FEATURED
July/August 2019 | Residential Tech Today 51
TD: Each house has a favorite feature to me. I
think I have yet to find my favorite house
because then I’ll probably move in. Each one
has its own unique challenges and unique
feelings and vibes. For me, it’s been really fun to
be able to do so many different styles of home,
so many different ages of homes, and be able to
find a vision for each of them. That has probably
been my favorite part of this whole journey,
being able to really be free with my full designs
instead of being limited by constraints of others
likes and dislikes.
I’m typically designing on the show to my
taste. I don’t have a client in mind, so I’m
designing how I feel that it should look versus
when I’m working with a client, there’s a
personality that you’re meeting and finding the
right fit for their home, not necessarily what is
my fit for their home. It’s been really fun for me
to get to branch out in that way.
RT Today: On the other side of the coin,
what’s been one of the most difficult
projects?
TD: Well, difficult personalities are always
difficult personalities and you run into them no
matter what you do in life. I’d say more of the
difficulties, they’re usually the surprises in the
home. And the frustrations are when I have a
vision and can’t bring it to life because of
structural issues or budget issues and things like
that. That’s probably the biggest frustration,
knowing it could be better and not being able
to get it there.
RT Today: You get to work on all these
really cool older and classic homes. Does that
older architecture inspire you in any way?
TD: Absolutely. Some of my favorite projects
are always the oldest projects because I have
done work on new construction homes for
clients, but I feel like it loses a sense of story
when it’s new construction versus the old home.
There’s always some constraint that you run
into. “I want to do this, but for some reason it
can’t happen.” 80 to 90 percent of the time
something ends up having to be worked around
in some way or method, and it ends up being
the most interesting element of the design. It
creates a feeling of, “If this was new, it wouldn’t
be here.” But you can design around it to make it
feel like it should be there and make it feel like
it’s part of the intentional design. It ends up
giving it that quirkiness that makes it feel more
like a home instead of just a showcase.
RT Today: Has sustainability been a focus
throughout your projects?
TD: It has been. It depends on which building
material it is. Of course, with sustainability,
there’s different ways to look at how you’re being
more efficient in the home. Windows are a really
good example. It’s always a toss-up to me with
windows because, on the one hand, you can put
really awesome, energy efficient windows into a
home. It looks gorgeous, it saves on the utility
bills, etc. But it also means you’re taking
windows out of the house and throwing them
into a landfill.
Is it better? I try to only replace windows
when I absolutely have to. If we can repair them,
Photos: Nate Sheets Photography LLC
While she believes that some home tech, such as smart fireplace controllers, can be unnecessary,
Tamara Day maintains that “If someone had a disability, that could be such a huge life changer for them,
to be able to push a button from a phone instead of having to figure out how to get to the light switch.”