Karen Snyder is a former event designer who channeled her love of all things home and entertaining into a lifestyle and home design blog. Using her California and Montana homes as canvases, Sanctuary Home Décor showcases new and innovative ways to decorate and make affordable decor look designer.
Karen is also the home editor for West Luxury Magazine and has had her photographs featured in The Cottage Journal, French Country, Romantic Homes, American Farmhouse Style and several other publications. Her homes have been featured in Better Homes and Gardens, Country Gardens, Country Home and Cottage Style Magazines.
She shares her sanctuaries with her husband and three kids who put up with their homes being perpetual photo sets and where mindful living and finding beauty in every day is a daily practice in their lives.
Q&A with Karen Snyder
What interests you most about taking on DIY projects?
My interests have always centered more on design, styling and photography, rather than in depth DIY projects. While I am not opposed to getting my hands dirty, the real satisfaction for me comes from creating beauty at home and capturing image with quality photography.
What creative areas do you prefer to focus on?
I view our entire home and garden as a palette to create a beautiful sanctuary. Large rooms or small corners can be transformed in each season with small changes. I also have a true love of floral design and could spend hours surrounded by beautiful blooms creating arrangements for my home.
What do you consider to be your greatest business accomplishment thus far?
I never expected to have my photos published in home decor and design magazines, so that has been a happy surprise. Since I am not a professional photographer, I feel like that has been a big business accomplishment. I am also quite proud of the brand partnerships I have fostered in the past year.
What has been your most difficult project that you’ve tackled?
Our ranch in Montana is a passion project that has been many years in the making. From remodeling the kitchen in the farmhouse to building guest cabins for our friends and family, we have tackled each new vision with determination and focus on creating a gathering place for the people we love.
Do you have a brand partner that you consider to be your favorite?
My love of flowers and flower arranging extends to faux florals as well, so my partnership with Afloral has been both fun and rewarding.
Which platform helps you to reach your audience the most, and how do you keep them engaged?
Instagram has been instrumental in keeping me connected with my audience. I post to my feed daily and find that stories help to keep my followers up to date with what is happening on my blog.
Based upon your personal experience, what’s one piece of advice that you’d give to blogger/influencers?
Gosh, it’s hard to choose just one thing, but I would say, focus on learning to take and edit beautiful photos. This is an image-driven business so the better quality your images the greater chance you will be noticed and have success.
What’s one fun fact about you that our readers would be surprised to know?
Before I started my blog, three years ago, I didn’t know what a blog was and I did not have an Instagram account. My thirteen year old daughter had to explain social media to me and I spent days learning how to create a website and blog. This has been one HUGE learning experience for me and I’ve loved every second of it!
What do you like most about HAVEN Conference?
I learned so much when I attended HAVEN last year. Every session taught me something important that has helped me to grow. More importantly, I made so many friends and met so many wonderful people. I truly feel part of a community because of HAVEN.
What do you want your audience to take away from your presentation at the Heart of HAVEN virtual conference?
I hope my audience learns that Instagram can be a very powerful tool for connecting with magazines and publications, regardless of the number of followers they have. I am so excited to be sharing this session with Jennifer Maune, who I met at HAVEN last year, and who has developed some powerful tools for landing brand partnerships.
Q and A with a HAVEN 2020 Speaker Series
(This section will be updated as more articles are published)
Amber Kemp-Gerstel
Heather Cooke
Carmen Smith
Jessica Litman
Corey Hudson
Wendy Zock
Racheal Jackson
Jessica Russell
Cara Newhart
Jess Crow
Tracy Pendergast
Brittany Norman
Jenn McMurray
KariAnne Wood
Yuni Min
Kera Jeffers
Kate Smith
Erin Marshall
Erin Ruoff
Rachel Rosenthal
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