Diversity MBA Magazine - April 2008 - (Page 88) LIFESTYLES & CULTURE inspired redesign “His face lit up, and I knew I had found my focus.” That’s Michelle Rider, interior-design consultant and owner of Inspired Redesign (Oak Park, IL) talking about one of her current clients. She was hired by a divorced lawyer to make sense of his furnishings and design his new condo. Rider was initially taken aback by what she saw at her client’s new address. “He had no style,” she admits, laughing. “He had a new flatscreen TV and some old furniture with slipcovers. He also had some nice antiques, an Al Pacino print in the kitchen and a dark oil painting.” “I’m a lawyer and I don’t represent myself,” joked the client. “I don’t have an eye for this work.” But when Rider asked him about a large piece of artwork, it all became very clear what she should do. “He got excited and talked about his daughter who was living in Tuscany and how he was planning to visit her there,” she says. “The artwork gave me a palette of color --gold, blue, brick red, chocolate and sage green -- and a style; from there, it was straightforward.” It’s all part of her mission statement and core belief: “Your home, office, environment is the most important place in the world.” Rider established Inspired Redesign in October 2007, and business is still booming. Some clients she got by word of mouth, but several came through her web site, www.InspiredRedesign.com. “My condo client was surfing the net and found me,” she says. “He liked my site.” Rider created it herself and it’s very transparent. “I charge $80 for a consult in your home;” she says. “I’ll walk through the entire space with you and spend as much time as you need reviewing everything and offering ideas.” She then charges $125 an hour for design work and $50 an hour for shopping time. “To re-design one room is about $1,000,” she says. “I have never had a client not hire me after an initial consult. Ever.” Together with a team that includes Amber’s Organizing, a closet design company, as well as a seamstress, contractor, assistant, and a cadre of handymen and painters, Rider has her business down to a science. The Northwestern University Kellogg MBA graduate knows what she’s doing today, what her next step is (“Open a branch in Dallas, because I have a lot of clients there.”), and what she wants to be doing in the future. “In 2020, one of every three people will be brown,” she said. “I believe that people will want to see their ethnicity reflected in their workplace. Right now, corporate America all looks pretty much the same. I want to design corporate environments that reflect that diversity.” Rider thinks programs like those on the HGTV Network are entertaining, and she watches them, but that they can be disillusioning. “The host will visit a client and then say, “Let me think about this.’” she says. “Well, I believe he isn’t walking away to think. He has a full team of experts that are creating everything. One individual shouldn’t feel they can create that. Also, if you go to the website, it really doesn’t tell you how to do anything.” To that end, here are some design tips Rider believes are tried and true: Repeat a color three times. Cluster a collection for maximum effect. “Say you collect military medals,” she says. “Put them in one spot; don’t scatter them all over the house.” Create lighting in a triangle. “Lighting can be from a window, an entryway, etc. It doesn’t have to be an overhead light or lamps,” she says. Find a focal point. “If you have a fireplace, that’s your focal point,” she says. “Many times people put a TV on the wall opposite the fireplace. Where does the couch face? I put the TV near the fireplace so the couch can face both.” Anchor furniture off a rug, instead of covering up the rug with tables, chairs, etc. Add an element of surprise. Rider likes things from nature -- stones, water, live plants. A California native, she cannot believe how Midwesterners like artificial plants. “Get a peace lily,” she advises. “You can get them at Lowe's, and you can’t kill them.” Rider will be teaching a four-week series titled Wonderful Walls through the Oak Park Parks district beginning April 7. She will also teach real-estate staging certification courses and interior decorating at Triton College this summer. ■ w w w. d ive r s it y mb a ma g a z in e. c o m Photo: Steven Seelig 88 http://www.InspiredRedesign.com http://www.diversitymbamagazine.comymbamagazine.com
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