You just never know when clients are going to be “ready”. It could be weeks, it could be years.

My job is to be there when they are.

My job is to be there when they are, all in.

So, a few potential clients are initially confused by ‘what I do exactly’.

I am an Interior Designer that also does the Construction Management piece and I also have my Realtor’s license. While they all may seem totally all-encompassing jobs each one, they are one to me. It is how my brain works.

Started Interior Designs 20+ years ago.

Six years into that, had a client that I had just started working with in Chicago ask me to come along to see an apartment she was thinking about purchasing and have me to redesign it. We loved it, I showed her what could be done. Her next question… why could I not be her GC as well. Added General Contractor.

Had a wonderful client two years ago ask me how many houses have I sold to my clients? Had no idea what she was talking about. “Sarah, your clients would not have bought that house if you had not cast the vision for them”. Added Realtor.

What I love is you can use a tiny piece or the whole pie of what can be done. Bottom line, I love houses, have since I was a kid. When I lived in the UK, every weekend was spent driving around to hundreds of National Trust properties all over Scotland, Wales and England. All my colleagues thought I was nuts-even though most were only a few hours away, it was though I was driving to the North Pole. Some were even in my backyard, Chartwell-the home of Churchill, Knole House-one of the homes of the Archbishop of Canterbury and one of my favourites of all time, Sissinghurst Castle-home of writers Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicholson. The gardens at Sissinghurst are some of the best in the world, a sort of tame wild.

I digress.

A home is where you should feel your best, even when you may not. It comforts you, even when messy, chaotic or empty. Home might be temporary. My husband will tell you that we moved five times in three years. He would roll his eyes when the movers would come and an entire truck heading to our “temporary” home. I would always have the walls and trim painted and have our things (even if an edited amount). Paintings were hung and sometimes even lighting switched out. (yes, I am that person at a hotel that completely unpacks, even for one night).

When I sell a house for a client, the 1st question I ask them is, “Are you ready?” Most do not know what that actually means. Being ready means, the house is no longer theirs. We start the process of getting it ready for the new owners from the moment they say GO.

It is the same with a remodel and design. What you know now is going to change. My greatest hope is that whomever you choose as your TEAM, ie: General Contractor, Interior Designer, possibly an Architect and Realtor as well, that they are not distracted but FULLY engaged in what is an expensive, sometimes brain draining, inconvenient process with a butterfly effect in the end.

When you interview your TEAM- have questions, expectations and how it all works. Know that they are interviewing you as well.

Ready is when you are. If you would like to see when that might be, call me, we can chat.

 (a working textile/tile/flooring/wallpaper/paint/fixture/lighting library.

That pretty much always looks like this)

beginnings of all the fixtures/showers doors/lighting/hardware/toilets, etc etc etc that is coming in for a new project. It pretty much always looks like this)