Tag Archives | construction

Ashley – Wellesley, MA

I truly feel blessed that you helped me accomplish our dream home!  I know my style is not for everyone, but I smile every time I stop and admire our house.  Plain and simple, our house makes us so HAPPY! It represents the zany personalities of our family and I could not have accomplished this without you and your vision. You pushed me out of my comfort zone and you reigned me in when I needed it.

 

I have received ENDLESS compliments……everyone raves about the amazing use of color.  I vividly remember our first meeting when I showed you a few of my thoughts for the house…..a lot of very safe colors that i thought I was supposed to like and use.  You took it all in and listened to my thoughts. You came back for our second meeting and asked me a very pointed question…..” i’ve noticed that you and your husband wear a lot of color, what about incorporating those vivid colors into your house, they seem more fitting for your family and lifestyle”  You were exactly right and off we went!

 

I know every client is different…some clients want you to bring them options and/or present them a complete picture, but you allowed me to bring ideas to the table then worked with me to seamlessly bring together a complete vision.  We couldn’t be happier in our new space, it truly feels like a home that perfectly fits our family. Thank you again for everything – your vision, your patience, your guidance and most importantly your vast knowledge of how to perfectly bring together all aspects of decorating a home.  

 

-Ashley, Wellesley, MA

Margaret and Jason Newton MA

Working with Melissa Gulley has been one of the most wonderful and rewarding experiences. We started with a completely stark white house, virtually no furniture, definitely no window treatments, and almost no concept of what we liked and what our tastes in decorating were. Because of this, the thought of decorating our house and making it a “home” was daunting and depressing. But, then, a friend of ours suggested we talk to Melissa. We went to a house she was in the process of decorating and we really loved what we saw and this encouraged us to make that first scary phone call. From the very moment Melissa walked in our house for our initial meeting we both fell head over heels in love with her. She was simply great. She laid out a plan, first helping us to learn more about our own tastes and what we wanted our home to look and feel like. Then, she guided us through a process of envisioning our home, helping us with colors, fabric, window treatments (as much as we insisted that our house was different and didn’t need window treatments, Melissa showed us the way to understanding that window treatments are the pivotal part of decorating, now we can’t help but notice the window treatments everywhere we go!), furniture and, most importantly, making our house a home for our family. The results of our work with Melissa are evident – our home is warm and welcoming with the all important beautiful window treatments, simple yet elegant furniture, fantastic colors, rugs and wall treatments that make everything come together, and, most importantly, our home is lived in and very much appreciated.

 

Melissa is the most energetic and exciting person we have had the pleasure of spending time with. She makes everything relaxed and easy going. She listens to your concerns and cares intently about everything you express. Melissa understands and respects your budget, she is extremely open and forthcoming about costs and comes up with creative ways to work within your budget. She has the most intuitive sense of colors, fabrics and style, mixing and matching things that you never thought could come together and making them look fantastic.

 

Every single day our entire family loves and appreciates how beautiful and comfortable our home looks. There is never a day that goes by that we don’t think about the gorgeous red carpet on our stairs, our welcoming and comfortable kitchen, our funky dining room, our more formal, yet still homey living room and our very exciting family room. We love it all and attribute every morsel of it to Melissa. We’ve known Melissa for over 7 years and we’ve grown to have a warm and wonderful relationship with her, both professionally and personally. She is a joy to be with, her creativity and decorating ability is just awesome and she is the most honest, trustworthy, reliable, considerate person – the total package!! Come see our house and get a first hand view of what we’re talking about! We feel very lucky to know Melissa – she is certainly our decorating go to girl!!

 

Margaret and Jason 

Newton, MA

Rebecca S. Chestnut Hill MA

Everyone has a nightmare construction or contractor story to share. I am sure my story ranks higher than most. While in a whole house renovation, I had the broken water pipe, failed inspections, Impossible contractor and missing workers…..but I also had the hero story of the very sweet, lovely Melissa Gulley. My interior designer extraordinaire who also proved to be a contractor whisperer. Melissa Gulley not only worked design magic, but somehow, she helped bring the seemingly impossible construction team to complete a tremendous house renovation including a kitchen suite, master bath/bedroom suite and family room addition as well as finishing the rest of the house. Working closely with my architect, the contractor, the electrician, the plumber, the millwork professionals, the plasterers, painters, landscape installers, roofers, etc., Melissa Gulley helped shape and at times, direct every aspect of this very large project- THANK GOD!

