AWARDS:

2013 – Best of HOUZZ Award 2013

2011 – ASID Excellence in Design Awards – Don Gibson Theatre, Shelby, NC and Auditorium, Spartanburg, SC

RECOMMENDATIONS:

RABOUIN RESIDENCE – CUSTOM KITCHEN DESIGN: Davidson, North Carolina. 2016

The kitchen Geri designed for me is beautiful! She had innovative ideas in the design, the materials used, the colors, the practicality of the kitchen. She was easy to work with, listening to my wishes, then to my (few) reservations. I initially chose her because of her European background, since I was looking for a style I see in my native France. Geri totally delivered! I love to cook in this kitchen, and more telling, I now enjoy cleaning it!

EGAN RESIDENCE – CUSTOM KITCHEN DESIGN: Waxhaw, North Carolina. 2014

I hired Geri from Freespace design when I was building my new custom home. We were building in a more traditional neighborhood, but have contemporary taste. We asked her to first assist us with selecting colors for our painted brick house so that it fit into the neighborhood, but kept the contemporary look we were going for. She came incredibly prepared, and had different combinations already paired, and a rendering that shows how each color looked on the house. It was amazing! She really has an eye for color, and factors in lighting and trim colors to create a complete package. We are so pleased with how the house turned out, we could not have done it without her!

Once we got into designing the kitchen, we again realized we needed help. We didn’t want just a plain layout and we didn’t want elaborate, traditional cabinets. Geri listened to our wish list, and came back with a unique, interesting and contemporary design that was not too modern, but definitely not traditional. In the design, she incorporated walnut as an accent piece to go along with the dark wood cabinets. I never would have imagined anything like what she designed. The walnut was used on the front of the island, and undercounter puck lighting shines down onto the walnut wall to showcase a very cool design feature. On the front of the bar, she used a similar walnut design, but used tape lighting behind so that light shows through the walnut slats. In the coffee bar, she designed a walnut cabinet and 3 shelf unit, which ties the entire kitchen together. The walnut adds an unexpected, yet very cool element to the overall design making it look truly custom.

Instead of traditional granite, Geri suggested white silestone and a white backsplash. It gives it a minimalist look without all of the competing colors that granite introduces. My favorite aspect of the countertop is that she designed the island the wrap down the sides into a “waterfall”. So the sides of the island match the top and it looks like one continuous piece. Brilliant!

Instead of regular or frosted glass for the cabinet doors, she found glass that had bamboo-like grass embedded into it. With the light shining through the glass, it adds an unexpected element to the overall look and some texture as well.

Lastly, we realized we could not make color and design decisions on our own at this point. We trusted Geri too much by now! It was time to pick out paint colors for the entire house. We wanted to keep it to 6 or less. She again came prepared with swatches of colors grouped together. We went room to room and used different light to make sure we liked the combinations. Then, once we agreed on the 6 colors, she helped us place them into each room. But not just painting the room, she thinks of a room in terms of planes and volumes, and selects combinations of these colors to highlight certain walls or corners. She thinks about how you look through a house, and which walls are on the same plane and should be the same color, even though they are in different rooms. Her design eye is like nothing I’ve ever seen.

We are so happy with our choice to work with Geri during this process. She was the easiest part of building our new home, and really took away a lot of the stress. If I ever build again, I would get her involved before I even finalize the house plans and have everything designed up front instead of trying to do it during the building process. It would have saved us a lot of rework with the builder!

I strongly recommend Geri, she is so talented!

THOMAS RESIDENCE – CUSTOM KITCHEN DESIGN: Charlotte, North Carolina

    We hired Geri to design a huge kitchen remodel for us. We had a couple of meetings where she covered various topics – our vision, our personalities, our hobbies, etc. With that, I then assumed we would then have to go through a number of her designs until we finally agreed on one. Her very FIRST design was perfect and personal and everything my husband and I wanted. Only minor minor tweaks were needed. During the actual remodeling, she has gone above and beyond her scope of ‘hired’ work to make sure the contractors are on task, that we are happy, and that the design concept stays true. She has made the process a wonderful experience, and I don’t think we could have asked for more in terms of her skill and design work.

JOHNSON RESIDENCE – CUSTOM KITCHEN DESIGN: Charlotte, North Carolina

Kristen Linea Johnson, Home Owner. April 2012.

It is my pleasure to write a recommendation for Geri and Freespace Design.  I bought a house built in 1932 but love true modern, edgy, sharp design – something not typical in a 1930s house.  I went through four different designer “interviews” before meeting Geri.  I was immediately impressed by her first response email – she made a point of outlining her philosophy, and emphasized the relationship and communication component (no-one else had done this).

I first engaged Geri to design my kitchen.  Because I wanted something completely different, I only gave her minimal guidance – a handful of magazines with marked photos, a few emails about what I like, etc.  She came back with an INCREDIBLE, cutting-edge design that wildly exceeded my expectations.  She accommodated many environmentally conscious components and creative materials.  She also provided excellent guidance on budget trade-offs (e.g., where to spend money, where to save).  I know she spent far more hours on this project than her fee – she was with us the whole way, checking in, helping explain things to contractors, etc.

I then engaged her for some basic staging of the living area next to the kitchen, and the front room.  Once again, even though this was a far less complex request, she created a stellar concept.

We are planning on building an addition in the next year or so, and I will definitely involve Geri, hopefully to a greater extent than I did with the kitchen.  She is THE modern designer with whom to work in Charlotte, in my opinion – not the diluted contemporary style, or Southern modern, but true European sharp modern.

Geri, thank you for your brilliance with what I needed – and I look forward to more in the future.

30,000sqft TRADITIONAL CUSTOM RESIDENCE: North Carolina. Currently under construction.

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