Today we’d like to introduce you to Sharon Vieregg.
Hi Sharon , it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
In all honesty, it started when I was twenty-one and went to Christmas dinner with a friend. His mother had created a beautiful environment with furnishings, lighting, and a beautifully set table with china, crystal, linens, and silver. Candlelight infused the experience. And I knew in my heart that someday this is what I wanted in my life.
Fast forward to the early nineties, when I had my first home and began experimenting with everything I was seeing on Martha Stewart Living, This Old House, Home Time, and New Yankee Workshop. I experimented with paint, furniture in different positions, art on the walls, lighting — and slowly began learning the fundamentals of remodeling and all the components involved in that process.
Then I had a child and determined that my corporate job — which I thoroughly enjoyed, but which required sixty-plus hours a week — was not in alignment with my desire to be a present parent. I took a bit of time away from work. I discovered that didn’t work for me either; I needed input and engagement from the world at large.
It was actually a neighbor and dear friend who said, “Sharon, you should be a designer. Look at everything you’ve created.” So, with my business experience in hand, I set up an entity, got my business licenses, and went to a prosperity consciousness workshop, where I found myself raising my hand when the workshop leader and best-selling author, Alan Cohen, asked, “Who out there has a dream they don’t know how to achieve?”
As I felt my hand raise, I felt my other hand pull it down again — but it was too late. He had seen me and called me onto the stage. He asked me to share what my dream was. I hemmed and hawed, then said I wanted to be an interior designer, but I had no formal education, didn’t know anything about the business, and so on. At that point, he told me to leave my “but” at the door, then asked the audience, “Who out here will help Sharon fulfill her dream?” Several people raised their hands — an interior designer with twenty-five years of experience, a furniture maker who offered to teach me about construction, someone who offered to be my first client. None of those specific offers actually came to fruition, but it was enough to fire me up and let me know that the universe had my back.
That was Labor Day weekend, 1999. That October, I met my first client, who referred me to my second, who referred me to my third, who referred me to her sisters — my fourth and fifth clients. Nearly 30 years later, I’m still embracing and helping people create homes they love to live in.
One thing about me is that when I get something in my head that I want to go for, I typically just go for it — whether or not I know how to do it at the outset. What I’m good at is finding the resources and people who can teach me what I need to know to move forward.
Part of that was my decision early on to attend the Heritage School of Interior Design, founded by Jan Springer. My rationale was simple: I already knew how to market and get clients, and I knew I could figure out how to get the work done — but I wanted the language and vernacular specific to interior design, and to understand the components that make up the profession. Jan is still one of my dearest friends and one of my biggest cheerleaders.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There are always lessons to be learned in any business venture. The biggest one for me was learning discernment — not blindly trusting what a contractor or trade says about their own experience or expertise.
I took on a large remodel project and partnered with a contractor who self-performed a fair bit of the framing. As the drywall went up and the trim went on, it was obvious there were bulges in the walls. When we called on the contractor to remedy the issue, he walked away, saying it wasn’t his fault, and left me holding the bag. It was a hard, expensive lesson — and it’s part of why I’m so deliberate now about who I bring onto a job.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Something that sets me apart from many designers is the longevity of the relationships I have — with my clients, and with the trades I’ve come to trust and rely on. I’m currently entering my 28th year of business, and I’ve had clients with me for twenty-four of those years, until they passed away. That’s not unusual.
I care deeply about the people I work with, and about truly hearing them when they share what matters to them. As often happens when you have a long-term, fairly intimate relationship with clients — because you’re dealing with their homes and their finances — you come to understand who they are as people. They come to rely on you for referrals and recommendations for other aspects of their life, too. When I make a recommendation, it’s not just because I know someone in that field. It’s because I know they’ll be a good fit in style of communication and attitude, so my client will be heard and well cared for.
Because of that longevity, I work with clients through many transitions in their lives — empty nests, divorce, widowhood, aging in place, and more. My clients can be very transparent with me, because they know there’s no judgment. I’m only looking for the best answer to whatever challenge they’re facing.
How do you think about luck?
I believe luck is real, and I don’t think it’s random. I think it’s what happens when preparation meets an open door (thank you, Ina Garten, for presenting that concept so succinctly).
Looking back, luck showed up for me more than once — the neighbor who happened to say the words “you should be a designer” at exactly the moment I needed to hear them. Alan Cohen calling on me from that stage on Labor Day weekend, 1999, and putting the question to a room full of strangers. My very first client referring me to a second, then a third, then to her own sisters. None of that was something I could have planned or forced.
But I also don’t think any of it would have mattered if I hadn’t already been ready to walk through the door when it opened. I’d already built the business skills. I’d already set up my entity and licenses. I’d already spent years teaching myself, room by room, what I actually loved about creating spaces. So, when the “lucky” moment arrived, I wasn’t starting from zero — I was prepared enough to say yes. In this third act, luck continues to play a role as I continue to hone and develop new skills that set me apart and set me up for success as new opportunities present themselves.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sapphire-inc.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-vieregg-guyette/
