Interior Designer Christie Perham Lets God Control Her Career

By Lauren Rose Correa, January 30, 2025

Christie Perham is a talented interior designer, but when asked about herself, she is quick to share that she’s a wife, mom, and grandmom. She has a successful design career, but throughout her career she has always put her family first. She is well practiced in having a good work-life balance and trusting God to guide her career decisions.

When she met her husband, Christie was teaching in a small private school. They got married and started a family, and for 15 years Christie served as a stay-at-home mom and homemaker. Her design business began by working in partnership with a friend who started a business sewing window treatments. Pretty soon, she was booking her own design jobs, and her design career blossomed by word of mouth.

Today, Christie enjoys meeting with clients and working in her at-home design studio. I had the opportunity to chat with Christie about how she trusts God with her career, what goes into being a designer, and her advice for aspiring designers.

Q: Walk me through a typical day with you on the job.

I had to smile when I saw that question because there’s no typical day, right? Because I’m working on multiple projects at a time, and each project can be really different. Some days like today might find me meeting a client at a tile store to pick tile for their kitchen backsplash.

I like to force myself on Mondays to stay in the office so that I can just sit with my laptop or with my fabrics and do my design work. Sometimes if I’m out of the office every day, seeing clients, I kind of drag my feet getting to the design part because going out with my clients is the fun part.

So [my day] can involve anything from me meeting a client at a store or at their home to occasionally forcing myself to do work in my office. [I work on] all the things I put off because they’re just not as exciting.

Q: What is the biggest challenge that comes along with your job and how do you tackle this challenge?

The biggest challenge for me as a creative with pretty severe ADHD was keeping everything organized. I faced that challenge by hiring help after trying to do it myself. I have a great assistant, Wendy, who handles all the invoicing and financing, and I have another assistant, Katie, who helps with admin tasks. What I like about this is my clients can get responded to really quickly. I think that feels good for them, which them feels good for me. [Hiring help is important].

Q: What is your favorite aspect of your job?

My favorite aspect, and the reason I do residential [instead of] hotels or restaurants, is I love to help people get excited about their homes. [I want them to] feel like their homes are their retreat and their place that nurtures them. When we finish a project and a client lights up and they’re so excited about what we created… we get happy when we make other people happy. It’s a big dopamine rush at the end of a project.

Q: What advice would you give to someone else looking to step into the same vocation as you?

If you are young and going to start your education, I would say get a degree an interior design. That kind of shows you all the ropes. But before you invest in an education, or if you are an older person in a career change, you should definitely shadow a designer. Sit with somebody who does what I do, ask them lots of questions, and just really find out what the day to day looks like and what’s involved.

Q: What qualities about you do you believe help you to do your job well?

My least favorite thing about myself is being a people pleaser. It is not a good trait, but I work hard to make sure my clients are happy. Also, I have a good eye for color, which I really think is just a God-given thing. I think there are a lot of professionals that aren’t as good with color. I just chalk that one up to the Lord. Also, I try to listen really hard to what my clients are saying because I want to give them what they want – I’m not trying to give them what I want.

Q: How has your walk with the Lord influenced your career choices?

First of all, let me just say it’s a blessing to be able to choose to do this. I was a homemaker full-time with my girls for [about] 17 years before I started doing this. It was a blessing to have the freedom financially to slowly get into this. I think that is a safety net that God gave me.

[I am also] learning more and more to let him just let him take [control of] the business. I never strived at any point. I started this [career] with the mindset that God’s just going to do with it what he will. I was okay with going along for the ride. And that really has characterized the path since 2006 or 2007 when I started doing this. He brings clients, and I say yes to almost everything that’s come my way, but I haven’t advertised or sought it out. He has people call me up [with projects], and I give him all credit for that. I’m learning to take what he brings for each day.

If I had a bunch of young women sitting in front of me, what I would passionately share with them is to just follow God each day. I had no idea when I had my children years ago that this is where I’d end up. If you really truly trust him to bring your way what he wants you to do, he will be so faithful. Everything I’m doing now was just from his hand and his timing.

Q: How do you balance your career with your personal life?

When I started doing this I had four girls at home, and the two little ones were in school. The balance was just starting really slowly. I feel like the Lord naturally grew the business, and the more time I had, the more time I was able to put into the business. I definitely had more time as the girls got older. I guess I would answer that question by saying that the balance [came from] not doing more than I could handle. The kids absolutely came first. I could be a mom full-time and then gradually [work] more and more.

Also, I’m going to circle back to hiring the help. I made the conscious choice that I would rather have more time and less money. Because that’s money that could be in my pocket if I just did what those ladies [do for me]. For me personally, I would rather have the flexibility and time. In my free time, I [spend time with] my husband, and I go up to see my grandson a lot in Maine. I make sure to schedule coffee and lunch with friends every week.

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