Grand Rapids Interior Designers and Decorators

"OVERVIEW We live on a lake near a golf course. We had hired several different architects at different times to come up with plans to expand and enhance our lake residence. We finally came upon one that had a design that we liked, and subsequently commenced construction. At this early stage of construction, Steve happened to call “out-of-the-blue” to ask how things were, as we had not talked to him for a few years. I filled him in on what we were doing and he was interested in seeing it. He came to the site and overviewed the architectural plans. Since we had worked together years before, he was keenly aware of the furniture that we would be using. I have a very ornate oriental table that is inlayed with mother-of-pearl. Steve felt very strongly that the architectural details did not mesh at all with the furniture. He asked if the architect ever inquired as to the type of furniture that I have, and I told him “No”. Steve said that was a big mistake on the architect’s part. Because of that one small question that Steve asked, it saved us from going in a direction that would have not ended up well. Thank God, he has a very holistic vision! He sees and makes sure that both the architecture and interior design work together as a unit and complement each other. He always says, “You can never really separate architecture from interior design.” Well, to make a long story shorter, Steve ended up designing everything from custom moldings, a custom stairway and handrails, three custom fireplace surrounds, and custom bookcases so everything would be conducive as architectural backdrops and tie-ins to all the furniture that would come later. Wow! And, talking about furniture, he ended up designing several custom furniture pieces. Steve designed custom nightstands for the master bedroom, a Tansu chest for the master bedroom, and an armoire for the master bedroom. Their style and elegance are impressive. In addition, he created a pair of wonderful consoles for sitting right next to the library chaises', as well as a pair of very unique drum tables between the chaises". In short, he envisioned and designed five very exclusive pieces of furniture. Steve created all the wonderful and comprehensive architectural millwork. All the walls and the cathedral ceilings in the major rooms are covered in custom wallcoverings hand-made in Italy and Japan. The master bedroom walls and cathedral ceiling are covered in hand-painted silk wallcovering … very elegant! There is such an immense value added to the final finished look and feel of all the rooms when Steve outshines his peers by incorporating the electrical and specific lighting plans with the floor plan and furniture layout. Rarely, if ever, do interior designers know to do this. Our architects never considered it! How can you, when you don't know what the final finished rooms are going to be like with all the furniture in place? That's where Steve comes in! Nothing looks right if you don't light it right. It's become a wonderful environment for living, especially when you couple it up with living on a lake as well. Without Steve, it would never have come to fruition, and we would have missed a great opportunity! We are so appreciative of his time, talent, wisdom, insight, perception, vision, attention to detail, and most of all, his ability to see things done before they become a reality. Because of his knowledge and having carpentry skills as well, he relates very well to contractors and tradesmen. All I can say is WOW! What a blessing to have the right people and the right designer! The look he developed is an extension of the tastes, personalities, lifestyle, and dreams of my husband and me. Steve is truly a master of his craft! ABILITY TO SEE THINGS IN THEIR COMPLETED FORM BEFORE THEY ARE FINISHED This particular attribute that Steve has was extremely beneficial for me. It’s challenging for me to fully explain it, but I will do my best. Steve has a very remarkable, valuable, and precious gift. He has a knack to not only envision beautiful interiors, but also the ability to fully explain his ideas in careful and accurate details before they are transformed into reality. I personally do not have that skill, nor could I picture the total finished project in Technicolor before we met. By using specific words, he helped me create a picture in my mind of what he had envisioned. This is a gift to and for him as a designer, but also for the recipient. In this case, I was the recipient. If you are wise, you will be a recipient, too. He is precise with his word choices. I appreciated him taking the time to initially ask the right questions so that we were able to get the best results. Would you want to go on an expensive design and decorating journey in uncharted waters without an expert guide?! Do you prefer a guide who can see and visualize things before you arrive at the destination? One who can explain it to you in crisp detail, so that you can see it and feel it before you get there? It’s both an exciting and secure feeling to experience! Honestly, I’ve read so many reviews here on Houzz. The majority of the comments include “So and so designer is just awesome and wonderful!” Yet, I don’t see it in their work. I have been to New York City and have immersed myself in some of the best interior design work available. It’s only when you’ve seen and been exposed to the best that you can accurately judge the rest. CUSTOM FURNITURE DESIGN There are many cases in a home where nothing on the market can be found to elicit the right connotation, look, and feel. One can look the world over to find that perfect piece of furniture and not find it. This is where custom furniture design comes into play. It’s absolutely wonderful when you can find within one designer the talent to create