WAS THE NEWSLETTER #100

I’m Paige Wassel. WAS the Newsletter is your weekly dose of design inspiration, where we have written 100 newsletters and somehow you still care.

Y’ALL ARE CRAZY

Can you believe we’re at our 100th edition of WAS the Newsletter?

First of all, thank you all sm for even showing the slightest interest in literally anything that comes out of my brain/mouth.

In last week’s issue, I asked you to send me questions. Surprisingly, I didn’t receive questions like “why won’t you stop touching your hair on camera?” or “are you gay yet or what?”

So here we are! Answering some q’s for ya. Enjoy!

How do you juggle so many streams of work? You have YouTube, Office Supplies, WAS the Newsletter, interior clients. And before that, prop styling. This year I transitioned from freelance design to starting my own small business. How do you do it?

Holy shit. This has been the ride of my life in trying to figure out how to balance it all—I definitely experienced burnout when I didn’t really know how to juggle everything on top of having a social life, doing things with my friends, visiting my family, sitting in the park, walking around the neighborhood, iPad time, bath time, and…dating.

I definitely had to cut back, so I dropped my career in prop styling, which I was happy and excited about because I had done it for eight years and it wrecked my body. It’s a very physical job and quite intense working on set every week.

Being able to manage WAS, YouTube, and all of that—I really just needed help. And it’s really hard at the beginning when you can’t afford help (hence the burnout). I’m only able to manage everything now because I have Maren, who works with me on all of my projects. We now have an intern to help with some of the smaller things. I have a finance team that handles billing and whatnot.

On my interior design projects, I have a project manager, and Kate co-designs with me. For YouTube, I have a manager, an editor who edits all of my videos (I source all my own photos, but he does the editing), and a thumbnail designer now as well. So let’s just say, I’m really able to do all of this now that I have a team.

You definitely need help if you want to keep growing. But don’t be scared to bust ass in the meantime. Just be careful of burnout because it’s very confusing when you’re in it. Sometimes I think you need a crash to learn how to rewire the way you’re working and managing your life.

So it’s not all bad—but yeah, I thought I was depressed, turns out I just had burnout and mono lol. The depression came a bit later.

I'm a huge fan of WAS—what has it been like starting your own business? And do you foresee any videos detailing BTS or the start-finish process for each launch ever coming out?

WAS has been a huge trial-and-error process.

I started with the wine glasses just to see if people would even be interested in buying a product from me. Once I knew they were, I was like, okay, how do we do this? Kate was a huge help at the beginning because I brought her on and we did the pillow collaborations together—but we basically had to find a manufacturer.

We had to figure out how to even design a pillow with piping and how to make prototypes. It’s crazy how much work goes into this type of thing. Luckily for me, I had a background in prop styling, so putting together the photo shoots was probably one of the easier things.

I’m able to art direct and hire the photographers, know where we should shoot, how to rent furniture—and I just prop style it myself. That comes easy to me.

BUT. There’s so much that goes into this—from building the website to figuring out pillow inserts and so much more. How do we price everything? How do we tax everything? Do we ship internationally? It’s crazy starting a business. I’m learning things every single day.

I do think I have the pillows streamlined now since this is my fifth launch, but when I did shower curtains, it was so hard to find fabric that was large enough, or to figure out the grommets, the right lengths, and making sure the fabric could handle humidity. One of my main struggles with WAS is finding enough fabric to create a larger quantity. I could find a cool fabric and make a pillow, but I need enough to sell to all of you.

So, it’s about finding a fabric I like that exists in a large amount and feels cool, vintage, old. Starting a company and designing products is such a crazy process—but I love it so much. I wish I had more time for it. I’m hoping to make more.

As for BTS, I just don’t have time to even think about filming myself. One, I’m not someone who really films in public—I don’t love that. Two, my days are so stacked that pulling out a camera honestly gives me anxiety. If I had a film crew following me around? That would be sweet.

So yeah, starting a company is not easy. I’m still learning every day, making mistakes, and fixing things along the way. If I can film BTS someday, I will. (Also, if you know someone who wants to film it for me, let me know.)

How do you reflect on your design journey so far from YouTube to now a storefront slash interior studio? What are you most proud of? What are your goals moving forward? 

I constantly say to myself, I can’t believe this is my life. This was never part of some big plan. I’ve always loved interior design and entrepreneurism. I’ve always loved theater—which kind of relates to being on YouTube. When I was younger I wasn’t like, “I’m gonna have a YouTube channel and my own home decor brand.” I just knew I wanted to be in a creative space.

As I got older, I gravitated toward interior design. So basically, every day I can’t believe I get to run my own business and have a vintage store. When Kate and I are sitting in Office Supplies, we’re constantly looking at each other like, I can’t believe this is ours.

