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FINDING BEAUTY
DESIGNING FOR LEGACY
8 December 2025
When we design homes for our clients, we’re not just creating beautiful spaces. We’re building environments that support how they live—following the rhythm of their days and growing with them through their lifetimes. Spaces for them to create memories, hold their treasures, and house the stories that shape their lives. And, of course, we keep them captivating!
I will never be the designer who holds her cards close to the chest and offers only “trust me!” We’re all on this journey together, so I wanted to share some of the ways we design for legacy. Our thoughtful process is really about two things. First, we want to create spaces that endure for generations. We also strive to craft homes that honor our clients' accumulated stories, making each one distinctly their own. When we start a new project, we immerse ourselves in our clients’ history, the memories they cherish, and the patterns of their daily lives, so their story resonates throughout the home. We’re building upon the past while envisioning the future.
As we move through the design process, we hold this understanding of history close. It’s a shared journey, and our ability to think in three dimensions allows us to envision the end result. When the client sees their finished home, it’s a joyful moment—a delightful part of what we do.
Designing to Last
So how do we design an interior that will last, stand the test of time, and be cherished by future generations?
Our paradigm and value system come first. We truly believe that we are stewarding resources for future generations. Pieces crafted intentionally, by hand, hold their value over the long term, and carry with them the stories of their makers. Investment pieces that are handed down enrich our lives in ways we can only appreciate over time. Building relationships with artisans is so important in what we do because these talented makers are crafting the heritage pieces of the future. In the end, it’s far more sustainable to design something once, taking the time to get it right so that it lasts.
Everyone has a budget, and there will always be compromises. This is where years of experience and a sense of discernment come into play as we mix heritage pieces with more attainable alternatives. Where do we compromise, and what do we hold out for? It is really a use case—who is this piece serving, and how is it being used? Is it part of daily life? Is it an integral part of our client’s routine? Or is it in a space that is less frequently used?
Our ability to guide our clients through these decisions begins with an understanding of what they value most. What is important to them? How do they move through their days? Gaining this understanding is at the heart of our intake and discovery process. Once we know our clients’ history—where they’ve been, what they care about, what they have gathered around them—then we can expand their horizons and offer a fresh perspective on the things they hold dear. We then expertly fold them into their aspirations for their new home.
We’ve all lived and experienced how rooms evolve and change over time. We can envision and plan for that in an intentional way so that our clients’ homes can evolve as their lives do.
Telling the Story of Home
Often our clients are transitioning from one phase of life to another—preparing a new house for a family, adapting an existing home for an empty nest, or downsizing into something smaller as they age. We love to help people navigate through these changes with intention and care.
In every project, we like to create opportunities to pause. Life moves quickly, and these are the moments our clients cherish the most. Every home carries its own collection of treasures, shaping the life within it. An important part of what we do is helping to curate our clients’ collections, looking at what they have accumulated with a fresh set of eyes and folding in the things that matter. And we love, love, love the process of repurposing whenever we can.
For one project close to our hearts—we refer to it as The Art of Legacy—we worked with our client as he downsized into a home better suited to his needs as he aged. We fell in love with this family and their story, and they trusted us to combine old and new to create a graceful transition for their father into his new forever home. We worked together to reframe every work of art and photograph in his home, grouping them into galleries. It was a real investment of time and finances, and it was transformative. It’s important to remember that gallery placement matters—whether it's placed in a private den or primary bedroom, or in a more public front hall or kitchen, depends on the story it has to tell.
Incorporating new, contemporary artwork into existing collections is another way we design for the future while honoring the past. In this same home, we brought in work by local artist Blake Aaseby into several rooms: in the living room to complement a small period painting, and in the bedroom to add some modern texture to a grouping of our client’s existing artworks. We looked at our clients’ art collection with new eyes. A stone sculpture from his former home, which was originally perched high on a pedestal, is now placed casually on the floor in the dining room so that she can join the family at dinner every night.
In addition to re-merchandising the items that the homeowner held dear, we built opportunities for him to further engage with and enjoy his collections. Placed in a quiet space at the foot of the stairs, a small den is outfitted with a comfortable chair. He trusted us to edit his extensive library for this new space, weaving in some favorite objects. These small but thoughtful changes offered him a way to appreciate the things he has held onto in a whole new way.
As interior designers, we sit at the crossroads of the client’s vision, the architect’s design, and the contractor’s needs. In our thinking and our process, we draw from each of these elements, layering in as deeply as we can the clients' history and vision for their life. History and vision—the threads that define their lives—are what create a legacy and make their home uniquely theirs.
With you,
Paulina