great interiors which have ambience. To also have that same person design furniture to go perfectly with it. . . WOW! It reminds me of French history where the Architects/Interior Designers Percier and Fontaine designed not only interiors but all the furniture as well. One can find these types of designers in New York, but it’s a rare treasure to find one in southwest Michigan. Steve has a great command of form, shape, proportion, and texture. He has a very fine-tuned eye. This is of immense benefit and value to any discerning client. For the master bedroom, Steve designed a custom Japanese stairway chest that was fabricated in three parts. Another piece is an armoire with a gold-leaf arched top and carved finials on the front corners. The double doors were subdivided by moldings in increasingly smaller dimensions moving toward the top and inset with burl veneer and unique hardware pulls. One of my favorites is a pair of custom lacquered nightstands done in an oriental design with beautiful hand-painted oriental scenic fronts. It is designed with radius corners and a scalloped open area beneath the top. The three drawers below are all sitting on a scalloped base. The Donghia chaises’ in the library are covered in a hand-blocked, large-scale English chintz. Next to those, Steve designed a pair of consoles with a stepped body covered in Afromosia veneer. These have silk swags on both sides. On the corners were gold-leaf spheres. This base portion sits on a plinth of birds-eye maple with Japanese calligraphy. A marble top is supported by studs which makes it appear to be floating. The marble top rests in a frame that is reeded and gilded. Steve also designed some beautiful cylinder tables that are hand-carved for texture. They are gold-leafed, and wrapped in a suede “napkin” with tassels on the corners and the addition of lion’s head pulls for easy moving. It was a treat and a pleasure to have something designed exclusively for me! P.S. Check out Steve’s YouTube video, where he has his work side by side with the work of French Architects/Interior Designers Percier and Fontaine. His YouTube design channel is “DesignAmbiance.” LIGHTING DESIGN When the architect designed my home with cathedral ceilings and a two-story dining room, there was no inclusion of lighting other than what was required by Michigan State codes. We thought that the electrician would automatically know to create lighting for our particular needs. We were fortunate that we started working with Steve before we needed that. Steve said, “It’s always a bad idea to have an electrician do the lighting plan, as they don’t know where furniture and other items will be finally placed. In addition, the fact is electricians are not lighting designers.” We ended up with a marvelous lighting plan keyed to the furniture placement. It brought the interior magnificently to life, and it’s more alive now than ever before! Every bulb or lamp was chosen for its’ effect regarding brilliance, color rendition, and textural revelation. Anyone building a new home or remodeling an existing space that doesn’t create and use a personalized lighting plan is just in the dark. Without incorporating a specialized lighting plan, you’ll never attain the full level of presentation, even if you place your expensive furniture and accessories in it. Steve is the only one that I’ve found who has a total vision. You need Steve’s skills and talents to showcase the particular elements, features, and characteristics in your home. CUSTOM PICTURE FRAMING Steve’s artwork selection and custom framing is fantastic! Not only has he designed custom frames and then built them from scratch, but he’s constructed intricate stacked and multiple frames for artwork. His ability to coordinate accessories as well as have artistic inventiveness produces a one-of-a-kind presentation which promotes a cohesive feel within the space. BOOK I recently read portions of Steve’s forthcoming book. It is absolutely fantastic! There’s lots of information that needs to get out there to correct a lot of errors and wrong thinking in the realm of interior design and decoration. It is all about the magic of ambiance and how to achieve it in your home. Your home is the only environment that you can truly control and the only environment that affects your life the most. ARTICLES I want to inform people that Steve has a lot of excellent articles online. He is a Diamond-Level Expert Author on EzineArticles.com. I believe he has around 25 articles written there. I have read many of them, and they are truly excellent. It is definitely worth investing your time to read them. SEMINARS If you haven’t been to one of Steve Adamko’s interior design seminars, you are really missing out. Not only is he extremely knowledgeable and informative, but he’s very energetic and animated, too. His funny and humorous personality shines through in his presentation as well. When he gets done explaining things, you would actually need help … to misunderstand him. He's that good. WEBINARS Webinars are some of the best ways to learn and be enlightened on different topics. Steve’s interior design webinars are full of information, helpful tips, and insights. There are designers out there practicing that don’t even know their stuff. A large number of them don’t implement (or know) the stuff that Steve teaches. Many “designers” are thinking they are professionals, yet they are operating without the requisite knowledge. I can see why so many clients are deceived in thinking so much out there is awesome when it truly isn’t. TELESEMINARS For pure information and for those great question and answer sessions in regards to interior design and decorating, you’ll have to partake of Steve Adamko’s teleseminars. They are very insightful. You’ll definitely experience a variety of “ah-ha” moments!"

