From Personal Values to Design Specifications

May 17, 2023

When it comes to pulling together design details, fixture specifications and finishes of your home or workplace, identifying your personal / corporate values and lifestyle / work culture goals is an important initial step. SZ’s tailored Programming Questionnaire comes from a genuine ‘getting to know you’ curiosity, allowing our clientele the opportunity to share more about themselves. We bring the creativity, but in the end, we’re in service of you!

What three words best capture your essence, your convictions, your priorities?

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Rock & Roll Retreat: Seattle Penthouse

February 7, 2023

In addition to actively listening to our clients, our design team gains great insights in reading responses to our Programming Questionnaire. They reveal deeper notions of family dynamics, individual personalities, lifestyles and goals. This tool helps us get to know those whom we’re serving more personally, so that we can move forward aligned with their values and convictions.

Take, for instance, our charming client from California, who asked us to revamp his penthouse condo overlooking Puget Sound sunsets in Seattle. When asked to select key words that describe his values, he responded with heartfelt terms as Sanctuary, Beauty, Creativity, Healing and Balance. How wonderful. The SZ Design Team was charged to create a welcoming place for self-reflection, safety, growth and belongingness.

But, the Programming didn’t end there. Delightfully, our client also shared with us his love of music, live performance, production and the display of his vast rock & roll memorabilia. Suddenly, an energetic, creative, almost rebellious, vibe emerged, in stark contrast to the calm retreat initially imagined.

So, how do we find the balance between these seemingly disparate worlds?

Creative Pro-Tips for Back to School 2022

September 18, 2022

Going back to school allows us an opportunity to reconsider how our spaces help our kids prepare to learn. As we venture into a new academic year, we offer you creative pro-tips towards healthy homes, conducive to learning and overall wellness. Here are a few ways you could help your student adjust to another unprecedented school year. Go get ‘em, kiddos!

How to Get Started Remodeling Your House on Mercer Island

July 15, 2022

by Sarah Anne Lloyd, My Mercer Island

Dreaming of how to fix your house is easy, whether you want to build a functional home office, update your kitchen to match your culinary ambitions, or simply to breathe new life into an old Mercer Island house. The hard part comes in figuring out what it will actually cost, how long it will take, and how to even get started.

“It’s a process,” says Suzanne Zahr, who has been working on spaces on Mercer Island for her eponymous firm, Suzanne Zahr, Inc., for seven years. “It’s one that can be very enjoyable, very exciting, because you’re transforming an aspect of your world,” she says, but she also notes it can be stressful.

Preparation, planning, and a good team can help make the remodeling process easier, and Mercer Island has a number of experts on every aspect of remodeling, which leads to Zahr’s biggest piece of advice for people considering a remodel on their home: “Find a team you can trust, the rest will fall into place.”