ANNOUNCING THE WOMAN OF THE MONTH

Meet February’s Fort Worth Woman! Brenda Blaylock, owner of the full-service design company Haus of Blaylock, has done it all. Truly. Originally from Alice, Texas, Brenda has made her mark on Florida, New Mexico, and Texas – particularly Dallas and Fort Worth.

Always the dreamer, Brenda opted to not finish college but immediately began to set her own path. Growing up in such a small town, her dream had always been to move to Dallas. Enter Round One of many new beginnings. Brenda describes, “I wanted to be immersed in the hustle and bustle of a big city. I found a fantastic job for an international merchandising company. They allowed me to learn about the buying and selling of commodities as well as the significance of creating relations and doing business with other countries.”

As she was working, Brenda met her husband, who had just finished medical school, and her focus shifted away from her career, towards her marriage. She dutifully followed him through his residency and became a happy mom of two. The paradox of being a devoted mother and wife, no matter the joy, is the loss of self. Brenda explains, “it was amazing being a mom and a wife but at the same time, I started missing myself: the dreamer, the worker, the confident girl that believed she could do anything. I wanted to be someone.”

As time marched on, the next phase for the Blaylock family arrived as her husband, David, accepted his next job in Decatur, Texas. Brenda held a few different jobs but still could not find what matched the passions of her heart and mind. She states, “I’ve always been an entrepreneur and visionary at heart. I am always thinking about what is needed, what is missing, and what would make a difference. I wanted to make something of myself to be proud of and have a positive impact.”

Enter Round Two – trying something new. Brenda’s husband started his own practice and this put him in a position of needing outside help to handle insurance companies as well as billing. Brenda knew that despite not having prior experience in either one of these areas, she could help. She stepped in, negotiated contracts with all of the big insurance companies, assisted with billing for the services provided, and built (alongside her husband) one of the largest independent anesthesia companies in North Texas. When reflecting on this time Brenda describes, “I saw that in a short amount of time big things could happen. This gave me a fire in my belly and the desire in my heart to create and do more.”

As their second child was due to arrive, Brenda and her husband decided to secure some land and build their own home. Enter Round 3 – finding her element. While not considering herself a designer quite yet, Brenda knew she had a creative side that could envision spaces while keeping both symmetry and balance in mind. As their house was being built, Brenda made sure to enter each meeting with a confident presence, ready to learn. She asked all the questions of all the people and soon learned everything from the architectural phase of a project, to how this then led through to construction, to then incorporating interior selections, as well as learning what it took to put everything together for completion. She immersed herself in the details and began to curate her beautiful taste and style.

With two young children in 2000, Brenda had her family, career, and a gorgeous new home. This is where Round 4 enters – expansion. Brenda and her husband had the chance to become part of a commercial property development. She describes, “We built a strip shopping center across the street from the hospital. I was a sponge. I moved our billing business into one of the spaces and helped with leasing the other spaces. When we worked on leasing the last space in the center, our partner and friends suggested opening a coffee house since the town didn’t have one and an interiors store. Them asking this was a huge compliment. They believed in me and my ability to start/build something new. I loved the idea of creating something special that was unique and different from anything I had seen. This is where I used my ability to see and merge other ideas together.” B Kay’s Interiors and Coffee Haus was born – an experiential coffee shop where you could not only sit down and enjoy a beautiful space, but you could walk through the store full of curated pieces that you could buy and take home.

Enter Round 5 – entrepreneurship and design. After opening her coffee shop and turning it in to a cafe, Brenda met another talented designer and the two created Grandeur Design. These two driven women spent 17 years in business together creating beautiful spaces, drapery, and layouts that placed them both on the map of interior design. Brenda now found herself creating, designing, and producing the drapery for Grandeur Design all while continuing to run the anesthesia billing business and raising a family. She reflects on this time, “I designed the office space for my business to be connected to my interior design store with a window in my office that allowed me to oversee everything, literally!”

