Beauty is in the Soul of the Beholder

Toni Mays

Designer   

Toni Mays, a designer with 30 years of experience, knows a lot about design and about Design Studio Ferrazzano™. Toni utilizes the knowledge, the materials, services and the talent at Design Studio Ferrazzano™ to enhance her design practice. But Toni has also contributed her talents to the environment there and made a significant impact on what Design Studio Ferrazzano™ customers see and learn.  Toni worked, as did Liz Harris, with the design team and helped create many of the displays and room vignettes at Design Studio Ferrazanno™ in Melbourne.

And while things are always changing in the studio environment, Toni's influence is still seen and appreciated.  What's more, Toni's talent and unique vision is appreciated by a long list of clients grateful to have found her.

INTERVIEWER: You helped Ferrazzano put together the Design Studio. How is this environment useful for designers who come in from outside? What were you trying to achieve when you helped to put that together?

TM: Vignettes are set up so that the Design Consultants can show people how a piece of tile can look as a crown in a bath tub or what exactly is an undermount sink or a floating vessel sink or a wall mounted sink.  We have a fully operational kitchen at Design Studio so that people can see those appliances that I, as a designer, think I can work with. It provides a resource for everything from the glossiest ceramic tile to all of the stones that are so popular now. People can see everything in context, like a backsplash or a tub surround or an inlay in a floor; it really makes a difference to the client--it is better for the designer, it is better for Ferrazzano and ultimately it is better for the homeowner.

INTERVIEWER: When you're thinking about your design does it form in your mind as a total idea or do you go to Design Studio and look around and get ideas that way?

TM: Well, I always start in the showroom and I find the first piece of whatever it may be and it's generally dependent upon color because that's usually my motivation, finding the color I want to start with. Then I start working with all of the pieces that are available from the manufacturer. I will go outside of the manufacturer of the one style and bring in other pieces because I don't like it when it looks cookie cutter; sometimes I will use up to three and four different manufacturers in one backsplash.

INTERVIEWER: Do the people at Ferrazzano help you out with finding unusual items?

TM: I have quite a working relationship with them. Yes, anytime that I need help or we need to locate something or I'm looking for a special color and we're not exactly hitting it, then their research team will help me to try to find exactly whatever it is that I need.

INTERVIEWER: Do you have any advice to somebody who either is ready to do a whole house like you did this project or remodel an existing home? What should they think about?

TM: My advice to anybody who is either building or remodeling is to do a little bit of homework before you decide to work with a designer. I suggest what I call a wish book and I tell people to go through all of the many magazines that are out there and books that give you so many wonderful ideas.  Put pictures into a book and put it into categories: kitchens, baths etc. main floors, fireplaces and that gives me a really good idea of the style that people like.  Most people can identify it easily in a color picture in a magazine, but they might not be able to explain to me as easily as to show it to me. The wish book is just a direction to go and not anything that the designer would be actually copying.

INTERVIEWER: Tell me a little bit about the job that we will be talking about.

TM: This is a patio home which started out as a summer home or a getaway home for a woman in Indiana. And as we worked on it and embellished it more and did more design work in it, she decided to retire into this home full time.

INTERVIEWER: Had you worked with her before?

TM: No, she was a referral from a real estate agent. I just took her to Design Studio Ferrazzano™ and showed her some of my work there. I have a number of models in the area and I showed her the models. Just based upon that and the referral from the real estate agent, she felt very comfortable.

The only thing she asked me for was blue.

INTERVIEWER: What did you think about when you started designing this house?

TM: I wanted to keep it spacious and to keep the look of Florida because this is where she is coming to get away from Indiana. Also, she has very contemporary taste so it is not your typical Florida home filled with palm trees and pineapples--it's much cleaner and sleeker and definitely light and airy.

INTERVIEWER: I walk in the front door--what do I see?

TM: You walk into a large foyer with large format tile throughout the entire home, installed on a diagonal to give you an even grander feeling of space. There is a tile insert, a combination of granite tile and the porcelain tile in the middle of the foyer underneath a grand chandelier.

INTERVIEWER: And, what kind of color scheme?

TM: The color scheme is a very pale purple. Purple is her favorite color, purple and blue, so there are shades, very light shades, that are reminiscent of purple but not quite purple with accents in cherry wood and black granite.

INTERVIEWER: How about the master bath?

TM: If we did have a challenge it was in the master bath because we had to remodel it; it was way too small. We knocked out closets and added space. It's all done in handmade tile from Design Studio Ferrazzano™. This is where the influence of the blue is the most apparent. There's a tub with a beautiful backsplash that is in direct correlation to tile and color in the master shower. Because there is clear glass, it all looks like one big area.

It turned out to be a lovely home.