Casa Áurea: The Project That Shaped My Path as a Designer

Back in September 2017, 8 years ago, the first version of Casa Áurea was born. This project didn't start as just any business, but as a very real need: we were a new family with a little baby, with diapers, doctors, and all those expenses that hit you all at once. We had to move forward, and all we had were our determination and our skills.

My wife, with her talent as an Architect and Kitchen Designer, and I, with a Bachelor's in Business Creation and Development, decided to join forces. From there, Casa Áurea was born: integral kitchens, walk-in closets, bathrooms, TV furniture and custom pieces, but above all, a personalized experience from start to finish. From the first construction movements, through virtual reality design with glasses so the client could see their kitchen before building it, to final delivery and after-sales service.

The Challenge of Building the First Website

Back then, I faced a great challenge: building the first website. I knew the objective was clear: rank for the keyword "integral kitchens Culiacán". I already had some notion of SEO, but nothing about programming or digital design. So I jumped in. It was months of learning alone: buying courses, reading UX books, watching YouTube tutorials, validating wireframes with clients, putting everything into practice, until one ordinary day I found Figma and it was like opening a new door.

At the same time, I was looking for how to program the site. I didn't have resources to pay someone, so I went the hard way: straight to code, with HTML and CSS, errors, bugs and more errors, and without plugins that tell you what's wrong. It was trial after trial, correcting line by line and learning on the go, with small advances that motivated me to keep going. Four months passed of sleepless nights, working until 2 or 3 in the morning, until one ordinary Tuesday, at 2 in the morning, I managed to connect everything, buy the domain, upload it to hosting and publish it on the internet. Just me, in my living room, jumping with excitement: the first version of Casa Áurea was online.

The First Miracle

A week later, the phone rang. The first client. My wife and I, excited, got into the car we had and went to visit her. Right there, with the proposal and quote in hand, we managed to sell our first kitchen. It was a miracle. That moment changed our lives. From there, more clients started coming, more projects, more learning.

That was also the beginning of another story: my life as a designer and programmer. Because from that need, a passion was born. I learned to conceptualize, design and build, uniting business, technology and design. And that passion led me to work in different companies, with many teams, learning more every day.

Today: Casa Áurea 2.0

Today, eight years later, I feel very proud to present the Casa Áurea 2.0 version. This time with all the accumulated experience:

• 🎨 A design and experience thought through from start to finish
• 🚀 Next.js for fast loading
• 🔍 Optimized SEO
• 🔗 CMS connected with GraphQL

Today I return to the origin, but stronger, more prepared and with the same excitement as that first client who opened doors for us.