Learning at the School of Hard Knocks

Growing up in Colorado, Nicolette had hands-on experience in building two homes from scratch. Her parents saw nothing wrong with a four-year-old helping to install shingles on the roof, a twelve-year-old laying flagstone and stapling up insulation, or in a sixteen-year-old running planks through a dado saw and nailing up siding! She learned sewing and upholstery crafts from her mother and assisted her father with woodworking and basic home repair.

During grade school, one of Nicolette's hobbies was moving the furniture in abedroom she shared with her brother Gene. The goal of this exercise -- an early exploration of what architects and designers call "space planning" -- was to create a space that walled out her pesky younger brother.

Nicolette's interior design philosophy was informed not just by her formal education, but also by what she has learned in "the school of hard knocks." (She survived the remodeling project shown at left. The contractor quit and joined the San Francisco Fire Department.) Nicolette's devotion to ergonomic anduniversal design principles was influenced by her work environmental and health nonprofits, by direct experience with disability, and by the process of remodeling multiple Victorian and Edwardian flats in San Francisco, where space is at a premium.

Color design for a beachfront condo

 

 

 

 

Nicolette's Design Philosophy

Nicolette Toussaint is an experienced guide for remodeling, redesigning, and redecorating your home's interior.

Below and above: A bathroom before and after Nicolette's redesign

Her goal is to make your home a place of comfort as well as to spark compliments from your guests.

Unless you point out your home's special features and materials, guests may not know that you took care to make your home sustainable, in both the human and the environmental sense.

With thoughtful planning, your home can be both beautiful, and be beautifully in harmony with your family's changing needs. With Nicolette's help, you can make remodeling choices that will be in tune with the physical environment and with the changes of growth and aging.

Nicolette calls this overlap of ergonomic and eco-friendly design "sustainable style". You can learn more about this, and Nicolette's design philosophy, in her popular Living in Comfort and Joy blog,

Interior Design Services

Nicolette is an experienced interior designer who can provide the following services:

• Color consultation
• Space planning (new layouts)
• Remodeling plans
• Furniture selection
• Layout for small spaces
• Closet design
• Redesign to cut clutter, improve movement
• Design for access and health
• Design for aging and disabilities

Because all good home design should result comfort and delight (at least after the shocks that come with remodeling), Nicolette called her interior design consulting business "Comfort and Joy Design". The shell logo is a chambered nautilus. As described in a poem by the same name, the nautilus ergonomically adds a new chamber to his shell each year as he outgrows the old one, building a beautiful, irridescent home in the process.