Latter-day Saint Sisters Talk How to Have Succesful Business and a Loving Home

Heather Fujikawa and Heidi Andrews are Latter-day Saint twin sisters who were blessed to have been raised by a mother who always found beauty in even the rarest and most obscure details that the average person would tend to overlook. Heather says, “She taught us to pause and find beauty in things. And not only that but [to] create beauty.” From that early appreciation of beautiful details and creativity was born a passion for interior design, which ultimately led to the start of their own company, Joyful Living.

Heather and Heidi also have their own television show, Design Twins, which premiered on Uptv on 14 February 2019. The show airs at 8:00 pm EST on Thursday evenings and features their husbands, Tyson and Paul, and their combined seven children, who are all under the age of six. Heather has three sons and Heidi has four daughters. To get the business off the ground, both families moved into Heather’s home, taking the “it takes a village” concept to a whole new level.

The sisters named their business Joyful Living because it’s the principle they start with – joy. One of the first questions that they ask when meeting with a client is, “What brings you joy?” That initial question gives the sisters a reference point to work from as they discover their client’s passions and interests, the elements of design that they like, and the kind of experience that they want to have in their home.

According to the Uptv website, “In the show Design Twins on UPtv, twin sisters Heidi and Heather team up on a new interior design business, Joyful Living, to transform people’s homes with creative ideas, inventive solutions, and beautiful design meant for families to actually live in.” The sisters say, “How can we tell their story through the design in their home? If you do that, you’re always going to design a space that celebrates your clients, and in the end, your client will be encircled by things, colors, and an overall design that brings them joy and comfort.”

For Heather and Heidi, the family is at the forefront and they believe home is a place where people should feel and experience “some of life’s greatest moments”—and those moments should be centered on family and family relationships. That priority is incorporated into their home designs. They say, “Relationships are established and maintained under the roof. Those walls are filled with laughter, joy, and sadness at times, so with this spectrum of emotions, home is where deep-rooted connections are made. Helping our children through the path of life all starts in the home.”

About their approach to design, Heather and Heidi say, “Being [mothers] gave us more of a practical and real-life approach to design, with everything from choice of fabric to flooring, to naturally putting breakable pieces up high on shelves, out of reach of those cute little hands. You can have nice things if you’re mindful of where to put them.”

LDS Living reports, “Despite their love of designing kid-friendly living spaces, ultimately, Heidi and Heather attest that building in time with family and children is the most important part to a home.”The two mothers have worked at finding that delicate balance between work and family, finding ways to always remain close and present to their children – being in full mommy mode off camera and giving their children their all when they can during filming. The television series also gives viewers unique insights as the twins juggle the chaos of family, work, play, hard times, and good times, while still finding joy.

Heather and Heidi hope that the audience “will feel they can be empowered in their own homes and what brings joy and happiness inside the walls of their home. Overall, if they could feel Christ’s love through watching the show by seeing how we strive to live our life with Christ at the center, that would make us happier than anything else they could be inspired by.” They further commented, “As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, our [inspiration] to design [comes from a desire to] incorporate light and love in the home that really all points to the light and love that our Savior Jesus Christ brings into our lives.”