Leslie Harris / Interior Design

We have known Leslie for over 20 years and highly recommend her design services. Leslie brings impressive experience and talent to any job. Over the years, she has helped us decorate and furnish many rooms of our home, remodel our kitchen and, most recently, renovate our master bathroom. We have established a wonderful working relationship and trust her to guide and advise us through the process with integrity and skill. She is extremely hardworking and focused on managing all the details and any problems that may arise. We love her creativity and her design choices and have been thrilled with the results. If you are looking for an experienced professional who will evaluate your needs and work closely with you to achieve your desired results, then Leslie Harris is an excellent choice.

I have known and worked with Leslie Harris for over 25 years. For me, her work is timeless. Leslie has always been able to understand my needs and works accordingly. She is not dogmatic in her approach, and is willing to come up with varying solutions to a problem. She is honest and her pricing is fair. She does not do cookie cutter work -- each project she completes is unique to that particular client. Be sure to view her work and see how wonderful it is.

My name is Pasquale Squieri. I have been in the furniture manufacturing business for 55+ years, working with designers the last 45 of those years. I first met Leslie Harris when our upholstery firm was recommended to her to repair a damaged sofa. Leslie, not having worked with me before and not knowing the quality of my work, came to me very skeptical and cautious, as she had only worked with well known Westside upholsterers in the past. That was 15 - 20 years ago and we have been working together on many of her projects ever since. She is a consummate professional, knowledgeable, and very conscientious. She has many decades in the field and has been trained in design, architecture and furniture making. Unlike many other so-called designers, she comes prepared with drawings with exact dimensions for every detail, notes on what the fill should be on both back and seat cushions, leaving nothing to chance. Orders are sent with fabric swatches attached to make sure that everything is understood as to what goes where prior to construction. Before and once construction has begun, she shows up to review and make any necessary adjustments, then she brings her clients in once or twice, if it is called for, to sit in and test, making final adjustments as necessary to be sure that the client is absolutely satisfied, and then she comes back again for a final “sitting in” test and inspection, before shipping the furniture to their home. Because of her attention to detail and years and years in this business, she is able to avoid costly mistakes or misunderstandings that many others may make. She is very respectful to everyone in my shop, is trustworthy, has integrity beyond reproach and is always good on her word.

Leslie was receptive to our ideas and needs, and brought forth many creative solutions to the various design challenges that existed with our projects. She also had an intuitive ability to understand our personalities and lifestyles, which presented itself in the finished project. She was able to develop a solution that satisfied our sometimes diverse tastes. Her long years of experience and her character have contributed greatly toward avoiding the misunderstandings that can arise from such a creative process. Leslie has been able to guide us through a difficult project with a minimum amount of stress. She did not let us down. Gary & Amy Uyemura, Corona del Mar, California Home 1 published in Better Homes & Gardens, Sunset Magazine, Katei Gaho (Japan) Home 2 published in House & Garden, American Home 3, GA (Global Architecture, Japan)

Leslie Harris of Leslie Harris Interior Design has for many years ranked among the top designers in the Los Angeles area. I have enjoyed over fifteen years of professional collaboration with her. With a vast knowledge of the market place and a strong sense of color, negative space and form as her anchor, she deftly explores cutting-edge design possibilities with nuance and precise balance. Working with Leslie is always a creative adventure ending in successful and exciting results.

-We have been working with Leslie for 10 years now. She has helped us decorate our house, room by room, in different phases. She completely understands my taste and adapts my vision to the projects even without me even knowing it. No matter what our budget is, she is always happy to help and we trust that she will find the best prices for the styles that we are looking for. The rooms in my house that she has decorated are not only beautiful but also functional and inviting for the entire family. Leslie is a wonderful interior designer who I now also consider a trusted friend.-Isabel Rodriguez

Leslie Harris has worked in the design field for many years. When I met her she was in business with her brother, Michael Harris, similarly gifted. I remember seeing photographs of their projects and promising myself that one day we'd work together. They had the most beautiful taste I'd ever seen. After Michael's passing Leslie went into business for herself and we finally did get to work together in the mid-1980's. Our first project was my first medical office in Los Angeles. She created a gorgeous, sophisticated space, respecting my budget, my timetable and my preferences. I followed her work and visited other projects she worked on in Los Angeles, one more beautiful than the next. The next project we worked on was in 1989, on a newly constructed home in Santa Fe, NM. Leslie collaborated on the architectural designs and did the interior design work, travelling to NM until the project was completed. Her equisite taste made the project a fantastic adventure; it was considered daring at the very least to create something modern and minimalist in "the City Different" where Santa Fe Style ruled. Most recently, in 2010, she worked on my Palm Springs condominium, designing the furniture; walnut built- ins, a fabulous dining room table, wall coverings, a 12 foot sectional couch, rugs, using 9 different variants of lemon/gold paint, saved me time, lots of money, and made it possible for me to move in right on schedule. I am once again delighted with the finished product and will return to her for design work whenever the need arises.

