“No.”
“Big open space. Huge windows on one side. Mirrors everywhere. Huge runway that went through the middle of the space. Halston had a very specific aesthetic that was simple and minimalist, but glamorous all the same. So I told the client I could take that idea but modernize it for the twenty-first century. He loved my drawings. My boss was pissed. So I quit the firm and started my own company, and the fashion designer was my first client. I finished his offices and redesigned his SoHo store next. Even better, he had a lot of celebrities in his orbit that he introduced me to. Things kind of took off for me from there.”
“Wow.”
“Success in this industry is half talent, half connections. And, look, some designers don’t like celebrity clients. I have a design school buddy who designs rooms for high-end hotels now. He makes more money than I do. He told me he’s allergic to anyone high-maintenance. But I kind of like the difficult clients. I like the challenge of figuring out how to give them what they want without them knowing they want it.”
“Okay.”
“One thing you will learn through this project is that a lot of people don’t know the words for things. They don’t have the vocabulary about design that you and I do. You ask any layperson about their design aesthetic and they’ll stare at you blankly. So the real skill is to figure out what the person likes and elevate it. I mean, you heard Carol. She says she wants modern, but by ‘modern’ she just means new, not modern design. I think if we gave her a sleek, monotone interior, she’d hate it. She’s not really so different from a celebrity client who flipped through an issue ofHouse Beautifuland thinks she wants her house to look like this one photo she saw but can’t describe.”
“Right. Gotcha.” And Grayson did understand. He liked to listen to Nolan talk too. Nolan was animated when he started discussing design in a way he wasn’t otherwise. It was nice to see someone who was good at what they did talk about their passion.
“In college I had a job at a video rental store, back when those were still a thing. I mostly just ran people up at the register or put movies back on the shelves, but I worked with this guy who was the biggest movie buff I’ve ever met. Someone could come into the store and say, ‘What’s that movie with the blue poster?’ And he would know exactly what movie they were talking about. It was like a superpower. I try to be like that with design. If someone says they like things simple or they like white kitchens or they just want a whole house designed around this blanket their grandmother crocheted thirty years ago, I can take that and translate it into a real design.”
Grayson nodded, because while he understood Nolan’s point, he knew he wasn’t there yet. His head swam with everything the Robertses had told them, and he couldn’t quite figure out how to translate everything Carol had said about her preferences and turn it into a design. There were so many decisions to make. What style of cabinet should be used in the kitchen? Should the same cabinets go in the bathrooms? What kind of floors should they use? Should they run the same floor throughout the house or use tile in the kitchen? How could they ensure the floor didn’t clash with anything else they picked? What about appliances and paint colors and accessories? Suddenly Grayson’s head felt like it might explode.
“The last job I worked on was an office interior,” Grayson said. “We helped convert this cube farm at a book publisher into a fun, open-plan office. They publish kids’ books, so they wanted this very elementary school color palette.”
“So… red.”
“We actually did lime green and sherbet orange. But only as accent colors. We designed this big common space for people to hold informal meetings and put orange chairs at the tables, or we used green on some of the signage. Everything else was kind of neutral.”
“Okay. Not bad. Someone could do a brisk business modernizing offices.”
“Yeah. But I’d rather do houses, personally. There’s something a little depressing about designing spaces where people are just gonna sit all day.”
Nolan laughed. “I take it you didn’t like working in an office.”
“Nope, hated it. I wasn’t that broken up about quitting my job to come do this show.”
“Designing for families may not be the biggest stretch of your creativity, but I think it will be fun. I’ve got a dozen ideas for the Roberts house already.”
Hoping to deflect from the fact that he had nothing, Grayson said, “I can’t wait to hear them.”
Chapter Five
SOMEONE ATthe Restoration Channel had an interesting sense of humor and had built the studio set to look a lot like Nolan’s old studio in LA, where he’d filmed a handful of TV appearances. Itlookedlike a design studio: white walls, a big work table, a half-dozen chairs, a row of cabinets for holding various supplies, and then over to the side, a sofa and a TV. But there was also a whole lot of camera equipment.
“Pretend the cameras aren’t there,” Helena told Grayson as Nolan ignored everything and unrolled the Roberts house floor plans on the big table. He picked up a box of erasable colored pencils he’d requested. He pulled out a blue one and stared at the floor plans.
“All right, let’s get into it,” Helena said. “Grayson, you and Nolan sit at the table and discuss your design plan.”
Grayson nodded and pulled over one of the chairs. Nolan followed his lead and sat beside him. He moved the floor plan for the first floor in front of them.
“Action!” said the director.
“Let’s start in the kitchen,” said Grayson.
Nolan went through his plan for the first floor, crossing out the walls he wanted to take down and drawing over the existing kitchen with where he thought cabinets and appliances should go. Since Nolan and Grayson were designers and not contractors, the emphasis of the show would be on design, not renovation necessarily. Most of the renovation work would take place off camera, although Helena’s idea to pull in viewers was to get a few guest contractors from other Restoration shows to take care of the renovation parts of the project.
So this was mostly for show. Once the Robertses signed off on the floor plan, a crew would finish construction mostly off camera, and then Nolan could run wild with the design.
He pulled over the floor plan for the second floor and drew in where he wanted the new master bathroom and closet to go. Grayson watched without saying much. In an effort to pull him into the conversation, Nolan asked, “What are you thinking in terms of materials?”
Grayson bit his lip. Nolan found that endearing. “Well, the kitchen doesn’t get a lot of natural light, so I was thinking white cabinets and light counters.”
Nolan nodded. Design 101 was that light colors made a space look bigger, and lighter materials could make up for a lack of windows. White kitchens were always a crowd-pleaser.
