Finding an Interior Designer for Your Custom Home

If you are building a custom lake home, you will want to find an interior designer to help you through the process. An interior designer will help with everything from selecting light fixtures to countertops, wallpaper, and paint color, and everything in between.

We sat down with Anne Frentzel, owner of Anne Frentzel Interiors (AFI), to ask her about her process when working with clients who are building their dream home.

Finding an Interior Designer for Your Custom Home: An Interview

Anne, how does your team prefer to work with clients?

We love to start talking with clients as early in the process as possible. We gather as much information from our clients as we can regarding their preferences by having them complete a detailed new client questionnaire and supply us with inspirational images of favorite spaces. If we can meet before new build or renovation plans are made, we can help plan a home they will love and will work for them, as well as help problem-solve from the beginning.

What color palettes do you like to use for custom lake homes?

At AFI, we always love to start with a neutral base. Warm whites and medium-tone woods are timeless and foundational and are used in almost all of our projects in one way or another. From there, we build our design with more neutral layers and textures and add color to fit the client’s taste. For lake homes, the views are center stage, so we tend to take color inspiration from the home’s surroundings: hazy blues, mossy greens, and sandy beiges are favorites.

What are simple things anyone can do to refresh their home?

Paint is by far the easiest and most cost-effective way to transform a room; a fresh color can completely wake up a tired space. New lighting, updated accessories, and major decluttering will really refresh a space as well. Window treatments are often installed and never changed – and are often an element dating a space. Updating or removing heavy treatments to allow more natural light is another really easy way to brighten a space.

What are the most essential pieces or accents in a home?

The pieces you use every day should be the ones you invest in. Sofas, dining tables, your bed – these are the foundational pieces that can really affect how you feel in your home every day. We often use solid, neutral, transitional styles for these pieces to keep them looking timeless. Fun, trendy accent pieces that show your personal style can be added and easily updated as trends and your style change.

How do you make a home flow from room to room but not have every space look the same?

Choosing a design style and sticking to it room by room makes a home feel cohesive and intentional. I encourage people embarking on a new design project to think about what styles they are drawn to and to collect images of them on Pinterest or Instagram, or through magazines. Discovering what colors, textures, or architectural details you are drawn to and then repeating those elements from room to room in your home not only provides consistency visually but hopefully makes every space one you love.