"Our thanks to SKP for their advice and consultation in the design of our home interior. Lots of positive reviews from our guests as well."

"Lindsay re-designed our one bedroom apartment. She maximized 800 square feet (including living room office) sensibly and with a modest budget. She spent a lot of time learning about our style and was consistently accessible (SMS, email, video). Lindsay was never pretentious - always patient and friendly. Her sense of space and detail is unmatched; I jump at any chance to recommend her."

"I have worked with Amber and Gwen on two condos which required different strategies. Our needs for the first condo focused on maximizing the space as it is small and the focus of the renovation/decoration was to create a warm and welcoming environment that was casual as the condo is in a resort town. We had the most fun working with them as they are creative, classy, intelligent, and extremely knowledgeable. We trusted their advice as they knew what we wanted. They created a wonderful place with accessories, bedding, furniture, lighting that made our place a showcase at only 1000 square feet. We wanted to use our paintings from Brasil. The attention to detail - buttons on window fixtures that matched the materials on furniture, the color scheme that went throughout the condo, working with the contractor to ensure that everything blended to mazimize space - was amazing. Because of what they did at this condo, we asked them if they would help us on another condo. The challenge for Gwen and Amber was that we lived in China at the time, had bought a condo sight unseen, and we wanted to have major renovations done to the kitchen, bathroom, and mudroom as well as having them integrate all of our "treasures" from around the world - furniture, pottery, paintings and other acccessories from China, Korea, Africa, Brazil, Middle East, and Europe without ever having seen these treasures. Gwen and Amber took on the challenge and worked with us virtually to create a home that reflected our style where we could entertain and make our guests feel at home too. Not only did they handle all the decorating and interior design - Gwen managed the contractors for us. Everything came together on time and within our budget. Gwen is a master at visualizing what your needs are, offering options with a range of costs so that you have choices, advising on what blends together or not. She is also very patient and diplomatic when we wanted to add more Chinese furniture. She would listen and then patiently explain that we were looking for a more global look and not just Asian. Then she would come back with a piece of furniture like the Chinese one that would be a better match and quality. You could not find two interior designers who are more professional, creative, cost-conscious, and elegant than Amber and Gwen. They are trustworthy, innovative, and have an amazing work ethic. They work 24/7 so it was always easy to contact them virtually. Also, they are a lot of fun to work with as they have a positive, can-do attitude in getting things done in the least stressful way as you work through all the details to make your home what you want it be be. They took our ideas and made them better. I would use them again if I bought another home regardless where I lived as I know that they can and will work virtually. I would highly recommend them as I know they can do anything that they set their minds to in helping someone create their dream home. I bet they could even do offices too!!! You can see our living room and dining room on their website. We love what they did to both of our places. They are a great team!"

"Jennifer Butler is a very talented Interior designer that has years of experience designing beautiful and published homes and commercial projects. She is very skilled in creating interior architecture and furniture layout as well as furniture selection and interior finishes. She has always been very professional and easy to work with with my clients. I highly recommend working with her."

"Michelle is fun to work with and has great ideas. She makes suggestions and offers creative alternatives. Michelle has a clear,easy to understand contract."

