designer spotlight #5 :: meet doug of tracery interiors

Where did you drink your morning coffee? Is that your favorite room in the house? In my living room. It’s where I sit in the morning to check in on our blog and to read all the others I keep up with. It probably is my favorite, although in my 530 square foot bungalow, there aren’t that many rooms to choose from!

What part of your job is the most enjoyable? I love the time spent really getting to know and understand a client and what they want. You can’t give someone what they are looking for until you do a lot of listening and until you understand how they live.

When did your design obsession begin? I always loved to draw, but in the 5th grade, I was at my aunt and uncle’s house and they were in the process of working with an architect to design a new lake house. I spent the entire weekend looking at the house plan books and magazines. I’ve been hooked ever since.

Who’s influencing your design these days?  I’m really liking Steven Gambrel’s work lately–especially that house that was just in Elle Decor. I feel like he and I start from the same place with a lot of things but he takes it further and gets edgier with his designs and it makes me want to do the same. I’m also a big fan of Suzanne Kasler, Victoria Hagan, Windsor Smith and of course John Saladino.

What are your favorite trends in the “design world”? I still really love the bleached wood look, although I’m starting to wonder what finish is coming next. I think mixing industrial elements into a more traditional interior is such a great look and it’s exciting to see that concept is becoming more mainstream.

What should be the clients first BIG investment in a room?You know that “statement maker”. I think every room needs a good quality antique. Even a modern space benefits from the texture and authenticity that an antique adds. It could be anything from a chair to an amoire to a rug, but some antique of value is an investment worth making.

Fresh, bright, and beautiful OR warm, cozy, and rustic? Fresh, bright and beautiful

Go to paint color? Benjamin Moore ‘China White’ — it makes everything in a room look like sculpture.

What is a must-have recipe for every home? Ha, I’ll tell you when I start cooking.

Favorite splurge??Really good wine, you can definetely tell the difference.

What thing in your home do you use the most? Multiroom audio — I don’t know how I lived without speakers in my shower!

If you could be any ONE piece of furniture; what would you be and why? Seriously? [you're thinking the cheesy questions again, right? But we are creative people remember!] I don’t…something cool. Like an old chunk of a building or iron railing that somebody made into a console table or something. Definetely not part of a matching set of anything. [a recipe for design failure...agree!]

Leave us with one word: simplify (you probably have too much stuff and you don’t need all of it!)

*all images courtesy of Tracery Interiors