BY SHALEEN DESTEFANO
Atelier Design is an award-winning, woman-owned Interior Design firm who have been bringing bold, and uniquely polished designs to Denver homes for over 15 years. Their catalog is extremely inspired and refreshing in a world where beige, grey, black and white have been taking center stage inside of most homes. We had the opportunity to speak with Owner, and Lead Designer, Katie Schroder to learn more about her process.
When was the moment you realized you wanted to work in a creative field and open up an interior design firm? What was life like before Atelier?
In high school I realized that I wanted to do something creative, but I didn’t have some big dream of opening my own firm. Then once I had worked in the industry for a while, starting at showrooms and then under another designer, and gained more experience it just became the natural and obvious choice to start my own firm.
Atelier is an award-winning, full-service interior design firm in Denver, that actively works with bold colors and textures, which we love! Can you tell us about your approach when working with a new client, and explain the services you provide?
When working with a new client, we really try to get to know the person in regards to how they live their lives, where they travel to, their personal style, their existing home style, etc. A lot of times the colors that someone wears, the cultures they are drawn to, and the styles of home they dream of are what inspire us to create their home design.
Our approach regarding the design then starts broader, developing an overall scheme of patterns, colors, and textures first and then narrowing down how each of those elements will work in each space and interact together. As each project is very unique, we like to cater how we move the project forward based on how the client wants to progress and what is most important to them – sometimes clients want to select the large furniture items first, or select art or rugs and pull the palette from there, and so on. For the home featured in this issue, it all began with a piece of art that the owner loved. Art is an essential part of this journey.
We are there every step of the way until the very end. The project finalization process includes furniture deliveries, for which our team is present to inspect all purchased items. Once every item is successfully in your home, we spice up the space with finishing touches, art and accessories. We make sure you are 100% happy from start to finish!
Tell us about your team and where you find inspiration?
We are a small but mighty team of five women. The bond we’ve created over the years, is definitely as close to family as it gets. This mutual respect and love we have for each other carries over into the work we provide. Traveling is the most important form of inspiration for us, as we all travel quite a bit. But we also get inspired by other creatives, so social media and magazines are a great source of inspiration for that. As you can probably already tell, we are a firm that religiously uses color and pattern to fuse with diverse cultures, bringing each project a unique flare. Our team is full of laughter, while being serious about your project and its outcome.
You’ve been doing this for quite some time. Do you have a favorite project(s) that stands out?
I had a client in 2018 that definitely stands out as one of my all-time favorites. She was an art historian that had remodeled a lot of houses previously, so she had a really clear vision of what she liked and what she wanted to accomplish. It was a fun designer-challenge as well because they were downsizing to a Denver bungalow, so they needed to narrow down their items to have just their favorites in the new smaller space. They also love to entertain so making the whole home a vibrant and unique space for guests was a big goal that was really fun to accomplish, especially since they are lovers of saturated colors and warm textures.
What does your dream house look like?
If you look at our portfolio, you’ll see a wide range of styles for each project. So I think it’s hard to narrow down one specific style that I would want my home to be. Something very eclectic would be my dream home style, and one must-have would be to live near water, one day the ocean.
What are the three most treasured items in your home?
My teacup collection, the artifacts from my husband’s Peace Corps service in Africa, and my new Thibaut wallpaper in my dining room!
You’re wildly creative, so naturally we want to know what you’re reading and listening to at the moment.
I am listening to the Business of Home podcast pretty much every day. What I am reading currently is The Women book. I know, very serious. But we are serious about being wildly creative! *wink*
Have you had the opportunity to collaborate with any local artists?
Yes, we love to collaborate with local artists always. Artists we love to partner up with is Madeline O’Connell, Cheri Vilona, and Andrea Gordon. Their works are so unique and obviously we love them all for their use of color.
What is the best advice you could offer anyone who currently wants to change their living space?
Always budget for art and accessories! While furniture and space planning are very important components of every design, art and accessories finish a space off. They also really show off your personality, which is the most important thing of all! Make the space look fabulous but also make sure it radiates your style and energy!
What can we expect from you in the future?
As we all have seen, with more accessible design avenues, home owners have become more confident experimenting with their home design, with or without the help of a designer. And through social media home owners are getting more inspiration, making them more familiar and comfortable with having a more unique, personalized style with their home. So, for designers like us who do very bold home projects, we are getting more clients who are more comfortable with going wilder and more interesting, so you will see us leveling up the uniqueness of our projects. We can’t wait to show everyone the amazing projects we have been working on!
Thank you for sharing your story with us, Katie! If you’d like to learn more, please visit www.atelierid.com.