The client challenge that can boost your creativity

designer toolkit | Apr 25, 2024

A client’s request to keep several pieces challenged Kerri Pilchik to rethink her usual design approach

Red has never been Kerri Pilchik’s color of choice. The Ridgewood, New Jersey–based designer created plenty of bold interiors using blues, greens, corals, pinks and other bright hues—but not red. That is, until last year, when a client’s request for a redesigned family room came with a caveat: She wanted to keep a pair of upholstered armchairs and a couple of occasional tables in the space.

The statement chairs featured red-and-white lattice fabric with a red contrast welt, and were investment pieces already owned by the client, with whom Pilchik had developed a trusting rapport on previous projects. “I never mind using a client’s existing pieces if they are in good shape and fit within our vision, but I was a little worried that I could not create a room that was different enough from the previous one, since I was basically sticking to the same color palette,” she says. “Plus, the client definitely leans more traditional, and the pieces we were reusing were also traditional. I wanted to make sure I stayed true to her aesthetic but that the transformed space felt fresh and new.”

Pilchik set about overhauling the rest of the room. Without any red fabrics in her own library, she headed to the D&D Building and a selection of other showrooms to hand-pick samples for everything from window treatments to floorcoverings. The experience was eye-opening: “There are so many beautiful textiles with red—I felt bad that I had been neglecting her for so long,” she says. “We settled on a gorgeous pomegranate print from Sanderson for the draperies, and it really made the room.” To tie the space together without creating visual overwhelm, the designer wove in other, subtler notes of red throughout—including throw pillows, the border of a layering rug, and the welt
on a Jean Royère–inspired upholstered desk chair—alongside a palette of muted neutrals and cool blues.

Blue ended up becoming just as central to the scheme as red when the client made a late-in-the-game decision to build custom bookshelves. “Originally we were going to refinish the client’s freestanding bookcases, but it was going to be quite expensive,” says Pilchik. “I recommended leaving the finish as is in order to stay within the budget. But the client decided to invest in built-in shelving, and wanted to use a local carpenter I had not worked with before.”

Pilchik adapted like a pro, creating a concept drawing to ensure the shelves were fabricated at the optimal size—no simple task, given the room’s unique ceiling shape, which involved two different heights. “The new built-ins would be in the area with the higher ceiling, but they had to be the same height as the lower ceiling in order to avoid creating another visual line,” says the designer. “They also had to be a certain depth so as not to intrude into the space too much.” She remeasured for the area rug, which, fortunately, had not yet been ordered, and returned to her original color plan for the bookshelves: a bright navy blue. The whole project schedule was pushed back to accommodate the change. (“Of course this was the one project where our upholstered pieces were finished in record time,” she jokes.) The carpenter followed the plans perfectly, and the client and Pilchik were both thrilled with the result. “The built-ins make this part of the room feel like a cozy library, and actually make the space feel larger,” she says.

Planning the design and color scheme around the client’s existing furnishings also turned out to be a boon. Clients who dig in their heels on using older pieces can sometimes drag a project down, but in this case, the red armchairs pushed Pilchik to explore new aesthetic territory. “This project made me consider a color palette that I normally might not have,” she said. “I’ve sometimes hesitated to use a client’s existing pieces because I worried the space wouldn’t feel fresh. This room transformation showed me that I could still be creative in these situations, with a beautiful end result.”

This article originally appeared in Spring 2024 issue of Business of Home. Subscribe or become a BOH Insider for more.