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The interior designer who stopped being a hostage to Instagram

Author

Anna Pawłowska

5 minutes

13 October 2026

Karolina Wiśniewska, owner of the MAMY WNĘTRZE interior design studio, built her own portfolio and services website in WebWave, on her own and without a developer.

Today, whether a client comes through a referral or from Instagram, they check out the studio in one place, and Karolina no longer depends on posting regularly on social media. The website wasn’t built with Google in mind, yet on first calls Karolina often hears: “I found you on Google.”

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What is the MAMY WNĘTRZE studio?

MAMY WNĘTRZE (Polish for “we’ve got the interior”) is an interior design studio based near Warsaw, Poland, run by Karolina Wiśniewska since 2014. For much of that time, she worked alone. As her projects grew in number and scale, she began building a team of regular collaborators, but she still personally leads the design direction, the concept and the client relationship.

Most of the studio’s work is residential, mainly houses. Karolina often designs for families who need an interior that not only looks good but, above all, works smoothly day to day. A smaller part of the business is commercial projects: offices, service premises and showrooms.

The studio mostly works in Warsaw, Legionowo and the northern part of the Mazovia region. For full-scope projects, Karolina also takes on work further afield, as many stages of the collaboration happen online.

In business	Typical client	Service area	Website
since 2014	families designing a home	Warsaw, Legionowo, northern Mazovia	built and run by Karolina in WebWave

On the website, clients will find a portfolio, the list of services, information about the designer, a contact form and a calendar where they can book a free consultation themselves.

The challenge: a portfolio scattered across reels and stories

Before the website, clients came to MAMY WNĘTRZE mainly through referrals, and the studio’s projects could be seen mostly on Instagram. From the start, a large share of new commissions came from people Karolina had designed for before. Social media was meant to be the second channel.

Over time, Karolina noticed that a referral or a post is only the beginning. Clients still want to check out the studio: see completed projects, understand the scope of the collaboration and the working style, and make sure they’ve come to the right person.

“Instagram is a great place to show a designer’s everyday work, but it’s hard to treat it as an organized portfolio and a full presentation of your services.”

For Karolina, having her own website was a natural stage in growing the business. She wanted a place she could send potential clients to, where in a few minutes they could see who she is, how she designs and whether her approach suits them.

Alongside the website, Karolina also opened a physical office. As she puts it, it was meant to do the same job as the website, just in real life.

Why WebWave and not WordPress or an agency?

Karolina chose WebWave because independence mattered to her: she wanted to decide how the website looks and make changes herself. As a designer, she has a very specific vision of how she wants to present her brand and her projects.

“I didn’t want to contact a developer or an agency every time I wanted to change a photo or some text, add a project or rework part of the site.”

WebWave let her design the website visually, her own way, and then manage it on her own. For the owner of a small studio, that’s an advantage, because, as Karolina says, the website can change along with the business.

Before launching, was she worried that a website made with a builder wouldn’t show up on Google? Her answer is honest:

“To be honest, I didn’t think about it at all back then.”

The goal was an organized portfolio and list of services in a place that doesn’t disappear under a stream of new posts and stories. Search visibility came later.

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How was mamywnetrze.pl built?

Karolina built the website herself, in stages, between projects and running the studio. Before publishing it, she changed the layout, photos, copy and the way content was presented many times over.

She estimates that without her own high standards, the website would have been ready in about a week. With them, it took longer, but at her own pace, without waiting for a developer to make changes.

The portfolio shows this best. Despite many completed projects, there is only one on the website so far.

“Designing interiors comes much more easily to me than deciding that a project presentation is polished enough to publish.”

Sound familiar? Many designers have folders full of completed projects waiting for “perfect” photos. The difference is that Karolina can add another project at any moment, by herself, without outsourcing it to anyone.

Results: the website as a checkpoint on the client journey

The MAMY WNĘTRZE website is where clients check out the studio before they call. Karolina doesn’t give a number of inquiries “from the website”, because her clients rarely reach the studio through a single channel.

A typical client journey looks like this:

They see the studio’s office or hear about it from friends.
They check the website: projects, services, way of working.
They read Google reviews.
They look at Instagram.
They call or get in touch via the contact form.

The order varies, but before first contact, a client usually checks the studio in several places. The website brings all of that information together along the way.

“A client who calls me often isn’t coming completely ‘off the street’ anymore. They’ve already seen what I do, how I work and whether my approach feels right to them.”

According to Karolina, the contact form works great. The studio doesn’t keep statistics that would attribute specific projects to a single channel. The best signal for her is what clients say on the first call: that they found her on Google, saw the website or read the reviews.

So far, Karolina hasn’t analyzed her traffic in Google Search Console or done any search-focused work. That’s why this case study doesn’t quote click or impression numbers; instead, it describes what the studio sees in practice.

Interior designer working on a laptop in her studio office

Can a website made with a builder help you win clients from Google?

Yes, because Google doesn’t judge the tool a website was built with, but what’s on it: the content, the structure and whether it answers searchers’ questions.

Karolina’s website clearly says what the studio does and where it operates. The service name and location appear in the page title, description and headings: interior design, Warsaw, Legionowo, Mazovia. On top of that, there are Google reviews, which clients read before dialing the number.

In WebWave, you set the page title, the description shown in search results and the headings yourself, without touching any code. We show how on the Branding and SEO in WebWave page.

What’s next: a blog that answers clients’ questions

Karolina plans to launch a blog on her website that will serve as a knowledge base for people about to build, renovate or furnish a home. For now, the menu tab carries the note “under construction”.

“I’m not interested in writing articles just so more keywords show up on Google. I want to answer the questions I actually hear from clients.”

She wants to show solutions proven in practice and highlight decisions worth making early enough. If the blog brings in new people from Google along the way, she’ll treat it as a bonus.

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Key takeaways: what the MAMY WNĘTRZE story teaches

Your own website gives an interior designer one place where clients can check the portfolio and services, plus independence from the social media algorithm. Here are four lessons from Karolina’s story:

A website helps clients decide: a client from a referral or social media will want to check you out anyway, so give them one place for your projects, services and way of working.
Independence: if every photo change requires an email to a developer, the website ages quickly, while one you edit yourself grows with your business.
Don’t wait for a full set of perfect projects: one well-presented project is worth more than ten sitting in a folder.
Write about what clients ask: answers to real pre-renovation questions are useful both to readers and to Google.

We cover what an interior designer’s website should include in our guide on how to build an online portfolio website.

“I don’t know if a website is a must for every designer. I know that it makes my life much easier. I have one place I can send anyone who asks about my work. No hunting for projects among reels, stories and posts. Thanks to the website, I’m not a hostage to posting regularly on social media.”

Karolina Wiśniewska, MAMY WNĘTRZE

Frequently asked questions

Does an interior designer need a website if they have Instagram?

Instagram is good at showing everyday work, but it’s hard to organize a portfolio and services there. A website gives clients one place to check your projects, scope of services and way of working before the first call.

Can you run a WebWave website without a developer?

Yes. Karolina Wiśniewska built the MAMY WNĘTRZE website herself and makes changes on her own: she swaps photos, edits copy and adds projects without involving a developer or an agency.

How long does it take to build an interior designer portfolio website?

It depends on how much time you spend polishing the details. Karolina built her website in stages, between projects, and estimates that without perfectionism it would have taken about a week.

Is a website made with a website builder visible on Google?

Google evaluates a website’s content and structure, not the tool it was built with. In WebWave, you set the page title, the description in search results and the headings yourself: the elements that tell Google what you do and where you operate.