Daily Inspiration: Meet Nina Selby

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nina Selby.

Hi Nina, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I would say this journey began in 2015. My husband and I bought our first fixer-upper in Normal Heights, with the intention of one day building ADUs on the property and purchasing more real estate. I was working in Lending, and my husband in Real Estate.

In the meantime, we house hacked. We put some money into fixing the property up and then hosted Airbnb and had roommates. We saved and saved.

We eventually saved up to purchase a new primary to remodel (a duplex in South Park we got historically designated) and rented out our first home. We continued to live below our means and save as much as we could. While living in South Park, we purchased an investment property in Kansas City.

We lived in South Park for a few years and welcomed our first baby. I eventually left Lending to focus on being a mom first and on my own projects. It was during this time I watched our baby crawl through the doggie door. We realized we really needed more space.

In 2022 we moved to Mt. Helix to what we call our “temporary” forever home. I don’t believe in forever homes, because you never know what adventure is around the corner. That being said, this house checked alot of boxes (including having an ADU). We were excited to take on another huge renovation really customized to us as opposed to staying in the box of what’s renter friendly down the line. We completed the renovation on our Spanish farmhouse called Alqueria right before our second baby came.

Over the last 8 years, I slowly began consulting and staging for clients, while working hand in hand with my husband to manage our own projects.

Currently we just sold our first flip, and we are set to complete construction on 2 additional ADUs on the first property we purchased. I’m really starting to push myself creatively and it’s amazing to see our dreams from 8 years ago come to fruition. I do it all with babies on my hip, and I can honestly say I am just getting started.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Not at all. There were times when we would wake up before my 9-5 job to clean the Airbnbs and hustle to do same-day turnovers. I’ve had paint spilled in my car AC unit, numerous late calls to plumbers, and lived in construction 3 times. We still laugh about how I had to hose down my husband in the backyard before he showed property since our shower was not working yet. I have dragged my kiddos to numerous construction sites and staging jobs, taking time to nurse in the car. It’s been a wild ride, and definitely not glamorous, but worth it to create the flexible lifestyle our family wants.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I wear many hats. I strive to be multifaceted. I would say it starts with my true love for historic homes and keeping the integrity of a home. I believe in working with what you have and being creative in your revamp. Not everything in a home needs to be redone. Its often more interesting to preserve origional fixtures and create the refresh with furniture. I’m proud of the projects I have done because I invest a lot into them emotionally. I have a general love for design, and can ponder over tile and paint swatches for hours. I have really enjoyed jumping in with clients to give facelifts to properties prior to a sale. It’s amazing what little things can make big impacts.

What were you like growing up?
I grew up in Hawaii, spending all of my time barefoot outside. My parents bought a few acres of land and built a home. I grew up learning how to paint and drywall. There was always some kind of project. Moving to the Mt.Helix area and having a large yard space again really feels like a coming home moment.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @sundaysinsandiego

Image Credits
JennaJo photography