Sam, short for Samantha is the owner of Hummingbird Home Decor. With two different locations in Seminyak and Pererenan, Sam’s been providing high-quality wallpapers to help give locals, business owners, and Western expats the feeling of making a house a home.

So tell me a little bit about how you got started.

K: Hey good morning Sam, thanks again for meeting with me. Oh man, what a week… Anyways, tell me a little bit about how you started Hummingbird Home Decor.

S: Actually, I didn’t start it but it was my ex-husband’s business. I had originally just decided to holiday in Bali for 3 months and decided to stay for…. well it’s been about 8 years now.

K: Wow, wow! That’s a big jump! Was there a moment that you thought “Yes, I’m going to do it, this is happening” or did it happen gradually?

S: It happened gradually, things just started falling into place.. I originally opened a high-end pajama store here in Bali but sadly things didn’t quite work out how I had planned, a bit of wishful thinking there... Afterward, I went into business with my (ex)husband and eventually took over the business entirely and now we’ve done installations for some of the most popular restaurants and hotels in Bali, although I still love to do in-home wallpaper decor as well.

If you had all the time in the world, what would you do every day?

S: Oh well.. I would love more creative freedom! It’s funny— you think as a small business owner you’d have all the time in the world to be able to create and design but truthfully I often get bogged down with the technical side of things like managing all the stores, installations, etc… If I were able, I’d focus more on the creation aspect — it’s what I love to do.

K: I know right! It’s like a catch-22 no one tells us about! Being the boss means being bogged down with all the nitty gritty bits of running a business. So tell me more about what you’d create. What’s that look like in your mind’s eye?

S: Well, there’s tons of amazing artists in Bali and I’ve been able to network and make connections within that world. I would love to collaborate with some of the local artists like RizRizRizz, Mersuka Dopazo and Pete from The Esoteric World to create some Bali-inspired wallpapers.

K: Wow! That sounds rad — I would love to see those come to life and I do need to decorate my home office!

View artwork and products from RizRizRizz, Mersuka and The Esoteric World:

What’s one of your year-end goals for Hummingbird?

S: We’d love to streamline our installation times and be able to print in-house. Right now our turnaround time is around 2 weeks and I’d like to get that down to about 4-5 days for our customers. Being able to print in-house would also help streamline that process.

What’s one bit of advice you’d give to a younger version of yourself?

S: Stop trying to learn things you’re not good at and focus on the things you like. I wish in my 20s I had focused more on what I really loved to do and honed those skills instead of trying so many new things that I wasn’t super passionate about, though I am grateful for my years in corporate banking, which definitely fueled my ambitious nature.

K: Haha, I feel like I needed to hear that.. Although it is nice to be a jack of all trades, I definitely could benefit from trying to narrow down the funnel of what I do. That’s actually what I’m working on with Kayo right now…. Clear and concise branding/marketing is so important.

Lastly, how can people find you?

S: You can view our website or our Instagram just below by clicking on the image.

Hummingbird Home Decor