A Process for Discovering
Over the years we’ve entered a few spaces in the ASID design competitions, both local and statewide. Annually, top interior design firms are selected for particular areas of accomplishment and in the past, we’ve had the good fortune to take home a couple of first place glass trophies for a master bedroom design and a commercial renovation. That said, the awards and recognition are nice, but the process of thinking through our work with intentional reflection is what makes this so important. How often do you have to stop and summarize the essentials of your process for a project? It’s a difficult assignment, but one that has inspired us, so we’d love to share a little bit about this design process. We’re giving others an idea of what it looks like to create a space that meets a specific criteria while still reflecting the life of the individuals who will live there. Each of these small studies is a poignant moment in validating the process of what we do and how it differs from solely focusing on just making a room look pretty.
A Kitchen for Living
What began as an 80’s fluorescent-lighted cooking space with laminate counters, atop square glazed tile flooring, ultimately transformed into something not only updated, but more in line with the residents’ life habits. Practically, we had to organize the space into work zones for cleaning, cooking, bar and serving. There were too many doors,compromising usable workspace. But, the natural light was a key element. Ultimately, our friends who live here love to cook and entertain simultaneously. That’s part of their style and energy in hosting. So they needed to be able to make a feast without facing their backs to everyone, and guests needed a way to be comfortable during the preparation. Organizationally, this meant keeping the arrangement logical, but also intentional. Dirty dishes shouldn’t sit front and center.
This family loves light! That’s what Texas has the most of, sunlight, but rather than bringing it in through doors and a decaying skylight, we opted for a picture window above the sink. But it needed balance, so a solar tube took the place of the skylight as well as a hammered copper vent hood to allow the cooking to be done right in the middle of the kitchen, across from simple pullout seating.
Country Club Function and Beauty
With a name like Boot Ranch, it’s easy to picture something with rustic sensibility. But, we needed to remove some of the “bulk” commonly associated with that style to accommodate more seating. When you talk about reflecting a purpose in a space, there is nothing more clear cut than this. It’s a country club, it’s all about socializing in a refined and yet communal atmosphere! The goal here was to move past the obvious “design problems” and take time to know the space and the people who “live” there as they work in it day to day.
The chairs were too bulky for servers to move easily, so we found a lighter weight option that we adorned in heavy and durable fabric. Space was captured using a banquette in a small, formerly under utilized living room. We designed and installed custom bar racks for quicker drink service. Due to the nature of the business hours, we planned everything a year in advance and installed everything during their “closed” day of the week, so as not to disrupt operations.
Aesthetically, the solution followed the fundamentals of decluttering and brightening. Excess furniture and accessories were removed. Walls and carpet were brightened allowing light to bounce around and fill the space, setting off the vast original art collection that covers every wall. What we heard everyone asking for was a series of practical changes and a general improvement in the look, but reading between the lines, listening, we really understood there to be a need for better light, more practical furnishings, and for a space that carried the architecture rather than covering it.
Space for Play
Imagine a room filled with tumbling children, grandparents sitting down to a board game with the youngest while dad wrestles the others in a somewhat degenerated game of hide and seek. What we saw in this family was their three generation, ever-growing family and the need to be able to accomodate them without worrying about the more precious artifacts that are typical to a grandparent’s home. And yet, there is no need for it to look like a daycare facility. The kids aren’t around every single day, and this home needs to belong to its beautiful Texas Hill Country environment. We needed a home that held this balance and reflected this unique and precious time in life.
Fabrics were selected that were not only durable, but easily washable. We created a large, set-apart space that would not only carry the style of the house (rustic wood and textural hides) but intentionally contain all that wonderful childhood chaos and playful energy. Board games have prominent homes in the media cabinet, the coffee table is bulky and flat, but light enough for the anyone to move. Bunks with camp-bedding and a small staircase create simple and imaginative sleeping arrangements for all the siblings and cousins. On the wall, the ever-present game of scrabble. A bathroom that flows through to the pool, so there’s no need to track watery, grass stained feet through the living room!
You can’t corral the children, but you can create a space that draws them in and invites them to engage fully. Children need their own little kingdoms, and this is as near to a hill country fairy-land as one could hope for. The grandkids are drawn to be here and play here, allowing the rest of the home to function toward the adult lifestyle of our friends who live there full time. They haven’t given the house over to the grandkids, but have intentionally created an inviting and containing space for them to be rambunctious and fully alive and playful!
The Art of Listening
Simple, practical decisions don’t appear out of thin air. You don’t think to cover furniture in a kids room with washable fabric unless you have had the chance to engage a person’s family story. You don’t think about a lighter chair for the country club dining room unless you listen to the staff. Every practical idea has it’s birthplace somewhere, and for us, that’s nowhere further than the person we are serving. That’s design, discovering solutions for that tension created between vivid dreams and practical needs. For us, it’s something methodical and systematic, a way to harness all the creativity inside everyone we work with and bring those wild imaginings into the real world.