Why I Started Calling It a Point of View Instead of a Style

Every designer gets asked the same question within five minutes of meeting a new client. What is your style?

And I get it. It feels like the right question. Like if you can put a label on it you will know whether we are a match. Modern. Traditional. Coastal. Transitional. Pick one and let's go.

But here is the thing. Style is a category. Point of view is a conviction. And those are two very different things when you are letting someone into your home.

I do not work in categories. I work in stories. I want to know how you actually live. Not how you think you are supposed to live, not what you have been pinning for three years, but what your real life looks like and what your home needs to do for you. Because that answer is different for everyone and it changes everything about how I approach a project.

You Got the Keys. Now What?

ou got the keys. The marble is perfect. The hardware is exactly what you wanted. And now you have four thousand square feet of empty rooms staring back at you.

Here is the thing about custom homes. The build gets all the attention. The furnishing is where the house actually becomes yours. And it is also where most people, even people with great taste and real budgets, get it wrong without ever knowing why.

This is not about shopping. It is about design. And design at this level requires someone who does this every single day.

Why I'm Building Something Different (And What That Actually Looks Like)

Here is what I know after 26 years of doing this: most people don't actually want a decorator. They want someone who gets them. Who walks into their space and already understands what it needs before they finish explaining it. Who has a real perspective and isn't afraid to use it.

That is a very different thing to hire. And it is exactly what The Atelier is.

I started this studio because I believe design is art. Not a service, not a transaction, not a Pinterest board brought to life. Art. And your home deserves to be treated like that. It is where your actual life happens. It should feel like you, the full version of you, not some edited-for-company version.