DETAILS HELP TELL THE WHOLE STORY

When you first visit a well-designed space, you know it “feels” right. You can’t necessarily put your finger on why that is, but you know the space as a whole feels harmonious, perfect.

As designers, however, we know exactly what evokes that feeling and makes a space well thought-out. It’s all in the details.

Making the details ‘blend in’

To the casual observer, the details don’t always jump out. And that’s the beauty of artful home design — we don’t pay special attention to all the elements because we want them to call attention to themselves. We do it because it is through the effective mix of all those elements — from the materials used and down to the tiniest fixture or accent color — that we can create that unison that makes a home feel “right.”

This is not about being trendy, nor is the goal to fill every single inch with something. In fact, paying attention to details sometimes means that you don’t have any details at all. At least not in the sense of tangible things. Instead, we create beauty out of simplicity, “playing” with scale, contrast, balance and other design features.

Design as an organic process

One of our challenges as home designers is to convince clients themselves to not focus on the details during the design process. Sometimes they fall in love with specific ideas and they struggle to see how everything will come together in the final assembly.

Often times, however, we start with one idea but we have to switch gears and use a different element. In the process, we’re pushing other ideas around, allowing the emotional sides of our brains to lead.

If you’re not familiar with this organic process, it may seem like the finished product is accidental. Perhaps it is, in some ways — but only because we have kept a keen eye on each detail throughout this evolution.

Starting with the end in mind

We’ve talked about the importance of the narrative before. The narrative is the reason why our clients are always awed in the end, even if we’ve challenged them along the way and have pushed them beyond their comfort zone.

Being artistic is the easy part. But we’re not successful if our homes are not functional.

That’s why we never deviate from the program, which we develop based on the clients’ needs and dreams.
As long as we’ve followed the storyboard, in the end, all the details will fall ​into place. And the home will feel “right.”