Grayson took some photos with his phone while Nolan continued to chat with the Robertses. When they wrapped for the day and got back in the car, Grayson started tapping some notes on his phone.
“Am I really so boring?” Nolan asked as he fiddled with the GPS.
“What?”
Nolan pointed at Grayson’s phone.
“Oh. No. I’m not, like, texting or whatever. I’m making some notes about what we just saw so I remember when we do the design.”
“Ah, okay. What did you think?” Nolan pulled out of the driveway and onto the street.
“I liked the Robertses. I have some general ideas, but I’m still kind of sorting it out.”
“What about a general theme? What kind of approach would you take with a house like that?”
Grayson glanced at the camera and saw that it was on. So they were filming, and this was Nolan’s way of testing him about his design skills. Best not to admit that he didn’t know jack about how to renovate a kitchen. “Well, for this couple, I wouldn’t go super modern. Nothing too off the wall. I think something more classic and timeless would work. Warm and homey. Contemporary but traditional.”
“Sure.”
“I mean, the house has good bones. Except for the kitchen, the layout isn’t bad. You could take down a wall or two to make the first floor more open and improve the flow between the spaces.”
“I want to tackle that master bathroom too,” Nolan added. “A retired couple doesn’t need all four bedrooms. What do you think about stealing some space from the bedroom adjacent to the master? Actually, what we could do is create a huge suite. Combine those two rooms. Add a big master bath and a walk-in closet. There’d be space to make a little seating area with some big comfy chairs. Did you see all the books in the den? I’m guessing one or both of them are big readers and would like a little reading nook in the bedroom.”
Grayson pressed his lips together, once again taken aback by the fact that he hadn’t seen the potential Nolan had. The books in the den hadn’t registered, but that was, of course, the sort of detail Grayson should have noticed, because it said a lot about the couple and what their needs would be. “That’s a great idea,” Grayson said.
“Before we finalize the design, I want to create a color story for the whole house. I like the idea of medium gray, dark blue, and maybe salmon pink. The opposite of the marigold colors there now.”
“I like those colors.” Grayson had no idea what to say. Nolan’s mind was obviously running now.
“Just an idea. We’ll have paint cards and all manner of tile and flooring samples at the studio.” Nolan hit the camera button. The red light went off. “Helena wants a lot of the final reveal to be a surprise to the owners, but we’re not the ones who will have to live in the house when it’s done. So my thought was, you and I would brainstorm and come up with a theme and color story that the owners will sign off on, then we’ll run with it. I mean, I’d hate to put salmon pink in the house if Carol Roberts hates it.”
“Who hates salmon pink?”
“Oh, you’d be surprised. I worked with an actress once who hated purple. She would not allow it anywhere in her house. Color is not just subjective, it’s polarizing. Personally, I hate red in interiors.”
“Red? Really?”
“It blocks light. It makes everything seem macabre.”
“I wouldn’t paint a wall, like, blood red, but what about cherry red? A bright, vibrant red?”
“Fine colors for lipstick, evening gowns, and carpets at award shows. Terrible on walls.”
Grayson nodded. “One of my roommates in college put up red sheer curtains in our dorm room.”
“Did it feel like you lived in a brothel?”
Grayson laughed, but nerves crept in the more they talked. He’d felt confident in his ability to do this job until the past hour. Suddenly the breadth and depth of Nolan’s experience was evident. He’d worked on a lot of homes, designed for a lot of people, knew how to make clients happy instead of just imposing his vision on everyone.
It was humbling, and also terrifying. Grayson knew he had blind spots and knowledge gaps, but he hadn’t quite realized how much he still had to learn. A lot of the kids from his class at design school had entered the world knowing full well how they’d conquer it, but Grayson had crawled home to Massachusetts after graduation, and that had not gone well. He’d managed to land back on his feet in New York, but there was nothing like a family who didn’t understand why he wanted to be an interior designer to make him want to be the best damn interior designer who ever lived. He hoped he’d be able to learn what he needed to from Nolan. But for the first time since signing onto the project, he felt like he was truly in over his head.
“What was your first big project?” he asked Nolan. “Like, the first space you ever designed by yourself?”
Nolan considered for a moment. “When I was about your age, I was working for a big design firm here in New York, and my boss had an account with a fashion designer with offices in the garment district. The designer proved to be a challenging client because he had very firm ideas about what he wanted, and he and my boss clashed. So my boss threw up his hands and sent me in. I think he suspected that working with a less experienced decorator would help this fashion designer see how unreasonable he was being. But when I saw the space, I had a clear vision for what it should look like.”
“How did the fashion designer react?”
“Oh, he hated it at first. But once I worked out that he’d worked for Halston, I understood what he wanted. Did you ever see photos of Halston’s studio in the seventies?”
