This has been a rewarding couple of months! Not only are we very busy, primarily with new custom homes…but Janet has also been featured in Phoenix Home & Garden’s latest issue (May 2015) in an article called “Leading Ladies”, highlighting eleven women in the Valley who are influencing the Valley’s design, food, art and fashion industries!
“More than a century ago, intrepid pioneers traveled to the Southwest, hoping to forge new lives for themselves and their families in the unforgiving landscape of the Sonoran Desert. Strong and determined women were an integral part of these early migrations. Some followed family members who had made earlier treks; others came seeking jobs and opportunities not available back East. Whatever the reason, they all had one thing in common: Here, amongst the saguaros, they were able to reinvent themselves and flourish.
Today, a new group of Phoenix-area women are blazing trails of a different sort. These innovative ladies aren’t content to just reside and work here. Instead, they’re changing the very face of the Valley —and the world around it—by influencing the way we see, taste and live.” CLICK FOR FULL ARTICLE
Project Updates
New Builds
We are currently working on a number of custom homes that are in the ground, which is when the fun starts for our clients! The design styles of these homes range from Santa Barbara, to Mountain Contemporary, to Desert Contemporary to NeoClassic Transitional! We love the experience of creating within a wide variety of architectural designs!
Our contemporary curvilinear desert home is underway, and we can now start to actually see the home rising out of the ground. As with all of our new-build projects, we spent many months working on the design of the home before construction actually began. It has been almost exactly a year since we joined this design team, so this is an exciting time to see the home taking shape!
There is nothing quite like the experience of seeing a structure we have spent hundreds of hours designing actually starting to take shape!
Remodels in North Scottsdale’s golf course communities are the rage these days. Many of the homes were designed and built in the late ’80s and early ’90s, and are looking very tired and dated. The Territorial and Pueblo Southwestern design styles, so prevalent in that time period, have given way to bigger windows, more open floor plans, and tiles that require much smaller grout than what we were using back then. Also, the advent of so many great engineered wood floors that are now easily installed in remodels has lead many of our clients to replace the old wall-to-wall carpet look with beautiful wood floors and area rugs.
While the single step down from the front door of this home we designed 15 years ago may look interesting, it may be a disaster waiting to happen!
Homes designed 20-30 years ago in the desert also often featured 2 or 3 steps leading from one area of the home to another, in multiple locations throughout a home. While this can create interesting transitions architecturally, buyers are increasingly aware that either they, or their family and guests, may experience difficulty trying to negotiate steps going from one area to another in a home. It makes perfect sense that, wherever possible, clients are now seeking out homes on one level, or homes on two levels connected by an elevator.
We are enjoying working with clients to take properties with great bones and give them a refreshing facelift!
Client Appreciation
We have recently had the opportunity to hear from some of our clients whose homes are in various stages of design and construction, who truly recognize and appreciate the value of having us on their design team. Considering the fact that in some circles, interior designers are viewed as an unnecessary luxury, we are grateful when we hear people talking about the value, both aesthetically and financially, of using our services!
Meet John and Kathleen (on the left), who are building a home in North Scottsdale. We have been working on the interior design for their home for many months now, and they are finally starting to see the physical evidence of the decisions that have been made.
John and Kathleen recently wrote this testimonial after a visit to Arizona to view progress on their home. We appreciate their acknowledgement and we love working with great clients who put their trust in us!
“Our Experience Using a Designer”, in our clients’ own words:
“We are currently designing our third residence since being married for 25 years. Our first two were massive remodels including adding significant square footage to residence #2. Our current project is a new custom home and the first time we have engaged a designer to assist us.
Janet Brooks, ASID of Janet Brooks Design in Scottsdale has been with us every step of the way commencing with our first meetings with our architect & builder. Her input didn’t start with what finishes to use, but what shape and size should the house be!
Janet sees details that we would never see or notice. She has knowledge of blueprints, framing, roofing, windows, flooring, lighting, cabinetry, furniture layout, electrical, lighting, finishes, color, fabric, etc.
Janet brings a critical and creative side to the project by introducing ideas and questioning or eliminating ones that are unnecessary and/or unfit for the project. She is also great at telling us if there is something right or wrong. That immediate and confident feedback is extremely helpful!
We rely on Janet to assist us in making thousands of decisions. After living in our two previous self-designed and decorated homes we look forward to moving into our professionally designed and decorated home that is only possible with the help of Janet Brooks.”
