Hello 2017! Out with the old, in with the new! The best way to usher in the newness of a new year, is to refresh your space. Grammy award winning singer and songwriter Michelle Williams has added another receipt to her lengthy resume with her new home collection “Believe at Home.” Standing firmly behind the affirmation ‘Believe,’ Williams put her faith into action and created a colorful collection of home products sold exclusively through EVINE to help give the rooms in your home a breath of fresh air. The new collection is just what the doctor ordered, so EBONY caught up with the child of destiny to find out why we all should become believers.
EBONY: Did you always have an interest in interior decorating?
Michelle Williams: Absolutely! My mom and grandmother took so much pride in their homes. I don’t think they did it to be decorators themselves. My grandmother had another job and my mother is a retired registered nurse, but they just had an eye for things. My grandmother actually handmade things in the home like curtains and bedding with her sewing machine and the stuff looked really nice. Even when the seasons would change, she would change what the rooms would look like and I just never forgot that. My grandfather did a lot of the woodwork, like the trimmings, moldings, and all that. They could have had their own HGTV show if it was back in the 1940s (laughs). It was just a lot of beautiful work that I just grew up seeing.
EBONY: How did you come up with the name for the line “Believe at Home?”
MW: I have a song called Believe in Me. I just knew that I wanted to take the word ‘Believe’ and brand it into something, so the bedding was perfect. I never stopped believing that I could have my own line of home branded products. About 11 years ago, I had a meeting to strategize about the New Year and I said I wanted to start working on my home stuff, bath and body products, and the table literally sat and laughed at me. Maybe they laughed because it was outside of music, because they didn’t know what to do with it; but they didn’t do anything to explore new territory together. Fast forward to 2015, I was working with someone and kind of told her what I wanted to do and she had met someone that had connections to the manufacturer who happened to have connections to EVINE where “Believe at Home” is sold exclusively. That’s literally how it happened. You have to believe and the timing has to be right.
EBONY: Since it’s a new year, what ideas would you give someone that is really looking to refresh their home space?
MW: The first thing is just the newness of it all. That can be getting your girlfriends or homies and get them to help paint your bedroom. It doesn’t have to be anything expensive. For example I was just married to my linen cotton duvet cover on my bed, I just loved it and kept it on my bed forever. I put on one from my collection called Sedona and I’m looking at it now and it just really helps just to change. You can throw on a new pillow sham or something. Go to your favorite store and buy a lamp, it could be something as simple as a candle to re-invent your space.
EBONY: Why do you think it’s important to realign your energy and space?
MW: It gives you a chance to start again. It gives you a chance to say I’m going to finish what I started this time, and I have the grace to finish what I start. That’s what I’m working on daily is speaking positive things. Someone was teaching me that before you go to sleep at night, speak positive things into existence before you go to bed. When I started putting that into practice, things started changing for me. It was almost like God was like ‘Thank you! That’s all I have been waiting on you to do!’ So be positive, that’s what God is wanting us to do. That’s also the thing with “Believe,” I wanted it to be an affirmation, not just something we say we do, but something we actually do is to believe.
EBONY: Do you have any plans to expand your home line?
MW: I would love to expand it into retail. I would love to expand and have my own line of furniture. I would love to just really have everything for the home, bath and body all of that.
EBONY: Rumors ignited a couple months ago that Destiny’s Child would be doing a reunion album or tour, is there any truth to that?
MW: No, not that I know of, not at all. (laughs) We just enjoy our sisterhood and womanhood, that’s really all we talk about. I think it’s a blessing that we haven’t put anything as a group in 11 years or even toured under the name Destiny’s Child, and 11 years later people are still asking that question.
EBONY: What else are you working on?
MW: I’m inching towards a holiday album for 2017.
For more information about Michelle Williams’ “Believe at Home” collection check out the website.
Shameika Rhymes is a journalist of all trades. She can usually be found producing television news and has written for outlets like Charlotte Five, Sheen Magazine, JETMag.com, SoulTrain.com, WEtv.com and her own website, www.themofochronicles.com. Follow her on Twitter @Mofochronicles @WriterShameika
