Selecting to work with Vicki from Balance Design on a complete top-to-bottom refurbishment has been the best decision I made, the only regret is that I didn’t find her earlier! The selection process for identifying an Interior Designer was thorough and detailed, I was looking for someone that I felt I could connect with and as soon as I met Vicki the chemistry was spot on immediately. Her ability to make you feel understood and that you´re in total control of all the decisions being made is incredibly reassuring and empowering, especially for someone like me that felt he had zero creativity.
It has been nothing but a joy and an absolutely brilliant experience. I have learnt a huge amount about myself as part of this process, in main because Vicki takes the time and invests enormously in understanding her clients with a lot of care and attention. At the start I refused to accept I knew anything about design or that I knew what it was I was looking for. Vicki was having none of this! She literally spent hours upon hours taking time to understand my likes, dislikes, what I wanted from my home, how I planned on using all the living space, and most importantly, things that mattered to me both culturally and personally. Not only has this been incredibly cathartic, but it has led to Vicki helping me understand that I have a very clear design identity and a good understanding of the things I like and don’t like, which has been a real positive learning.
She spent an enormous amount of time researching and finding options that were both unique and felt personal to my design identity. It was all about listening, guiding and facilitating with Vicki, she never made a decision for me, ever. Her goal was always to provide choices and then to work with you to understand which ones appealed to you most whilst also challenging your decisions to make sure you were comfortable with the decisions being made. All the choices presented felt personal and unique to me. There were many times it was tough to make a choice as everything being presented to choose from was brilliant. Getting me to reach a decision took a huge amount of her time but at no point did I ever feel rushed or that I was wasting her time. You can tell she cares a great deal about every decision being made and is committed to making sure you make the one that is right for you.
Her other super power (one of many) is organisation and planning, which I had not realised was so critical and essential to the project. Things did not always go to plan during the project, in fact some things were so bad it was like the project was cursed (none of this had ANYTHING to do with Vicki). However, instead of allowing me to freak out or lose my head she always found solutions and made sure all the stops were pulled out to get the project back on track.
It is very easy to get carried away with design boards, pinterest, and fancy ideas and everything in between. I know this because before committing to bringing Vicki onboard I had spent the best part of 2 years daydreaming about a refurbishment and all the great things I wanted to do with the apartment. However, bringing ideas to life requires a complete design concept, especially for a complete refurbishment of your home. To achieve and complete a transformation of this cale you need to make commitments and have a clear understanding of your budget, how far you are prepared to stretch this, and how you’re going to get the work completed. None of this would have been possible without Vicki´s constant guidance, advice, and humour!
The full refurbishment of the apartment is absolutely incredible, in fact for the few weeks after moving in the apartment was unrecognisable to me and I have lived here on-and-off for 16 years. It has exceeded my expectations and aspirations of what I had hoped the end result would look like. It is a 1 bedroom apartment and making best use of the space for both living, working (as I work from home), and storage was a real challenge. Well none of this is no longer the case. Friends and family have commented on how the apartment design throughout reflects my personality, lifestyle choices, and cultural identity. In fact, when I shared the before and after pictures with people they all thought I had moved into a completely new apartment………that is how impressive and transformational the end result has been.
Kuldish Sibia, February 2023