Larette Design

I have known and worked with Jean Larette for over a decade. She is at first a kind and genuine professional well versed in her craft and the artistry of interior design. Her spaces are always welcoming. Jean has a playful air and a spark for life. She draws upon her rich travel experience as inspiration. She is a good listener and is attentive to details. I can heartly recommend Jean.

Jean leaves you feeling inspired not defeated when taking on a project of any magnitude. Whether it be a simple update, major overhaul or a ground breaking new design she is your gal! No project is too big or small for this design decorator maven. Jean pays attention to detail and leaves no stone unturned. She is budget conscience and will appease most any budget without compromising the integrity of the overall outcome. She works well with contractors and does not back down to what sometimes can be a male dominated field. She is a welcome addition to any house or design you hope to achieve!

I have been working with Jean Larette for over 10 years as a painter/decorator. We have worked together on many projects in Marin County (Kentfield, Greenbrae), Pacific Heights, Piedmont, and Napa to name a few. Her professionalism, attention to detail, and beautiful designs make working with her a pleasure. She is very tuned in to her clients, very creative, and always upbeat. Jean has excellent style, experience and a passion for what she does for her clients. I highly recommend her.

Let me start by saying that I and my immediate family have homes in Nantucket, Long Island, Palm Beach, and New York City. I have been around beautiful homes my entire life and am conversant in style and design. In addition, I am a film and television producer, so I encounter even more style and design in my work. After we bought our new home in Los Angeles we started our search for the right designer. We had seen Jean Larette's work on a visit to San Francisco. She was born and raised there. We felt she could bring an authentic intrinsic, fresh West Coast feel to our newly purchased home. She had been written up in House Beautiful and the clients we called gave us terrific references. We had high expectations. We wanted something special and we expected that from her. We told her so flat out. We started from scratch, just a solid floorplan. At our first meeting, I expected Jean to come with catalogues and swatches and magazine articles and tell us what she thought the house should be. She did nothing of the kind. The first thing Jean did was just sit down and talk with us about our lives. How we lived. What our house meant to us and how it fit into our lives. She didn't ask us about the style of furniture, she asked us about the style of our life. In our case, we said we wanted to live in every room of the house, and wanted guests and family to feel welcome and at ease when they came to be with us. Beautiful yes, but fragile, delicate, off limits, or sterile no. I joked that our house was not a museum and that became the soul of the project. From that conversation, Jean developed a plan for us from soup to nuts that we just loved. From flooring to ceiling and from linens to the gorgeous bed to put them on. Her knowledge of vendors, sources, and custom craftsmen was beyond belief. She is an expert in every sense of the word. Her taste is exquisite. She didn't have choices, she had concepts, theme, flow, cohesion. She executed all this on our healthy but not extravagant budget which she nailed. Her pacing is also a very important aspect of her client relationship. She doesn't pressure decisions and never ever rushed us. She understood these were big purchases and major decisions. She would say that we were choosing things we would have for many, many years. Those choices don't need to be made in five minutes. So patient, accessible and knowledgable. And once you make your decision, she handles it completely until everything is installed, delivered, painted or built in and ready to enjoy. Everyone starts out strong, but it's finishing strong that really matters. Jean is not finished until the job is finished down to the smallest detail. She is also just a happy, lovely person to spend time with. We missed her when the job was done. We loved her work so much. We are so happy with it. So is everyone else who walks through the door for the first time. To a person they have said, "what a beautiful home you have." We never had that happen in our three homes before that. Then something really magical happens. Our guests and family have a seat in the living room or sit on the barstools in the kitchen while we cook. They feel comfortable and at ease. They stay and laugh and eat and watch movies and then stay some more. No one rushes out of our house. It’s really special. They feel welcome because our house is not a museum thanks to Jean Larette.

Larette Design, with Jean Larette at the helm, is the perfect combination of professionalism, tenacity and taste. Jean’s energy and enthusiasm for her projects raise the bar not only in design but in quality of living. She insists on the best and brings everyone and everything to her level – a very nice place to exist. I would recommend Larette Design for any project – it is a privilege to have had the opportunity to work with her.

I have used Larette Design on three projects, two of which were newly constructed homes. By working closely together initially, Jean Larette knew my taste so well that I trusted her to find exactly what I wanted within our price range. She gets things done quickly and professionally. Her resources and contacts run the gamut, so whatever you need, she will be able to find it or have it made. The best thing is that Jean makes it fun, so you stop thinking of your house as something you have to decorate and cross off your list and see it more as a place that evolves along with your life. She has transformed our houses into beautiful and comfortable places where we love to live. And no matter where we go, it's always great to come home.