by: Alice
Garcia photos by: Photo
Innovations |
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good interior designer will have a combination of style,
creativity and ingenuity. Add to that versatility,
practicality and an outgoing personality and more than
likely, you will have just met Laura Redd of Laura Redd
Interiors. She, along with a select team of individuals,
sets out to “re-inspire” clients’ homes and offices by
helping them to find affordable ways to bring out their
own unique design styles.
Laura has been in the
design business for over twelve years. She earned her
degree in interior design while accompanying her then
husband on a tour of duty in Germany. Laura was exposed
to many of the issues that plague European designers,
particularly those related to limited space and lack of
storage. In Europe, there are very few 3,000 sq. ft.
homes; therefore, designers there have become quite
creative with dreaming up ways to bring in items that
serve multiple functions while still being aesthetically
appealing. Laura has found many opportunities to
incorporate this practice into her home designs. For
example, seldom is an end table simply a table; instead
it might be an attractive table that also serves as a
clever storage space for movies, LP’s, blankets, or
children’s toys.
As things change in our own
country, people are looking more closely at how they
spend their money, and Laura understands this
completely. She says, “Many have had to learn how to be
intelligent with their money and their purchases.” In
other words, what a homeowner buys needs to last.
Quality is essential. With this thought in mind, Laura
holds an initial consultation with clients and asks
them, “Where do you want to go with this house?”
Understandably, Laura believes that the home should grow
with the homeowners, especially when there are children
in the home. Her goal after the meeting is to then go to
the home, look at what the client wants and to try and
merge the two.
She is accustomed to having people
come to her and say, “This is how much I can invest. How
do I spend it?” During the re-inspiration process, Laura
looks for ways to repurpose or to reuse what homeowners
have. Recently, she helped a young couple to reuse
several pieces of inherited furniture. The couple had
inherited a chair the wife’s grandmother. Laura found
fabric with a more modern, funky pattern that reflected
the couple’s design style and reupholstered the two
pieces. They then painted the parts, added a rug and
other inexpensive accessories, and suddenly, the couple
had a living room set that was unique, sentimental and
inexpensive.
In instances when the homeowners are in need of
other items, Laura can be found scouring yard sales,
flea markets, architectural salvage shops, and trade
shows to secure items for potential design application.
In other situations, Laura taps into her network of
industry professionals. Her success in helping clients
has actually given her the opportunity to branch off
into other areas within the design arena. Clients who
were so satisfied with her work, recommendations and
integrity have gone on to seek her out for help with
other endeavors. Most recently, Laura has begun to help
design special events---even second weddings.
Still, sometimes people are reluctant to call in an
interior designer because, quite simply, they believe
they won’t be able to afford it. To this Laura says,
“Your home is your biggest investment. You have to keep
investing into it to keep its value,” and part of doing
so is to keep it current. This is especially true if the
homeowner ever plans to sell his/her house. Often, Laura
will receive a call from a client or a realtor asking
her to help them to prepare a home for sale. It’s too
easy for homeowners to become indifferent to their
tired, dull walls or worn and dated counter tops, so
that’s why it’s important to bring in someone who is
more objective and familiar with industry trends.
Laura says that some clients come to her wanting a
“show home,” and to that she typically asks them, “Is
that how you live?” A well designed home is one in which
people can live a normal life, and still feel a sense of
pride when family and friends visit. Besides, in most
cases, people are simply looking for that little change
that’ll make a home feel new. Sometimes that little
change can be as simple as purchasing a piece of fine
art that reflects the homeowner’s personality. That
piece of art then becomes the central focal point and
the rest of the office or home design stems from there.
Of
course, that is not all that she does. Laura tries to
take a hands-on approach to each design. “I hang dry
wall, install tile, I move the rugs: whatever it takes
is what I do.” And in some cases, what it takes is quite
a bit more than what an average home designer does.
Laura has worked with homeowners as early as the floor
plan stage to help pick-out lighting, counter tops, and
wall colors along with appropriate pieces and
accessories. She offers clients the convenience of what
she calls a “Blitz move-in.” For this, Laura comes to
the new home before things are unpacked; she arranges
the larger pieces and essential items in a manner
according to the homeowner’s pre-determined design.
Then, she and the client take a look at what else might
be needed, or what might need to be taken away to
achieve the desired look.
Laura also offers a
unique service to individuals who are in the process of
downsizing their home. In most situations these
individuals are senior citizens, and this process can
actually become quite emotionally painful for those
involved. However, Laura works closely with the
individual to try and re-create, in some form or
another, the previous home in the newer, smaller space.
Sometimes it’s hard for those who are close to the
situation to identify what it was that made the other
house a home, but Laura’s trained eye enables her to
fixate on even the smallest detail that might give the
freshly uprooted individual the piece of mind that only
comes with familiarity.
Additionally, Laura has
worked on interior design in commercial properties. “We
can do in offices what we do in houses—the same
principles apply.” Her understanding of design
components gives her the ability to help companies
create a space that motivates and stimulates employees,
one that (if applicable) is more inviting to customers,
and she works hard on designing a place of which each
employee can be proud.
Most recently, Laura’s
design talents were put on display in the Junior League
of Greensboro’s Designer Showcase. For this project, she
designed a garden veranda bringing the comforts and
style of an inside space-- outside! Complete with a
chandelier. The space entailed landscaping, fabrics that
compliment and enhance, and a fire pit coffee table that
doubled as a wine cooler in the summer.
Laura
Redd has worked in nearly all aspects of interior
design. She has had experience working with clients with
a variety of tastes, needs, and budgets. She has not
shied away from the challenges that these variations can
present. Instead, she has embraced them to the point of
making them a part of her repertoire, and she looks
forwarded to expanding it even further with future
re-inspiration projects.
To learn more about
Laura Redd or Laura Redd Interiors visit her website at:
http://www.reddinteriors.com
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GUILFORD
WOMAN