As do all things in life, dreams shift. Starbucks came to Decatur, changing the mission of the coffee house. As the coffee shop portion of the business came to a close, both Brenda and her partner shifted their entire focus to their design business. To sum up a successful 17 years of being a full-service design company, Grandeur Design did many show homes, created a custom bedding line that was sold to retail stores around the country, had a store in the design district of Dallas, and later the two began the creation of a second location in one of the best cities, Fort Worth.

Now Brenda enters Round 6 – a new start. As she and her partner eventually parted ways, Brenda found herself at the crossroads of “what now?” She describes, “If you play (the game of life), you will have some wins while for sure having some losses. It’s what you do with all the knowledge you gain that builds you on the inside. It gives you strength in places where you didn’t know you needed it, and it makes you wiser as you go through life with more caution and awareness.” She went back to square one, realized the sky is the limit, and opened Haus of Blaylock – a new full-service interior design company with both a new website and new vision. Her entrepreneurial side began to shine once again and Brenda found ways to use her skills to make the world of design more accessible to the everyone. Brenda describes, “I believe the world of design needs to be more accessible to everyone who wants to do their own design but isn’t sure how to do it. There needs to be a set of tools and a process with outcomes that are perfectly tailored to them. I have created a process and a kit that will make design easy for an inspiring designer or anyone who wants to do it themselves.”

Combining her theory that every room can be designed around a base color palette (which sets the tone for the entire project) as well as how to create the best furniture layout to maximize a space, Brenda has created a fantastic design process/kit, is continuing to work on bringing it to market, is still designing for clients, and has even developed a new, patented clothing line!

Functionality is the key to Round 7. One evening as she was getting dressed and fighting the clothing battle of what to wear over what sleeves with what purse, Brenda came up with an idea to create a beautiful luxury shawl that would solve every problem. Silhouette by Haus of Blaylock, launched in 2021, is a garment made from high-quality fabrics that can be styled for any occasion, elegantly drapes around your outfit of choice, and includes two hidden pockets that can carry all of your essentials for the evening. Classic colors, pops of fun colors, and even university colors are available for the Silhouette Wrap when you visit SilhouetteWrap.com. Brenda has officially learned how to curate her perfectionism with elements of beauty and functionality – both in her one-of-a-kind clothing as well as her interior design.

Last but not least we find ourselves at Round 8: location. Brenda describes that while “designing Silhouette has been very exciting but my biggest passion continues to be interior design. Through designing interiors I get to help my clients create their dream homes. Design projects can be daunting. We want to make sure we are spending appropriately and not making any financial mistakes and these reasons are why hiring a designer is so important. I approach every design project as if it was my own. My years of experience, the relationships I have in the industry, and my gift of creativity gives my clients the confidence in the decisions I make for them.” With all of this in mind, later this year, Brenda is officially opening the Haus of Blaylock Showroom and Design Studio in Fort Worth which will be a creative zone where customers can shop and discuss their projects. Here you’ll find the best brands in the United States for furniture, lighting, drapery, fabrics, rugs, art, accessories, tiles, and hardware along with design services to help you with your project.

What Brenda loves about Fort Worth is the culture and the atmosphere. She states, “Fort Worth is unique in so many ways, with such a rich history. But most of all, I love the people. There’s a really great sense of community in Fort Worth, especially among us female entrepreneurs. Everyone is so kind and encouraging. I love the impact we’re creating to make Fort Worth the best it can be!”

Through every ‘round’ of life thus far, Brenda has found herself emulating her word of impact: fulfilled. She describes her word as “fulfilled” further, “I get to spend each day providing a service to a clientele who have a fantastic love and pride for their community. Not only is their house their home, but their city is also. We’re one big family here! With over two decades of experience in the design industry, I am an entrepreneur passionate about interior design and helping others through vision and creativity. My business thrives off building lasting relationships with my clients, robust business processes; and, most of all, through the creative blessing God has given me. He put a fire in my heart to make a difference in this world – calling me to empathize with people, understand their needs, and determine a creative & elegant way to spark joy in their daily lives.”

A creative and elegant way to spark joy – that she does.