I am in New York City. My sister just had a baby so I am hanging out with her this week. Yesterday a friend of hers stopped by to see the baby. We were hanging out chatting. I had never met her and she was asking me all about what I did. I realized that a lot of people are curious about this profession, would maybe even like some services but think that it’s either out of reach, or only for the very wealthy. There are a host of services available by many designers.
She asked me what I did, what I specialized in. And what I liked about my work.
I am all about color. I love color. That doesn’t mean that I do all cobalt blue or everything tan. I like figuring out what makes clients happy with color and then pulling together their decor in away that is very personal to them. I am just finishing up a home right now with browns, and golds and brick tones. We came up with this palette because a dominant design element in their city condo is a brick wall of the building across the street. The colors HAD to work with the brick. We had thought of adding some blue or grey or green, as those balance brick nicely, but decided to stick with the brown/gold/red scheme instead.
For This Old House, a lot of visitors to the home comment on how nice the colors are and how good the space feels. This makes me happy. We did greens and blues and cremes to balance out the wood tones.
I love window treatments. I like them simple and done properly. Most homes could benefit from simple tailored window treatments. I rarely suggest no decorative treatments, but sometimes this is the right way to go. One of my favorite projects which I wish I had a picture of was a persimmon (an orange-ish color) floor to ceiling drape I did for a bay window on Marlboro Street in Boston. That was a lot of unexpected drama and made the space come alive.
I am pretty into fabric. I like learning about the technical aspect of fabric, how different fabrics are made, what goes into the process. I have a few books on fabrics. I am a designer geek.
I like tile, and pattern, and really great lighting.
Love working with people and making something beautiful come together.
A good friend of mine is in the process of a large installation for a major restaurant opening. This can be the stressful part of the job. Installs. But they are also the part where everything comes all together and you get to step back and see all your hard work not just in your mind (most designers “see it” well before the project is put together) or on paper. I do love witnessing the transformation that happens.