emily lauderback stewart design and renovation

Emily spent several hours with us helping us develop a color palette for our home and choosing specific colors for each room. We followed her recommendations to a T and absolutely love the results. We hadn't painted in close to ten years because we could not decide on colors. She talked us through the process, instructed us on color theory and helped us figure out what details to focus on when making our decisions. The painting and floors were completed in the middle of quarantine, and while we haven't been able to share the results with too many friends, we have been so happy to spend much more time in our freshly decorated home.

Emily has a specific process for managing design, remodel, and color consultation projects. We trusted her process and are very happy with the results! Our kitchen and bathroom were totally remodeled from the studs and other rooms in our home were beautifully refurbished. Emily has an amazing sense for color and she patiently guided us in choosing our interior and exterior palette for our entire house. Our project was completed on time and exceeded our design expectations.

Emily worked with us on the remodel of our 1918 bungalow in Ballard. Our primary goals were to refinish the floors, completely remodel the bathroom, and update the overall look of the interior. One of Emily’s gifts is a great sense of color and space. She didn’t impose a design on the house, but instead, took in the furnishings, art, and space and then worked with us to identify the colors that would bring the place to life. She took us where we would not have thought to go with colors that really resonated for us and embraced the spirit of the house. A few highlights include making a change in the how the cove ceilings were painted that enhanced the sense of space, selecting living room and dining room rugs with colors and textures which contribute to the overall feel of the house, staining the new oak floor to build on the wainscoting as well as getting a nice match for the stain of new base boards, a color scheme for the kitchen we would have never come up with and which we absolutely love, and a smart and space conscious design of a completely remodeled bathroom with a glass enclosed walk-in shower. Emily made great suggestions, allowing us to make decisions based on our aesthetic and budget. She helped with everything from the overall design, to color, to hardware and everything in between. And she brought a very fine team of craftsman with her who do exceptional, high-quality work, managing the project to meet the deadlines she promised.

I loved working with Emily and would definitely hire her again! I initially reached out to her for some help selecting furniture for an empty space that I was hoping to turn into a home office, but as soon as she got into my house, I realized she could be helpful for so many things, which led to significant scope creep (but it was worth it!). She helped me reorganize the furniture in a room that just wasn't working, helped select new paint and flooring for our mudroom (which definitely wasn't working) and downstairs half bath, and accompanied me on shopping trips to select pillows and accent touches that I would never have chosen for myself (but that I love!). And I now have a beautiful office with built in bookshelves, window seat, and meditation loft in my former empty space. And what's more - the whole house hangs together! Emily recommended patterns and fabrics for a specific location that also complemented and worked with fabrics in an entirely different part of the house. My dad used to say that in a good meal, you can't necessarily identify a specific spice, but the whole thing works together. In the same way, no one is ever going to look at my office and say, "oh wow, it's so cool how that cushion cover kind of matches the one downstairs" but they will feel good in the space and appreciate that the whole house makes sense. And needless to say, Emily managed all aspects within budget and timeline and was an overall pleasure to work with!

Emily spent the afternoon at our house on an exterior color consultation. We had been struggling with what colors to choose for our house for months. In one afternoon, she came up with an absolutely stunning color scheme that suits the design and era of our house, its surrounding landscape, and our very particular tastes. I cannot praise her more highly. She is a gifted designer and color consultant and is wonderful and fun to work with.

Emily provided us with a consultation on tile selection and general tips on planning a bathroom remodel. We hired our own contractors for the job. We spent a few hours with Emily and she helped us choose our bath surround and floor tile and gave us advice on installation. She also taught me a lot about design along the way and I have found that our time with her was invaluable. She is very talented. She gave us a lot of advice related to tile layout that we never would have come up with on our own, and the project turned out much better than if we hadn’t involved her. She GREATLY narrowed our tile choices and eliminated ideas that I had going in, which saved a lot of time and headache and saved us from bad decisions that would have been impossible to reverse. She provided several concrete tasks to carry out and that were do-able. I get a lot of compliments on my bathroom now, and I’m proud of the end result. At the time, bringing in a designer to give us advice on tile seemed very extravagant; however, in the long run, it turned out that it was well worth the investment, considering the cost of her service compared with the overall project and also considering how expensive tile installation can be.

