I am a firm believer in designing rooms for clients that speak to who you are and how you live, not who I am and what my taste is.  I take this aspect of my role as your designer seriously.  It’s important that I become familiar with your taste, color and style preferences.  During initial consults, client’s often say things, like, ‘oh, I don’t know what I like, you just do it.’  I do not buy into that notion.  

My experience has shown me that client’s DO know what they like, although they might not be able to describe their look, or feel confident about it.  The other thing that I have found is that client’s are far more satisfied with the results of our work together when the space speaks to the best of who they are.  

This, my friends, is one of the most rewarding aspects of the work that I do.  I consider myself an intuitive person, committed to tuning into how you interpret general design elements, color, materials, lighting and the use of space.  Good designers nail the look of their client’s, respecting their physiology, energy, functional needs…their take on the world.  

I also feel that the bones of a space, it’s lines, footprint, architecture, indigenous landscape, speak to me.  I try to listen, respecting what they have to say.  

I give my clients homework before developing their design concept.  The exercise?  Select visuals that express the feeling you would like to have within your space.  Trickled throughout this post are examples of visuals that illustrate design preferences.  

I am open to any image; it’s not limited to specific examples of the spaces we’ll be working in.  I can interpret the intention with a bit of dialogue.  

If I skip this simple step, (which I recently did on a project), I can miss the mark of your personal expression/preferences and it takes me longer to ‘get you.’  

When all is said and done, YOUR experience in the space is the most important measurement of my success in serving your design needs.

all images c/o:  Gitte Andersen (discovered via desiretoinspire).