"Hired to complete 3 areas of a new restaurant with artistic stenciled application on the walls. Diane was a pleasure to work with; professional, talented and completed the job with time to spare before our grand opening. We have hired her for subsequent work and will do so again if the opportunity arises. Christine Gill President, Chloe Elan LLC"

"I have appreciated working with a design professional such as Francesca over the years. She knows how to add just the right design element and keeps to the clients budget and design style. Whether it's working with a smaller remodel project or a whole house design, she understands all elements of design, large or small, residential or commercial. As a interior finish designer and decorative painter, I appreciate that Francesca includes custom or original finishes on her client's walls, ceilings, cabinets or furnishings. She is great at making decisions and staying on task for her clients and in keeping the entire project together. It is an enjoyable experience collaborating with Francesca and her team."

"I hesitated hiring any interior designer when one was recommended by our builder for design assistance on our new lake cottage currently under construction in Northern Michigan. I felt competent and capable of designing, decorating and furnishing this 3800 sq. ft. lake home on my own, as I had satisfactorily decorated our 5000 sq. ft. primary home, during the 90’s. But as we all know, times and tastes have changed! I soon learned that, although I vaguely knew the look and feel of the “Coastal Living” lake home I wanted, I wasn’t capable of achieving that style without professional help. I further realized that trying to design a vacation home from 860 miles away on the East Coast, would be much easier with the help of an on-site decorator who could conveniently measure prior to ordering (rather than guessing,) has working relationships with all the local sources and service providers, and understands how to marry form with function, for a stunningly beautiful look, but more importantly, for the comfortable, practical lifestyle we were seeking. So, we reluctantly agreed to tour the showcase lake home of designer Amy Darooge of Villa Décor in Grand Rapids, Mi.; and after the brief tour of her stunning home, I was hooked!! If she could make my home look anywhere near as lovely as hers, I knew we would be satisfied. My husband and I are so glad we chose to work with Amy Darooge of Villa Décor, as her pleasant, positive, collaborative demeanor and savvy professionalism has prevented us from making costly mistakes; more importantly, her advice has resulted in the realizing of our vision for our ‘dream home’ for our family. She carefully listens to our needs and educates us on the best way to meet them. She is very budget conscious and has a better handle on our builder’s budget- allocations, than we do! She advises us on where to save on “unnecessary” outlays, and where “splurging” on upgrades will have a greater return on investment over time. Her forte is certainly “Coastal Cottage Style,” but she seems thoroughly conversant across the spectrum of contemporary design styles. She helped me stay true to the style I wanted and has an uncanny knack for accessorizing in just the right, understated way. The net result has been to create a tranquil retreat that will function perfectly for our large, extended family. She advised us on closet and bath design, lighting, siding, furniture and accessories, paint choices, the whole spectrum of design choices. She is invariably on time, responds promptly to all calls and emails, and collaborating with her has negated any effects posed by the physical distance. She's just very easy to work with. Simply put, she has turned a potentially stressful experience into an enjoyable one. She has impeccable taste and has helped us execute our vision exactly as we had hoped. We highly recommend her without reservation. Mary T. New Jersey"

"Bridget has worked with me on two different homes. She helped me update my starter home cost effectively with small changes. She taught me how to accessorize with color and pick solid colored furniture that could be kept up to date with inexpensive pillow or art changes. When it was time to sell my home, it sold at the first showing. I give that credit to her due to her ability to make my small home look bigger and provide function necessary with small children. Not to mention that the main living space looked like it came from a magazine. My new home was a blank slate. She assisted me in picking colors, furniture, accessories and fabrics. She offered her ideas and assisted me in gaining confidence in my choices. She shopped for me-finding me the right pieces for small spaces that needed accessories, including rugs that made a big impact picking up all the colors throughout my home. She showed me how to take the colors in the fabrics and use them throughout the rooms in my house so that it all flowed. Everyone who comes to my home makes comments about my colors and how it looks so beautiful even 7 years later. I feel like my home fits my personality and is a place I Iike spending my time. Most of all, I love that Bridget is so generous. She often works over and above the amount of time she actually bills for. She has developed a business that is prospering because of her big heart. She believes in giving back. God has given her a wonderful talent that she uses to bless others."