By Ernesto Santalla
Ernesto Santalla
The customer is always right, as the old saying goes. I don't care what kind of business you're in—at the end of the day, your job, just like mine, is to make the customer happy.
As an architect and designer, I often have to make my customers happy in the most intimate of spaces: their own home. To succeed, I need to know many, many things about them, and even when something seems like too much information, it's not.
I approach design holistically. I focus on how everything comes together in a space rather than the individual items that occupy it. The message I convey to each every new client is that my services are a good investment because hiring me will increase the value of their property.
I renovated my own apartment a couple of years ago. I usually use an interview process with clients to establish a dialogue and gather information; I didn't do that for myself, but my wish list and the criteria that informed the design process were certainly there.
Having Good Bones
As I began my own project, I looked at my "client's" daily life and likes. (Listening to clients is key to teasing out what moves them and settling key design elements that will fit their lives and lifestyle.) For me, I live alone with two small dogs; I work long hours; I don't watch television; I cook only when I entertain; I dislike clutter; I respond positively to natural light, and well-lit environments are important to me; I have lots of clothes (to put it mildly!).
I—the client—bought my one bedroom apartment because it was simple and straightforward, a clean slate from which to start, or what we in the business commonly refer to as "having good bones."
The bathroom was my first design challenge, presenting me with both limitations and possibilities. It is located in the interior of the house next to a walk-in closet and a corridor leading to the bedroom. All of these spaces were dark and cramped, and I knew that my "client" hates dark, cramped spaces. I would really have to figure out a creative solution here.
Moving the bathroom to a window wall was not an option, so I found another way to bring light into the space. I took down all the walls, combined the bathroom, closet and corridor into one space and put up a partition of frosted glass next to the living room to admit light into the newly configured area. With this one move, I was able to create a spacious bathroom with a dressing area leading into the adjacent bedroom and it's filled with light.
My apartment also came with an open kitchen, which anyone who watches those chatterboxes on cable will know are a "must have" feature for any home. But not for mine. I had to have the courage to go against conventional wisdom to create something that would please my "client," not the talking heads on TV.
The open kitchen made the living/dining space too busy, so I enclosed it and wrapped it in wood paneling. I used trim to unify two sets of windows and mirrored the spaces in between them to create the illusion of continuity. I added recessed lighting, mostly to light artwork, but also provides ambient lighting. In contrast to the neutral color scheme throughout, I painted the entry wall a strong, vibrant color that energizes the space. The furnishings are simple and sparse, with accessories that are far and few between.
The How Factor
When someone visits my home for the first time, I admit I enjoy the "wow" factor. But once the first visual impression is made, people usually are more curious about the "how" factor. As in how did I manage to pare my life down? The truth is that I live with fewer things, and knowing my "client," I designed for that. In the end, it's all about priorities. The design of my space reflects my personality. My priority is having good light everywhere, so bringing light into the interior spaces became the first order of business. The kitchen is not my priority, which explains why I removed all of the upper cabinets so I could hang more artwork at the expense of storage space.
What about resale? No matter how much crystal-balling I employ, there is no way to know who is going to live here next, so why even try? I designed my space to suit my lifestyle and the way I want to live. On the other hand, living in a space that contributes to my overall sense of well-being can only have a positive effect on my business as a result of the positive energy I get from living here.
As far as my work as an architect and interior designer is concerned, I use my home as a marketing tool. My clients are able to see firsthand that I am a consumer of my own product, which instills a sense of confidence in hiring me to do the same for them. It's a win-win situation.
In this particular case, my design is about me and it suits me very well, just like I strive to make all of my designs suit all of my diverse clients. A big reason why every one of my residential projects is unique is that no two households are the same. Yet, when they hire me, every one of my clients instantly becomes "always right!" After designing for so long for so many people, each new client still represents a new challenge. It takes all my experience and creativity to make sure that the finished design leaves them happy as well as "right."
