Designers Bring Fresh Flair to Home Tour

“It’s my favorite season, with a name like Joy,” said Palisadian Joy Barnett of BF Interiors, the bi-coastal interior design business getting the Sandy Landings home ready for the holidays and the 29th Annual Pacific Palisades Home Tour.

Barnett and business partner Gina Faucetta, who works out of the Hamptons, started BF Interiors in 2009. The duo works together on all projects and Barnett says they aim to make each home they design “look like the client”—a result of the efforts they make to really get to know their clients.

“It was a hobby that turned into a company,” Barnett told the Palisadian-Post, this year’s Home Tour media sponsor. “I’m more classic. She’s more risky. But we both come from fashion backgrounds.”

Barnett said they designed the Sandy Landings’ holiday décor to play off of the home’s existing beach theme with added touches of Hollywood Regency-inspired glamor.

“We are using Z Gallerie’s latest and greatest,” Barnett said. “The décor will be unexpected and fun to see.”

When clients choose BF Interiors, Barnett says they can be sure their home designs won’t break the bank. A mother of two daughters at Paul Revere Middle School and Palisades Elementary School, Barnett knows that durability and livability are of the utmost importance when it comes to interior design.

“Six months from now the designs will still look the same as they did on the day of installation,” she said.

And of being in business with her BFF, Barnett said, “We love what we do. And she’s my best friend.”

Refinerie Interior Inspiration is not only an interior design company, but “an inspiration company” according to its website. Pacific Palisades Woman’s Club member Katie Browning, along with her three partners Cathy Longo, Jaimee Longo and Heather Lucas, all Palisadians, make up the business.

Refinerie has most recently designed the playroom and accessories for the Sandy Landings home for this year’s 29th  Annual Pacific Palisades Home Tour, according to PPWC President Terri Lyman.

“Our business model tackles design on a room-by-room basis so we wanted to showcase this,” Browning said. “You don’t need to redecorate your entire house to have impact. We believe design is best done one step at a time.”

Each of the women is individually passionate about interior design, Browning said, and formed Refinerie to “take the ‘unknown’ out of the design process.” The group works with clients to create “a virtual inspiration board, a corresponding product source list, as well as access to unique to-the-trade products,” Browning added.

And for one flat fee, the only thing prospective clients have to do is fill out a questionnaire and provide photos of the space they want to reimagine.

“We work with clients to find products that they love in their budget,” Browning said. “It’s DIY but with tailored recommendations, detailed instructions and access to designer products.”

Lisa Price, a Palisadian of 19 years, has been at the helm of her interior design and staging business Priceless Interiors since she started it in 2004 and works with contractors, architects and homeowners to design and build five houses a year. Price recently worked with architects and contractors throughout the process of building the newly-constructed Friendly Grove house, seen in this year’s 29th  Annual Pacific Palisades Home Tour, and says she was responsible for helping them select all the finishes for the home.

“The Friendly Grove home has been custom-designed specifically for the homeowner’s lifestyle,” Price told the Post. “The home has clean lines but is warm, comfortable and playful. You can really feel the art in the home in addition to its understated elegance.”

Price added that when she stages a home she uses furniture from her warehouse to enhance the home and help it sell faster. She described herself as having an intuitive understanding of “space planning, color and who [her] clients are.”

Price, who was a stay-at-home mom for eight years and worked in the fashion industry for 20 before starting her design business, said that going from the fashion industry to interior design was a natural progression.

Price is a former president of the Junior Pacific Palisades Woman’s Club. She was Home Tour chair and on the board for seven years. She lives in the Palisades and has two daughters who attend Palisades Charter High School and California Institute of the Arts.

Lifelong Palisadian Jennifer Scott of J. Scott Design Associates said that growing up in the Palisades by the coast has served as inspiration for her career as an interior designer. The business specializes in residential and commercial design, custom homes and interior architecture, as well as merchandising model homes and staging, according to Scott.

“It is here [in the Palisades] that my appreciation of the environment and the coastal lifestyle began, only to become one of my most influential and inspiring design elements,” Scott said.

“Casa Altata is the premier property that J. Scott Design Associates was fortunate to be involved in,” Scott added of the business’ involvement in the Home Tour. “The interior design includes architectural treatments, lighting, furnishings and accessories.”

Scott describes J. Scott Design Associates as being committed to quality and sophistication.

“Through the years, J. Scott Design Associates has been synonymous with bold, modern, classic and inspiring design,” Scott said.

Having worked for both large and small builders for both commercial and residential properties, Scott brings a lot to the table when working with clients.

“The bold, classic modern style has always followed as a result of the design philosophy: create, design, inspire,” she told the Post.

Melody Soleimani started her business Melody Interior Design in 2005 while attending The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. Soleimani says she most recently came up with a plan to remodel and furnish the 10,000 sq. ft. Entertainer’s Paradise home for this year’s Home Tour.

“I have been very careful to preserve [the home’s] character with so many memories, selecting and reusing some of the most evocative furniture and fixture, while replacing all that was dated,” Soleimani told the Post.

Soleimani said she has designed homes, offices and hotels and has a hand in each step of the interior design process. Soleimani looks at each project as the chance to express herself while working closely with the clients, saying, “We bring our stories together to create new narratives.”