Melissa Gulley worked closely with both my husband and I to design our family home. As a family with three boys, a cat and dog, Melissa designed our space to reflect our personalities and accommodate our active lifestyle. The process made me aware of the amount of planning and effort that is required to achieve beautiful and useful design. Melissa helped develop an appropriate light design, she helped reconfigure closet space, added molding and millwork to compliment my 1920’s tutor, and created a spacious living room that seats all of my neighbors comfortably when I entertain. She also designed sumptuous window treatments, amazing custom backsplash, and ultrasuede double sofas that add drama and sophistication in a male dominated home. I haven’t even discussed the magic she created in my large master bath.

After encountering numerous construction setbacks, it was important for me to find a designer who was sensitive to my budget requirements. My large scale project involved stone, millwork, tile, window treatments, decorative rugs, carpet, linens, art, refacing a fireplace, flooring, sconces, chandeliers, task lighting, tables, chairs, buffets, and the list goes on. Melissa Gulley guided me to splurge on special items, and worked with me to find less costly design alternatives for others.

One of the most striking features of my home is the bold use of color and rich textures. Prior to working with Melissa, I am certain I dreamed in color, I often used color accessories, but the reality was that everything was beige or green. I am now totally affected by the deep colors and beautiful patterns Melissa introduced to my home. I would never have had the guts to choose this without her and yet it feels like us.

I can go on and on, but most importantly, anyone wishing to hear more should call me or come and see for yourself. I love my home and I would recommend Melissa Gulley to anyone involved in a small or large-scale redesign project.

Rebecca S.
Chestnut Hill

Zorfas family, Newton MA

We have worked with Melissa for almost 20 years.  Melissa has designed three houses for us, one in Newton and two in Florida and she has also worked with many of our friends over the years.  She is a great person and wonderful to work with.  She is trustworthy, deeply thoughtful, kind, smart and funny as well as organized, professional and a great problem solver.

As you can imagine during the construction and completion of three homes, you run into some crazy issues and lots of stress. Melissa is fantastic at forging connections and happy friendships with every player on the team- the architect, builder, and all the sub-contractors – even the delivery people. She worked nicely with a few huge egos, difficult characters and some that were just plain grouchy. She, however, never missed a beat.  She has been unfailingly happy, positive and very encouraging the whole time regardless of situation.

Melissa has a vast knowledge of construction- she has worked on numerous construction jobs from tiny to huge. She can easily hold her own conversing about difficult construction issues with any contractor, electrician or architect and is very helpful to everyone in problem solving. I have also seen her quietly step back to respect someone’s need to figure things out. She is very intuitive in how she deals with people.

She creatively guided us through our “historic city home” renovation in which we wanted to be more traditional, warm and comfortable (not to mention kid friendly). She has also helped us create a more contemporary look at our “new vacation homes” where we want a simpler, airy feeling (but also wet bathing suit proof). She has a wealth of product knowledge, a never-ending database of where and how to find the perfect things. She travels to North Carolina often to nurture relationships with manufacturers and see what’s new, as well to New York to keep up with show room offerings. She is very comfortable designing custom rugs and furniture if we are unable to find just the right piece.

Melissa has great personal style, I always look forward to seeing what she’ll wear to our meetings- sometimes simple, classic and tailored and other times funky and relaxed. I love that I don’t feel like I need to be dressed and polished to see Melissa as she is relaxed, easy going and seems to be able to keep the larger picture in mind especially during periods of stress. She would have made a great therapist. Actually, I have to laugh because I think she was our therapist during these big projects.  I can’t tell you how many times she talked me off the edge!  We’ve always felt that we have someone our team that has respected our budgets, our goals and our timetables.

We love our homes and we love Melissa.

The Zorfas family

Wellelsey MA

Over the past 15 years, Melissa Gulley has provided incredibly detailed design services for our family in two homes, on projects of varied scale and budget. The scope of her services ranged from fully transforming and decorating my master bedroom, baby’s room and living room to design specifications of a three story construction project. Through her questions and time spent with me and my husband, she was able to bring fabrics, furniture, tile, carpet, accessories and ideas which suited, complimented and heightened our taste, needs and personalities. She worked out the differences between my need to be funky/ modern and my husband’s need to be true to his Boston subdued persona and more traditional taste.

 

Throughout the design process, Melissa Gulley helped restore our Home, bringing in millwork, incredible molding and creative space planning. Melissa worked cooperatively with the builder as well as the architect, to develop a functional and beautiful floor plan. Prior to Melissa’s involvement, we did not maximize lighting, built in units, and window/ceiling placement. The hard working, detail oriented, spirited, and beautiful design genius worked her magic with all of the contractors and I am certain each and every one would be willing to also submit a testimonial supporting her incredible value to our large scale construction project.  One of the best parts of these projects is that we all had fun, she shows up smiling and happy. This should be fun and Melissa added just the sunshine and humor we all needed.