In 2006, my husband, architect James Chuda built and designed a case study home that was chosen as Los Angeles Magazines Design Green Home of the Year. Leslie Harris became a key contributor and editor-in-chief of the project by focusing on the stellar living and dining room and truly set the bar for healthy environmental design. She was able to bring the most beautiful interior elements beginning with a shade made from a dried abaca plant that covered a two-story featured window. Every piece she selected created an exquisite ecological backdrop from furnishings to accessories. Leslie researched every detail to find the most interesting pieces:a petrified log made into a low table: a dried branch and carnation sculpture set the tone for the first environmental home ever to be featured on Oprah and toured by Leo Di Caprio. As an interior designer, Leslie leads a project with creative genius and finishes with her heart.

We chose Leslie after interviewing at least 5 other designers, examining portfolios and viewing on-site projects. Her creative ideas carried over into any style, she listened and understood what we wanted, what we didn’t want, and worked within our budget. She was willing to go back to the drawing board if we weren’t satisfied and made us feel that this was a collaboration. We love her work and her designs have worked for us in real life. The layout, as well as the individual pieces, have been designed with care and concern for quality and comfort. The total effect is dynamic and unique. Our home does not look like just another designer’s model home. Leslie is also very professional and easy to work with. She is punctual, flexible, technically knowledgeable, and most important she has integrity beyond reproach. She takes a personal satisfaction in satisfying her clients and goes the extra mile. Faith & Jon Cookler, Tarzana, Calif. Home published in Sunset Magazine and featured on the cover, S. Calif. Home & Garden

Leslie Harris has artistic vision and versatility that she conjures up whenever she is presented with a new project. She is the consummate professional, hard-working, punctual, and honest. We have consulted with her each time we have embarked on a project in our house and have never been disappointed with anything she has chosen for us. Her style is unique and her furniture designs are functional and extraordinarily beautiful.

Basically, Leslie’s website sold me and my then-husband us on her design vision, which was one we both enjoyed. We did not find any other designer whose work we both consistently liked. In fact, I don't recall that we could agree even on a single room from anyone else. So, clearly, her vision. We also enjoyed the design process of thinking about each room and what use we wanted to make of it. That worked out very well. The front room, for example, was one we hardly stepped foot into before the remodel, but after the remodel we enjoyed it regularly for talking, reading, listening to music and playing music. We also liked the innovative and yet practical way much of the furniture functioned. For example, the dining room table was a big hit. We use it constantly, for dining and working, for large groups and just the four of us. The fact that we do not have to be overly cautious about scratching it is wonderful and allows us to enjoy the beauty of the wood. We also loved the "desk" in the kitchen. Having a step down for a desk, rather than a step up for a breakfast bar, made that space much easier to use. Again, maybe not the standard approach but it worked well. We also loved the colors and textures, comfortable yet rich and alive. After the remodel, the house was both more beautiful and more livable now, which we appreciated.

Working with Leslie Harris on the design of a large family room and bar space, I came to know both her design talents and her work ethic. Leslie’s mind goes to places other designers do not. I most appreciated that her approach was not to go to a single studio and order one of these, one of those and one of that. She has a keen eye for the essence of beauty, knows what objects will work together and might just recall some small accessory she once saw that would be “just great” to pull it all together. She’s not a cookie cutter, trend follower but an innovative, contemporary stylist who takes the time to listen to a client’s desires and taste and then design the most unique products for that individual. She has developed working relationships with equally talented artisans and nurtured their careers. The crew she works with are immaculate, on time and have a reverence for her that is returned with respect on her end. I think of her painter who arrived looking fresh as a daisy with nary a paint drop on his clothing! His work reflected that same precision attention to detail. When a large coffee table was delivered with a granite slab Leslie found less than perfect, she had it remade at no additional cost to us. Lighting is a special skill of hers – the necessary highlighting of a completed project. She made use of an antique Chinese ancestor scroll my husband had bought me as a gift in a way I loved. It was delicate and large. She custom designed a case for it and, of course, arranged for the art installer to hang it when the time came. A problem solver! There was never any need to place follow up calls to her for I could always count on Leslie to communicate and keep me updated on the progress of our room’s design. Lastly, she’s fun to be around with a wide range of interests and conversation that make the rides to design centers all the more enjoyable.