creating a captivating interior

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When you spend a few minutes talking to Pat Griffin, you quickly come to believe that you are her single most favorite person in the world and that there is nothing she would rather be doing at that given moment than talking to you. She is, in short, a person who loves people and, more specifically, a person who loves helping other people create their dream interiors.

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Creating a Captivating Interior
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Creating ACaptivating

Interior

BEFORE

When you spend a few minutes talking to Pat Griffin,you quickly come to believe that you are her single most favorite person

in the world and that there is nothing she would rather be doing at that given moment than

talking to you. She is, in short, a person who loves people and, more specifically, a person

who loves helping other people create their dream interiors. But to do that, she first has to

truly get to know the person with whom she’s working, and the best way to do that is to

engage in meaningful conversations with them. And so we’re back to where we began.

by Andrew Spencer

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Despite sticking with the business for 10 years, there was always something missing for her. “My passion was alwaysdesign, and I just had to get back into it,” she said. And so sheleft the restaurant world behind and began her own businessof buying and renovating houses, a job she learned from herown parents and which she continues to practice today.

During her time in Connecticut when she was buying and selling houses around-the-clock, Pat met and later married theman she described as her soul mate. “He was in the real estate business,” she told me, “and our joke used to be,‘Where are we going to live this week?’” The couple visitedNantucket many times during their time together, but never formore than a brief vacation. However, when her husbandpassed away, Pat was instinctively drawn to the little Island enclave.

On Nantucket, she has built a two-pronged business model.One part of her business is “traditional” interior design. Aclient hires her to go through the house and re-design the interior, oftentimes trusting Pat’s artistic sensibilities to choosesuch personal things as artwork and other furnishings to

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peaking of beginnings, Pat first learned the interior designtrade at the Parsons School of Design in New York City andlater at the New York School of Design. Being in school in NewYork City – arguably one of the epicenters of interior designanywhere in the world – wasn’t without its advantages.

One such advantage was an opportunity that really launchedPat’s career. She was offered a job working in the interior design department at the world-famous Bloomingdale’s Department Store on 59th Street. One of her job descriptionsat Bloomie’s was to re-set all the furniture in the departmentfour times a year. “It meant changing out all the fabrics and re-doing the whole look of the department,” Pat explained.“And in those days, we were closed on Sundays, so we’d havethese fabulous black-tie events on Sunday nights when we unveiled the new model rooms.”

After leaving design school, Pat received yet another careeropportunity, though one not directly linked to her passion for design. “I went into the restaurant business. I co-owned onerestaurant in New York City and two restaurants in Connecticut.”

BEFORE

LIVING ROOM The space was totally transformed by removing walls and adding French doors.

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BEFORE

BEFORE

MASTER BEDROOM Before renovation the master bedroom consisted of a bedroomand a bath. After, there is a sitting room, his and her baths and a walk-in closet.

UPSTAIRS LIVING ROOM Another French door was added to the space to take advantageof the fabulous views. The owners commissioned “This Is Real Estate” from a local gallery.

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more interested in looking at the house as a potential buyerthan as the current resident, because it’s the buyer’s opinionthat really matters in the whole equation.

A recent design project that Pat finished was a house inShawkemo that a client of hers acquired. “It was,” she said, “apretty big deal.” Modest to the end, what Pat calls “a pretty bigdeal” I would be more inclined to call “a massive undertaking.”The redesign involved a complete reconfiguration of the floorplan because, as she put it, “the existing floor plan just didn’twork.” And that was just the beginning. “We took down walls,we added walls. We added French doors to make things flowbetter throughout the house. We redesigned the landscaping.We built a detached office. We did all the furnishings and theartwork.” I run out of breath just thinking about all of it. Theend results speak for themselves, as the accompanying photosillustrate.

When asked to estimate how many interiors she’s done overthe course of her career, Pat had to think for a minute beforefinally settling on “at least a hundred,” a number that includesboth residential and commercial spaces, all over the United

complement the home’s interior. This is the half of the businesswhere Pat really puts to use her people skills, as she learns aclient’s likes and dislikes. “In order to really decorate theirhome, I need to find out everything about them,” she explained. “What are they like? How do they live? Are theyformal or casual? Is it an active family home? That sort ofthing.” To supplement her own first-hand observations, sheasks the clients to cut out photos of things they love from magazines. “My goal is to make the process fun and not stressful,” she added. In what was no doubt an attempt to appeal to my own writer’s instincts, Pat said that oftentimes herjob is “more about editing than it is re-writing.”

The other part of the business is what is called staging. Staging is,Pat explained, giving a house a little help when it’s on the market. Think of it as a marketing department coming in anddoing a little airbrushing in order to show the house in the bestlight possible. “When I’m doing staging, I try to get the biggest impact for the least amount of money,” she explained. “I lovedoing staging, because you really have to be creative becausethere’s usually not very much money in the budget. You’re really doing it on the fly.” When doing a staging project, Pat is

BEFORE

POOL, POOL HOUSE / OFFICE

A private office plus a half bath and deck were addedabove the pool house, taking advantage of the greatviews. Removing the privet hedge and arbor opens theinfinity pool to the main house.

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States and in select cities in Europe. But despite that international flair, today her feet – and her heart – are safelyon Nantucket. “Nantucket is a wonderful place to live andwork,” she said. “I’m busy all winter and then in the summer,I get to play with my friends. And the winter is nice becausethere isn’t that crazy social schedule. Good friends and nicedinner parties, that’s about the extent of my winter socializing. Butit works out beautifully, because I’m working so much. Andthen comes summer and I get to enjoy myself. And then I startit all over again in the fall.”

Pat Griffin is doing what we all dream of doing. She has a careershe loves and plies her trade in a place she loves just as much.In “The Catcher in the Rye”, the protagonist has a meeting witha history teacher – ironically named Mr. Spencer – who offersthe young boy some parting advice: “Life is a game, boy. Lifeis a game that one plays according to the rules.”

If one subscribes to that view of life, then I think it’s safe to saythat Pat is doing very well in that game.

BEFORE

BEFORE

KITCHEN A French door was added for better flow.

DINING ROOM

Sunken dining room lends an element of sophistication.

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