My husband and I had been working for a few years to furnish our beautiful new 4 bedroom/2.5 bath home in Crocker Highlands, but it just wasn’t coming together in the way that we had hoped. Realizing that we lacked the skills and experience to achieve our desired look and feel, we reluctantly decided to hire an interior designer. We interviewed four designers and were thrilled when we met Mas Design. They were fun, down to earth, versatile in their design aesthetic, and creative solution builders. So we took a leap and signed up!
At their suggestion, we began the process by creating a few picture boards of design ideas that we liked, as well as those we didn’t like. My husband and I differ a bit in our styles (he likes a bit more modern aesthetic and I like more traditional), so our boards were quite divergent. However, Mas skillfully turned these boards into cohesive design drafts for each room of our home. Over a period of many months, we partnered with Mas to iterate these ideas to make them uniquely our own, honing in on just the right look and feel for each room.
Once we had solidified the design, Mas managed the timeline for ordering all of the furniture which was shipped to a receiver so that it could all be installed on the same day. Then one day last fall, we went to work and returned home that evening to a brand new, beautiful home! I don’t know how they got it all done in one day, but they installed 7 rooms full of furniture, including rugs, linens, and lighting in only 9 hours. All night, my husband kept walking through different rooms saying “I can’t believe we live here”! Then, one month after the furniture installation, the Mas team returned for a phased accessories installation. With just a few days of shopping, they picked out a unique collection of items that complimented the design and added the final missing touch. We were so impressed by the impact of the accessories that we decided to continue our work with Mas to select artwork for our home. With their guidance, we selected unique art pieces for each room including paintings, paper mache, wood, and textile art.
As a result, we now have a home that is truly beautiful inside and out - we love the use of mixed materials, white walls for contrast and cohesion, and the overall refined, but cozy feel! The design reflects our unique style, pulling together elements from a variety of vendors to create a more collected look. Mas steered us away from items that were too trendy, so the design is quite timeless and I’m confident we’ll love it for many years to come. And most importantly, its very liveable- I’ve already sprayed tomato sauce all over the kitchen (freshly painted walls, new upholstered stools, new rug, and new light fixtures) which I removed without a trace!
Throughout the process, we really appreciated a few key things about Mas’ approach:
They Pay Attention to the Way We Live: Through multiple visits to our home, Mas paid close attention to the way that we live and took it into consideration as they developed the designs for our home. For example, we are a shoeless home and they demonstrated really great problem solving by developing some pretty, yet usable solutions for shoe storage that still maintain the sophisticated look and feel of our home.
They Welcome Our Participation in the Process: After declining three different color palettes that they proposed for our master bedroom, the Mas team invited me to join them to look at fabrics. After spending a few hours there looking at a ridiculous number of fabrics in different design studios, I found a collection that I just loved! Our master bedroom is now my favorite room in the house.
They Are Incredibly Patient: I’m VERY picky so we went through multiple iterations of the designs for each room in our home. The Mas team was consistently professional, never expressing any frustration with my process. They were committed at each step to finding something that I loved, no matter how long it took. In addition, we were juggling health, work, and family challenges throughout the project, oftentimes preventing us from responding to their communications in a timely manner. However, the Mas team gave us space and time to respond, gently nudging us as deadlines approached. As a result, our process was nearly two years, which I imagine is significantly longer than Mas’ typical project, but they never complained and I always felt that we had their complete attention.
They Pay Attention to Details: Throughout the project, they paid attention to the most minute details, which really shows up is in the accessories phase. We came home after the accessories installation to find that they had set our dining room table complete with mini pumpkins for our Thanksgiving dinner, filled decorative glass jars in the kitchen with gluten free pasta (I have Celiac Disease), and sprinkled cacti and air plants throughout the house (we’re horrible gardners!).
They Are Resourceful: It was our first time hiring an interior designer, so we were quite mindful of budget. Mas sourced furniture and accessories for our home from a diverse array of vendors- they chose expensive items sparingly, always noting why they had chosen them and offering more cost effective options when we requested them.
They Have Great Systems in Place: Mas is a well oiled machine- they had strong systems in place to manage each stage of the project which truly created a seamless experience for us. They maintained great communication with us throughout the process, keeping us in the loop as challenges arose and always being responsive to our needs.
They Make Sure We’re Happy: As to be expected for a project of our size, there were a few things that weren’t quite right after installation. Despite how long the process had taken, Mas worked diligently with us resolve the issues, advocating with vendors on our behalf to even return a final sale custom item and secure financial reimbursement for trouble caused.
They Are Fun to Work With: We sincerely enjoyed working with the Mas team- they are warm, thoughtful, and fun to work with. We experienced an unfortunate family loss just before our installation and somehow in the midst of everything else they were juggling, they managed to send beautiful flowers to let us know they were thinking of us.
We are incredibly grateful to the Mas team for all of their amazing work on our home. We have come to trust them implicitly, so much so that my husband insists on checking in with them before we make any additional purchases for our home (i.e. dishware and glassware could not be purchased without Mas’ approval!). It’s truly a blessing to have such a beautiful home to return to every day and we owe that all to Mas Design!