Cara Newhart is a color & prints obsessed DIY queen who is helping women create a beautifully lived-in life through home design advice and chic DIY tutorials on her blog, Never Skip Brunch and as the host of the home design podcast, Make Space.
Her goal is to help women #DIYbig, beat the “boys club” culture of home improvement, and dive deeper than pin-worthy rooms so they can design homes they’re in love with on their terms.
Q&A with Cara Newhart
What interests you most about taking on DIY projects?
There are so many reasons to DIY, but I love the fact that I can design and dream things up then make them a reality. I get to create things that don’t exist anywhere and completely customize my space based on functionality and my own style. I also LOVE watching women dive in and #DIYBIG with me. Seeing them tackle big projects, gain confidence in themselves and their skills, and create amazing spaces and decor is AMAZING!
What creative areas do you prefer to focus on?
Wait…I have to pick!? JK. My sweet spot is exploring where functionality and aesthetics intersect — I love the challenge of combining something practical with styles and colors to make it look and work amazing. This is really the formula for all great design — it has a balance of both. For me that means dreaming up projects with surprise twists (see: my cabinet doors with interchangeable picture frame centers) and also exploring home-related topics that focus on helping everyday women achieve this balance in their own homes through DIY interior design and projects. As far as what that looks like with DIY skills — my home base is woodworking and paint, I can sew and upholster if I have to, styling shelves is my favorite hobby, and will avoid papercrafting and stripping paint off of furniture at all costs.
What do you consider to be your greatest business accomplishment thus far?
As a business school grad this question used to evoke a financially-driven answer from me, but my real life biggest accomplishment is learning how to tell my story and learning how to use it to teach and inspire others. It sounds so simple, but the story behind your journey and where you’ve come from is immensely powerful and can fuel your business in all sorts of ways. Stories are how we connect, learn, grow, and share with each other. Learning to fully embrace my whole story — including the bumps and “failures” — and tell it in a way that’s authentic and serves others has been a process, but let me tell you once you have it down it’s a game changer. In terms of wow-factor accomplishments, I had the privilege of hosting HGTV Star Leanne Ford as a guest on my podcast when it was just 17 episodes in, so that still kinda has me fangirling at times (like WHAT?! she’s the coolest!)
What has been your most difficult project that you’ve tackled?
Probably my coffee bar transformation. You’d never know from looking at it, but this project stretched my skills in a lot of ways. I really had to work on slowing down and focusing on the details, which isn’t my natural strength. This space was totally not square — which caused a whole bunch of challenges from getting the built in flush to getting the drawers to work, to making my first-ever tile job look polished and flush. The fun thing about difficult projects is that while they can be so frustrating while you’re in them, all the lessons you learn and all the ways they push and grow your skills are absolutely worth it!
Do you have a brand partner that you consider to be your favorite?
Anyone that knows me knows I’m a little obsessed with The Home Depot in just about every way possible. Not only are they a one-stop spot for me for project supplies and seriously bomb home decor, but they really are amazing to work with and are seriously so supportive of their content creators. I’m literally at my local Home Depot ALL THE TIME (outside of currently staying home and social distancing) and have become way too close with the people at the paint desk. On a more personal note, I grew up frequenting the home improvement store with my dad, who was a contractor and realtor, and there are a ton of special memories around that for me. Some people aren’t into “box stores” but my experience with HD has been anything but — it’s a brand where I’ve really found a sense of community and connected with people who are invested and genuinely care about what I’m doing and making.
Which platform helps you to reach your audience the most, and how do you keep them engaged?
Instagram has been my day 1 and it’s such an amazing place to find and stay plugged into community. I am on stories just about every day sharing projects and tips and chatting with my audience through comments, DMs and polls. I think finding where your audience is — whatever platform that might be — and showing up for them consistently is key. I am starting to branch out a little and am spending some more time on youtube. I love making videos and being able to work in a little more longform content vs short IG stories.
Based upon your personal experience, what’s one piece of advice that you’d give to blogger/influencers?
Find your voice. This sounds like the most generic piece of advice ever — but let me tell you, I heard it a million times too before I let it really sink in and started doing it. Here’s the best way to explain this: you know when you walk in a room and you try to match the vibe and you kind do what everyone else is doing. If people are grabbing a program and taking their seat, you do that. If people are dancing and jumping, you start joining in (or that little weird shoulder dance wiggle thing you do from the sidelines to acknowledge you’re here for it, but will not be dancing). If people rise in a standing ovation, you do too (because who wants to be the only idiot sitting down?). You get the point. So the same thing happens in the influencer space. You start a blog or get on instagram, you look around and see what everyone else is doing and you start doing that. While this might be a good way to learn and get your feet wet, this is not a long-term plan that’s going to work. You have to BE YOU. You have something to say and a unique perspective and if you just follow the influencer crowd, you will not stick out and you will not grow and audience very quickly. Find what you have to say, teach, share, express, and be loud about it.
What’s one fun fact about you that our readers would be surprised to know?
I actually considered myself an introvert for most of my life — like the whole shabam: I dreaded phone calls, anxiously sweated a little in a room full of strangers, didn’t say very much in a social circle (actually one of the reasons I love my husband because he would do the talking and I could stand there and smile without having to weigh in). But meeting me now, you probably wouldn’t know it. I’ll be wearing bold colors, talking a lot, and probably dancing. My personality didn’t change, I just realized confidence is a skill that can be learned and decided to stop caring what people think of me and care more about helping them feel good about themselves. I focus on helping other people have fun and learn something while we’re hanging out — serious, funny, whatever that looks like. Also, I can make a super legit chipmunk noise.
What do you like most about HAVEN Conference?
The community! Oh my gosh before my first HAVEN (2019) I was on an island (sans vacation) — caught in a vicious cycle of creative inspo then burnout with no close friends that really understood what it was like to be a content creator in the DIY space. HAVEN connected me with people so similar to me that are on the same journey and can not only understand what I’m up to, but also have helped me be a better maker, designer, and influencer. Between collaboration ideas and working with brands, I feel like I’ve tapped into a whole community I’ve always needed but never knew existed!
What do you want your audience to take away from your presentation at the Heart of HAVEN virtual conference?
I hope they gain the confidence to dive in and do it big. I’m teaching a session about launching a podcast, and I already know that the hang up is not going to be tech setup or episode ideas or landing guests. I know the #1 thing people are going to have to push past is just jumping in and getting started. It’s never going to feel like the “right time” to launch something — whether that’s a podcast, your blog, etc. Because you’re never going to be ready — the skills you need to be ready to do it are skills you will gain by jumping in, having no idea what you’re doing, and learning as you go. I want to inspire people to get off the sidelines and take creative risks. The worst that can happen is you learn what doesn’t work (ask me about trying to sell t-shirts with my artwork on them, cringe) or what you don’t like doing (ask me about my past life as a fashion blogger) and you pivot. Edison would 10/10 back me up on this.
- You can follow Cara Newhart on social media at: Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter | YouTube
Q and A with a HAVEN 2020 Speaker Series
(This section will be updated as more articles are published)
Amber Kemp-Gerstel
Ashley Wilson
Heather Cooke
Carmen Smith
Jessica Litman
Corey Hudson
Wendy Zock
Racheal Jackson
Jessica Russell
Jess Crow
Tracy Pendergast
Brittany Norman
Jenn McMurray
KariAnne Wood
Karen Snyder
Yuni Min
Kera Jeffers
Kate Smith
Erin Marshall
Erin Ruoff
Rachel Rosenthal
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