Building our home was a about a three-year process. When we got to building out the interior planning stages, we knew we were going to need help with the design. There were just too many choices.

It was at that point we said OK, let's do a search and look for a designer. We wanted a designer who had a lot of experience, somebody that was open to our design choices, because we knew that we wanted to go with the California Coastal design. We interviewed actually quite a few of them before selecting Stephanie Kratz Interiors.

What attracted us to Stephanie, first of all, was her website. It is beautiful, the colors and different project photos. Her aesthetic was varied to fit the needs of her individual clients. We just really, really, liked her taste, so we called her and did a phone interview with her.

During the call, she really seemed to jive and made the connection as to what we wanted in terms of our design. What we wanted for our new home was something completely different, open spaces, lots of lights, lots of windows. Stephanie got on board right from the beginning. Not only did she help us with design choices, but she helped us with the architectural design.

A great example of why to have a designer during the planning phase is this breakfast nook area. We were able to do the furnishing plans in conjunction with the construction plans so that we knew exactly which table was going to be placed where and exactly where the builder needs to drop his light for the chandelier to be centered over our table. That's really important because if we were going to add a console in this room, it's going to push that table further into the room to allow for the correct spacing which would then have our chandelier over a side of the table instead of being centered.

We got everything that we needed and wanted in terms of our house. We wanted to have a room for our safe, and didn't want it to be so exposed. Stephanie came up with an idea to use the space under our stairs and create pocket doors to access it. Our safe uses an otherwise wasted space, it's a wonderful aspect of our design now.

Throughout the design process she came with us on our walkthroughs and met with the project manager during the build. She noticed if light switches and outlets were in the wrong place for the furnishings. Even some of the pulls or handles on cabinets were in the wrong places. Not only did she serve as our designer, but she acted in the role of a project manager keeping everything within the quality assurance that we wanted. We gave her a lot of leeway because we really knew that she knew what she was doing.

We had several design meetings. When meeting her at her studio, she gave us a lot of choices and her taste was exquisite. We really didn't have a lot of stressing out. Anytime we were a little unsure of design, she would come up with an alternative that we loved.



Stephanie has basically done everything in our house, from the floors to the cabinets to the outdoor living space. She helped us with the selection of our furniture, with the accessories, and lighting. She did a phenomenal job and we get so many compliments when people come over. People love the design and that it's different, so different from the norm in terms of uniqueness. Even the tiles that she chose are things that I would definitely not have chosen myself because it's not something that I would have even seen on Pinterest or in architectural design magazines.

Stephanie is able to provide a really unique perspective and elevate your design more than you could imagine.