 

The icing on the cake with Melissa Gulley is her ability to not only bring together great floor plans, furniture, window treatments, and rugs, but as a former stylist, she has an eye for the smallest of detail and will take the time to find items of character and value to each home she decorates. Shopping for knickknacks, coffee table books, artifacts, even great art seems to be sport for Melissa. She also has employed local artists to paint original pieces for my home.  Even years later I feel she is always keeping our needs in mind. My favorite time of year is when she pulls a few incredible finds from the Brimfield Antique Show that are just perfect for our space.

 

I would refer Melissa to anyone anytime without the slightest hesitation, she seems to work beautifully with all personalities, tastes and budgets.  Interestingly, her clients never seem to leave, she does multiple houses and projects for people again and again. She has worked with so many of our friends and everyone just absolutely LOVES her.  They all give her name out to other friends with ease and enthusiasm. I don’t think Melissa has ever had to advertise- its all word of mouth- that says it all!

Wellesley, MA

Maureen and Thad Palmer, Weston MA

Dear Melissa:

I want to tell you just how much I have enjoyed working with you over the past few years and look forward to continuing the relationship moving forward. With your patience, the decorating journey will continue on with you. You have brought a refreshing contemporary outlook to designing a distinct style and feel for our home. You happen to have a unique talent for understanding what it is we desire for the final outcome of a space and offer various creative avenues to reach the goal, keeping every small detail in mind.

It’s always a pleasure to get emails or photos in the mail from you of a piece that you think may work for a specific place in the house. Most of all I’ve loved partnering with you because of your spirited and honest approach coupled with your efficiency and broad base of experience. It has been so much more than simply picking fabrics and making educated choices for the spaces in our home, it has been an exciting and inspiring process which has led to a home that is remarkably designed yet comfortable, one that we are proud to be in and, thanks to you, for which we have received many compliments.

You are welcome to use us as a reference any time.

Thank you,

Maureen and Thad Palmer
Weston

Amy Bernstein, Boston MA

I lived in my apartment for 18 years, wishing that it was decorated differently. I wanted to move my kitchen to the other side of my apartment, reduce the size, as well as moving and downsizing my laundry room and second bathroom. If you’ve ever lived in an apartment building with vertical plumbing and sprinklers, you know that any architect or contractor would just say; “IMPOSSIBLE!”

Melissa had done a few things for me in my 15th, 16th and 17th years in this apartment. New window treatments, new carpeting, a beautiful wall unit that she designed, and new dining room chairs. I wanted contemporary (my apartment bordered on that but not quite!) so with a few new things, it was looking better.

I was going to retire from my job in 2008 and be at home during the week as well as the weekends, so in 2007 Melissa and I began discussing what to do and how to start making my apartment my dream contemporary home. The wall unit (the entire wall: 20 feet!) could stay, as it included a built in desk, drawers, cabinets and an entertainment system, but the rest of the apartment had to go.

Melissa went above and beyond what I believe most designers do with their clients. She helped me interview contractors, she found an architect, and she designed another wall unit. We picked a porcelain floor for most of the apartment other than the bedroom and she designed the layout. All of the contractors thought it was crazy and impossible to move the plumbing in a high rise building but she (after studying the building floor plans) convinced the contractor we chose that it could be done. She found an architect to draw up the final plans after she had designed the space. She also worked Patiently and nicely with the contractor who had very different ideas on how to get it done.  Melissa was amazingly positive the entire time and really helped keep the energy of the job moving forward happily. She got along beautifully with all the subs and always made sure they knew exactly how things were supposed to look, plumbing, electrical, tile and painting. If there were any glitches, she was great at problem solving with the whole team.

She also helped me furnish this new space (I got rid of my 20 year old stuff) so the result is really my dream; a contemporary, minimalist apartment that feels like me. I spend a lot of time at home now that I retired, and I love my home! It’s exactly what I wanted.

I’ve seen some other projects that Melissa’s been involved in and “contemporary” isn’t her only talent. She can design in any style.  Melissa’s ability to read her clients, listen and figure out what they want is extraordinary. She doesn’t force her style on her client, you work together, to define, refine and develop a look and style that  I could never have gotten to on my own and yet is all Me.

Amy Bernstein

Boston, MA

Valerie and Steve Buller

My husband and I had the distinct pleasure of working with Melissa Gulley during a recent project to build our new home.  Melissa was an integral and indispensable partner to us during the construction and design process and we credit her with creating a home we cherish. She has a keen eye for detail and the innate ability to bring her clients’ needs, taste and personal style to life.  As with many construction projects, timing and costs can be fluid, however Melissa is extremely organized and very cognizant of construction timelines and personal budgets.  She knows how to work and communicate effectively with contractors and sub-contractors alike and was almost singlehandedly responsible for making sure our home was move in ready when we needed it to be.  We couldn’t have asked for a better person to work with!!

Valerie and Steve Buller – Wellesley MA