A to help get us better acquainted:
Q: How did you get started in design? Did you go to school for it?
A: I got started oh a whim! Haha as silly as it sounds it’s true! I did not go to school for design; in fact I do not come from any design or real estate back (originally that is) I grew up in the hotel/restaurant buisness, my family owned(s) hotels/ restaurants in Northern AZ, one still to this day up at the Grand Canyon! I went to GCU and got a degree in Business with an emphasis in Marketing. It wasn’t until a year after graduating that I got my real estate license. About another year or so of being a realtor, I realized it wasn’t quite my ambition either. I was playing around with a couple buisness ideas when my mom suggested maybe renovating a townhome to do an AirBnB with, sparks flew and I started looking for something and I came across this adorable home in South Scottsdale, now known as #TheClarendonProject and I sold my home, moved back in with my parents took a huge risk and put all of my money into that first flip- and As the saying goes, “the rest is history”
Q: How long have you been in this business?
A: March 2018 is when I sat down and created my LLC. So this upcoming March will be 4 years! Wow time flys!
Q: How many projects have you done to date?
A: So… I got into it this buisness to do my own “flipping” (then my parents joined in and we started doing homes as a partnership) but it wasn’t until my second flip that I started to get some interest from potential clients. Then, out of the blue and to my complete surprise, a lovely, wonderful couple took a chance on me and asked me and my Gc to renovate their personal home, know as #TheCrocusClientProject
I never, ever, expected to be doing client work, so with that being said I have completed 7 of our “renovate to resell homes” (aka flip houses) I think we officially have gone over the 20+ design client mark….Which is crazy to me that we have hit that because client work was never my intention! It came 100% organically, to this day we don't even really advertise/solicit for client work! I feel very blessed that clients trust me enough with their homes to design it for them! It’s surreal to be honest.
Thank you to all of those first clients who took that chance on me! I’ll never forget you 🙏
Q: Do we dare ask how many projects you currently have?
A: Haha…well, let’s just say we have no idea where COVID would lead us. We didn’t expect to have a market that skyrocketed and a line out of the door for clients wanting to remodel! But that’s what happened, thank goodness for everyone involved! So, Currently we have 4 of our investment new builds & one CA Remodel, that you’ve been seeing a lot of on our stories, #ThePintoProject #TheMontecitoProject and #TheLincolnProject and #ThePalisadesTreeHouse. As for clients, currently we have 8 design and remodel clients so a total of 12 projects! Very excited to also announce one of our projects is my first commercial client, we are doing the designs and the full build out for a Luxury Auto Sales Dealership in North Scottsdale! AHH! So, I’ve been very busy to say the least, which is why I may have seemed to be a bit MIA on social media the last 6+ months, but we are ramping up and working hard to bring all these homes and client work across the finish line to be presented to everyone! We can't wait to show everyone what we have been working on! (Follow along because at the end of this we show you a sneak peek at some of the designs we have cooking up!)
Q: Can we ask…how old are you?
A: That’s so funny I was just talking with one of my GC’s about this! I told him how I show up to client consults and the clients seem shocked to see me at their door. I even had a client one time ask me “when is Karrina getting here, are you her assistant?” Hahaha she was mortified when I told her I was Karrina! 😂 It was a good laugh for us both. I get this a lot especially when I first started, I had just turned 23 when I started this all up! So you can do the math from there. 😉
Q: Where do you see yourself and and the business in the next 5 years?
A: To be honest, 4 years ago when I was asked this question I would say “I hope to be doing 3-4 home’s a year!” Now 4 years later I’m telling you I currently have 12 going on! So to be honest I don’t know haha! But I have some ideas have been circling around and stewing on how to make them happen. I would like to eventually move into a bigger office, hire a couple more designers, take on bigger client and commercial jobs, but my big dream is to open a storefront selling home goods, furniture, maybe lighting, tile, who knows! But something along those lines!
**Big News ALERT**
I am also considering a NAME CHANGE!! Which I am so on the fence about because I’ve been building this brand with this name for 4 years I’m scared to switch it up now! Also, as I’m sure you all caught, the name is a play on my name, if you do the initials for both- it’s KR haha I did this because I wanted the name to be linked to me without being a traditional designer that name their business “Karrina Rotter Interiors” - no offense to any of them by any means I just didn’t want to go that route.
But my thought process behind the name change is the “renovations” part. We do so much more than renovations, we do design only work for some clients, we now do new builds, we do new builds for clients, and I think the name gives off the vibe that we are general contractors…we are not haha! So I have a couple names in mind but the top of the list is Krafted By KR, I've also considered The Krafted Collection since I use that term alot and since I treat each home as an art piece, that all go into my "collection" so im a bit torn on which route to take it so I'm really excited to see what my followers say/think about it! ✨
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Also let us know if you enjoyed the Q&A with Karrina and if you would like to see more of it! You can also comment your questions for the next Q&A for us to ask her!
We want to hear from YOU! Karrina has asked us to have you all weigh in on the name change! Comment below your thoughts on the new name, maybe an idea for a different name, or if you don't think we should change it at all! We want to know!
We've been quite lately with new projects- and we know we haven't been posting many "new" projects on our instagram page, but we have been quietly working, working hard, on new designs, homes and with clients the last 6+ months! In a few weeks, as they all start crossing the completion finish line, we are going to be blowing up your feed with new material, designs, homes and so much more!! But in the meantime...here are some sneak peek photos of the designs we have been hard at work on!!