Virtual Interior Design Project for Social Creator Kelsey Pomeroy + Family

When funny lady and super mom, Kelsey Pomeory aka @kelsewhatelse posted a video to Instagram speaking directly to "The Person who Designed Her House" she recounts the poor design of support beams, the overall terrible aesthetic of the posts and the overall lack of function, 3 Million people watched and thousands commented. Kelsey then posted to her stories looking for a virtual designer, a cry for help to solve the post problem without removing them and asking for interior design help for the living and dining room space.

Luckily, one of my wonderful followers shared her story with me and I reached out to Kelsey straight away! We connected, hoped on a call and chatted about what she needed to accomplish. She sent along these before photos and some measurements so I could recreate her space with computer aided drawing. The goal was to give her design direction, color palette focus and a phased plan to execute to the finalized design.

This project is a perfect example of what the virtual interior design process looks like. Everything from client kickoff meeting, to requirements and homework for the client, the first step in the design process and getting to the final result. And the best part, it's all done virtually!

Here are the below photos that were shared from Kelsey:

Virtual Interior Design Process Step 1:

Kickoff meeting to understand the client's needs.

Kelsey shared a few important notes with me, plus their must haves. They use this room A LOT. In fact, it's the primary area where the kids play and where the family spends a majority of their time. In addition, they like to keep things open as they do lots of active play and even do performances in the space. Of course, they do watch a little tv and it hasn't been the best fit with the tv set up so high.

We of course talked about the dream to address the beams, flooring, the space plan and addressing the dining area that is just adjacent to the space. We also talked about the inspiration from an interior design style and we discovered that she loves English cottage with a little transitional flair. They travel a ton (this is what her instagram is largely based on, traveling with a young family) so they wanted to have hints of their recent travels to Scotland noted.

Client homework in this step is simply to provide some inspiration images for reference.

Virtual Design Process Step 2:

After the call, I will prepare mood and design direction boards for each room of the project. The purpose of this activity is to ensure that I am understanding the client's style and aesthetic. I will do this for no cost and will provided along with the proposal for the cost of the project. It helps the client to decided with confidence that that I am the right designer for them and gives them an opportunity to share what they love and what really resonated with them from the mood boards. In addition, they can share feedback on pieces of the mood board that didn't really work for them. This is such a good tool so that in the NEXT step, the detailed design phase where selections are made are much closer to final.

Here's what Kelsey received during the virtual design process step 2:

Virtual Design Process Step 3:

This is the feedback round! Kelsey let me know that they didn't love the rattan roman shade or the woven pendant light. This was super helpful because then I avoided any of those selections when we confirmed that the project will start and the proposal was accepted.

Virtual Design Process Step 4:

A bit of client homework. For virtual design, I cannot be onsite to do measurements of the space if we are going to do space planning or going a step further and 3D modeling or rendering. Kelsey and her husband did a great job and even used online free version of Sketchup to get me measurements of both the living room and dining space. I used her photo references and the measurements to deliver her 3D renderings.

Virtual Design Process Step 5:

Final selections, space planning and drawing. This is where the magic happens and creativity really shines. For Kelsey, I really wanted to ensure that we addressed those pesky poles in a way that she could live with them and maybe eventually love them! As you can see from the below 3D renderings we are addressing the pole problem by recovering them with a more rustic pine and also creating the illusion that the horizontal support beam is also made of wood. The support beam works perfectly for this solution as it can also be wrapped in the same material as the poles will be.

Here's the thing about executing on plan though.... sometimes we cannot make it all happen at once and we need a phased approach to getting to the final design. This is EXACTLY where Kelsey and her family are at. They wanted to make changes now that were within their budget and continue finishing the projects over time. For instance, the final design suggests that we closed the hole between the living space and the kitchen. It was completely non-functional and was creating more mess than anything. Plus there is a plan to resurface the fireplace, add new flooring and more.

So part of this project required a thoughtful phased approach to getting to the final destination. Take a look at the final delivery of this project where there are multiple phases to get to the end result.

Virtual Design Process Step 6:

Next, the client will take the steps to execute and implement! Kelsey was given the specific items, links and details to order on her own and install based on the plans. I am here to support through this phase as well! We meet virtually and discuss any ordering concerns and any adjustments to the space plan as we go.

I am SOOOOO looking forward to seeing this one come to life. The paint has already started and I know the transformation will be amazing.