About Mia

Hi, I’m Mia, and I write the posts on CozydecorTip from a 1,400 square foot single-story house outside Charlotte, North Carolina, that my husband Mark and I bought in 2021. We have two kids, a daughter who just turned 8 and a son who is 5, and a mid-size mixed-breed dog named Biscuit who has more opinions about furniture placement than the rest of us combined.

I’m 36, and I want to be upfront about something. I am not an interior designer. I never went to school for any of this. What I know about decor came from buying a builder grade home in our late thirties, falling down a deep rabbit hole of Pinterest boards and YouTube tutorials, and slowly figuring out what actually worked once I tried it. A lot of it I learned the hard way.

When we bought the house, it was the typical late-90s package. Oak kitchen cabinets that looked faintly orange in afternoon light, brass fixtures in every bathroom, popcorn ceilings we still have not fully gotten around to, builder beige walls everywhere, and a fireplace surround in a tile I cannot really describe. I told myself I’d have everything looking the way I wanted within six months. We’re now well into year four and I’m still finding things to fix.

The style I gravitate toward is modern farmhouse with a softer, more transitional lean. Not the all-shiplap-and-galvanized-buckets version that took over in 2018. More like warm neutrals, mixed woods, simple lines, and a few pieces with real character. I’d rather have one good thrifted side table than three forgettable new ones from a clearance aisle.

Budget wise, I’m middle of the road. Most of our shopping happens at IKEA, Target, and HomeGoods. West Elm or Pottery Barn comes into the picture only when something is genuinely on sale or when we have been saving for a bigger piece. Our local Goodwill has given me some of my favorite finds, and I’ve sourced more furniture through Facebook Marketplace than I’d like to admit. Spending $40 on a vintage lamp feels better to me than dropping $220 on something new I won’t love in two years.

Living in the Charlotte area has shaped a lot of what I write about. Humid summers mean cabinet doors that swell and stop closing right. The yellow pollen in March turns the porch furniture into a problem nobody warned us about. We’ve sat through a couple of ice storm power outages in the last few years, which is why I’m slightly obsessed with layered lighting and battery-powered lanterns now. And builder grade homes around here all share the same set of issues, which honestly is part of why I started writing. If my house had these problems, plenty of others probably did too.

Most of what I share on CozydecorTip comes straight from what we’ve actually tried in this house. The good, the regrets, and the things I had to redo. I’ve painted a wall three times before settling on a color. I’ve returned a sofa I was convinced was perfect. I’ve fallen for trends and had to live with them long after they stopped feeling fresh. Those experiences sit in the back of my mind every time I sit down to write something new.

When I’m not writing, I’m usually rearranging something in our living room, repainting a piece from Marketplace in the garage, or pretending I’m not the one who let the kids leave their craft supplies on the dining table again. Mark works from home most days, which means his office is the room I obsess over more than any other. The pressure of having a Zoom-ready background changes how you think about a room pretty fast.

What I hope CozydecorTip feels like is a friend who has been through a similar house, made similar mistakes, and is happy to save you a few of them. Every post is meant to be useful first, beautiful second, and honest above everything else.

Thanks for being here. If something I wrote helps you make a better decision in your own home, that’s a small win for both of us. You can reach me anytime through our Contact page. I read every message myself.

Mia Writer, CozydecorTip