Simply put, Emily is a joy to work with and extraordinary at what she does. We recently completed a large-scale exterior renovation (+$500K) of our pacific northwest craftsman home including hardscaping, new exterior structures (exterior pavilion and hot tub area), landscaping as well as a remodeled ground-floor entertainment room. We initially hired Emily to do an interior & exterior color consultation for this project, but once we experienced her work first hand we brought her onboard to consult on major design decisions, colors and materials selection. Hiring Emily was the best investment we've ever made. With exquisite attention to detail, a keen eye for color and a passion for honoring the heritage of craftsman homes, Emily's contributions played an enormous role in the renovation of our dreams. As we reflect on the final outcome, it's clear to see the impact of countless design decisions coming together in a cohesive and beautiful way - from the color of the bluestone to the house color scheme to our new exterior lighting and hardware - everything flows. On the practical side of things, her execution was flawless and she worked seamlessly with an extensive group of contractors and subcontractors (e.g. carpenters, stone workers, architects, cabinet makers, painters, landscapers and more) to deliver this project on time. Our thanks to Emily for an extraordinary outcome - we give her our highest recommendation.

Emily is a magician! I found Emily on Houzz, I was looking for someone to help pick out paint colors to update and prepare for selling. We have lived in our home for 30 years, so I have painted every room multiple times, but now needed help to bring out the best of my home for selling. Emily has a math background and with her color knowledge picked out some amazing paint colors, that bring out the best of my home! It was like magic. Emily is very reassuring during the process, assuring me “I won’t let you make a mistake “. Loved our interior results so much , we had Emily pick our exterior paint colors too! Thanks to Emily’s vision, I have the best dressed home on our street! The modern “cool house”. We plan on selling late 2019, and have had a neighbor already offer to purchase our home! Thank you Emily!

When my husband and I moved to a new home we wanted to make certain we chose colors that we wouldn't want to change every other year, which we had done in our previous home. After reading online reviews we met with Emily - and we absolutely love the colors! She was very patient with us in nailing down our palette. We finally moved in over three months ago and the colors have soothed all of the unpacking, cleaning, and contract work. We call her our color therapist. We are amazed how well she captured what we needed and what works with our furniture and personalities. We love a ton of color, and Emily helped us find new mature colors that work with our stately Tudor. I was worried about the green in the dining room, and it’s now one of my favorite rooms! And everyone loves the blue green in the living room which changes beautifully with the light. Thank you Emily!

Four years after a $100k+ renovation, I can look back and say that hiring Emily was one of the best decisions I made. I'm a bit of a control nut and wanted to make every decision in my renovation myself so that my newly designed house felt very "me". By the time I called Emily, I had 5 different directions I was considering for my countertops, backsplash etc... and was on the verge of suffering from analysis paralysis. Emily came in to simply pick some paint colors for me (there's nothing simple about picking paint colors by the way). She immediately helped me to select my final materials as well as choose 7+ different paint colors from walls to cabinets to an island and a wet bar. This all happened in less than 4 hours. There's no way I could have done that myself in 4 weeks and have all the materials and paint work so well together. She truly has a gift for colors I can't understand but very much appreciate. More recently I was doing some remodel work and Emily came to the rescue again, this time in weeding through the mess of options for finishes. Again, I still wanted control but needed someone to help direct me towards a few options. She went to her recommended stores with me, introduced me to folks that could help and again gave me a few options to choose for shades and a bench cushion and pillows that went with the existing paint colors and materials in my house. It's hard to imagine making any progress without Emily. I highly recommend her to anyone considering painting anything in their house or decorating in the hopes that their fabrics and finishes match. I will continue to work with Emily on all future projects I have.

I found Emily on my own, read her reviews, and couldn't be happier with my decision. I wanted to take down an entire wall, and with Emily's knowledge and keen eye, was able to keep the wall while still ending up with the open concept kitchen design I wanted. Emily listened intently to what I wanted, and worked her color magic with the lighting in my house. I really appreciated the personal time I spent with Emily picking out lights, cabinets and countertops. She is flexible, and listens and responds to your ideas and requests.

I have admired Emily's work for years, so when it came time to update our kitchen, we turned to Emily for guidance. And that is precisely how she approaches her work; guiding you through your choices based on her vast knowledge of color and her ability to see both the big picture and stay focused on important details. Emily helped to design the flow of our kitchen (small, challenging space) and that aspect of our remodel has been critical. Our contractor and cabinet people agree that her design was by far the best; thought was given to every inch of space. We used many of our favorite belongings to create a beautiful color palette that we continue to use to make choices for furnishings. Having that packet of paint colors with me as I make decisions has been SO helpful! I always know I am choosing something that will integrate beautifully into our home. Emily also put us in touch with incredible vendors and professionals we will continue to work with as we update other aspects of our home - amazing people! All of this was done with our budget in mind. It was liberating to get OFF of Pinterest and rely on Emily's expertise. Our kitchen (and other rooms for which we sought Emily's guidance) are absolutely gorgeous! We are SO happy with our beautiful kitchen and color palette! Put down those paint chips and include Emily in your project - you will be thrilled!