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Margaret and Jason Newton MA

By on August 11, 2018 in Testimonial

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

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Rebecca S. Chestnut Hill MA

By on August 11, 2015 in Testimonial

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

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Zorfas family, Newton MA

By on August 11, 2018 in Testimonial

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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