As for YouTube, it’s wild that I even have a channel. I don’t remember the day I started or what made me post. I do remember Kate and I were on a road trip watching Jenna Marbles, and Kate said, “You’d be really good on YouTube.” I think that stuck. I’ve never been scared of the camera, so YouTube just felt natural.

You can see I’ve grown a lot through the years online. I’m really proud of that—and proud of my career overall. I left PR (well, was laid off, but also kinda fired ha), then jumped into freelance and built a prop styling career fast. I was styling for Amazon, Target, Google—which is still crazy to me.

I’ve worked my ass off since high school. Not on grades, but on career stuff. I’ve always been career-driven.

Goals: more work-life balance. I’m decent at it, but I want more. I want to give up some control, build my team, and grow WAS beyond YouTube. I’d love to grow my interior design firm too. I still love YouTube, but I’d be fine scaling back a bit. Day by day.

And yeah—I’d like to find a boyfriend. I haven’t prioritized that in four years. I need someone to talk to about my problems lol.

How do you feel inspired to pursue your dream/interests? I'm 25 and suddenly feel like it's too late to start.

Okay, first off—25 is so young. I was just getting started in prop styling then, and I’ve switched careers again since, and I’m almost 33.

It’s never too late. If you’re motivated and passionate, it’s always worth it to take a few steps back to move forward. When I graduated college, my friends had “real jobs” and higher salaries. I made like $27k my first year freelancing. I felt behind, but I knew if I kept going, it’d pay off in both lifestyle and happiness.

Don’t compare your path to others. Creative careers take longer to build.

I was lucky—my parents were supportive but realistic about money. They inspired my work ethic. My mom loves to write, my dad loves to cook—they didn’t turn those into careers, and that’s okay. Not every passion has to become your job. But they taught me to live with purpose and build something from nothing. That’s inspiring.

How would you describe your style in terms of interiors? 

I’ve tried to put this into words—it’s very mid-century leaning with Danish touches. I’m obsessed with Italian light fixtures, but I’m also influenced by English design—mixing patterns and florals.

Then I add preppy Ralph Lauren touches because my mom is super preppy. I grew up with plaid and Pottery Barn energy. She loves beige. That sneaks into my design too.

Overall, I’m pretty Americana—young teen boy vibes, which fits with the Ralph Lauren/preppy thread. I like to mix styles as much as possible. I love modern pieces but also have an Art Deco armoire in my bedroom. When I notice one aesthetic taking over, I bring in something opposite to balance it.

Okay. I want to ask you how you approach boredom of your space. After some time, I find that I periodically get the itch to rearrange my nest. Or else the styling feels stagnant. How do you like to refresh your space or find inspiration again?

I get bored of my space all the time. Sometimes I’ll go a whole year without changing anything, sometimes I refresh every few months. It’s all mood-based—not seasonal.

I refresh when I feel it, sometimes at 10 p.m. when a friend’s over and I suddenly decide to rearrange everything.

I rarely buy new things—I just move stuff around. Swap art between rooms, restyle shelves (pull everything off and start fresh), and switch up my kitchen island setup (the lamp stays, everything else rotates).

I also store some art and decor in the garage. It’s fun to bring things back out when I’m feeling bored. Small changes, big difference.

Your style and Kate style has some overlap. What are some design preferences that don't overlap? 

We align but we’re different—in color palettes, fabrics, and layout instincts. Kate’s a bit riskier; I’m slightly more traditional. Together, that mix works. Clients get “traditional yet risky,” which I love.

Kate has a lot of Asian-inspired art from teaching in Korea, and it shows in her spaces. Our styles complement each other. I also deeply respect her eye. It’s rare to find a design partner you can truly collaborate with.

In terms of nurturing and expanding your design inspiration, where do you turn for that? Visual media, fine art, architecture, nature. 

Lately I’ve been wanting to expand my design knowledge—learn more history, visit old LA homes, go to more museums.

But honestly? Pinterest. It’s a rabbit hole. The vintage interiors and obscure images you can find there rival the best coffee table books.

I also get inspo from movies, art galleries, travel, and friends. When Kate and I were in Mexico City, we saw colors and tiles that totally changed how we were thinking.

I’m always learning. If anyone has recs—send them my way!

THANK YOU ALL FOR WATCHING, LISTENING, READING, ADMIRING, JUDGING, GIGGLING, AND FOR BEING MY VERY SPECIAL PARASOCIAL FRIENDS ❤️ 

I LOVE YOU AND I DON’T EVEN KNOW YOU…BUT YOU MUST BE COOL BECAUSE YOU’RE HERE LOL ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ 

DO / DON’T by Basma Alromaih

xx,
P