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
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