Bluff and Bay Interiors

09/04/2026

Apparently the hardest part of decorating a guest room isn’t choosing furniture. It’s getting two spouses to agree on the bed. 😂🛏️

My husband’s first choice is my last choice.
My first choice is his last choice. So clearly, we’re approaching this as a very unified design team. 🤦‍♀️😂

This is exactly why I love renderings. Seeing each option in the actual room makes the differences much easier to visualize, even if it doesn’t eliminate disagreement.

All three are Ethan Allen beds paired with the Cayman nightstands with the cane base:

🌿 Option A: Asheville
Simple, softly curved and a little more relaxed.

🤎 Option B: Clayten
More traditional, with classic lines and a little more presence.

🌴 Option C: Cayman
British Colonial, with the louvered detail and the most personality.

And then my husband reminded me that he probably cares less than the general public does because… this is the guest room. 😂 His final position is basically: “You’re the designer. Pick one.”

So apparently the public vote is mostly for my own entertainment at this point.

Which one would YOU choose: A, B or C? 👇

09/02/2026

🚗 A busy design day from Beaufort to Hilton Head!

Shopping for rugs can be surprisingly tricky. It’s one thing to look at a sample or photo, but where can you actually see a full-size rug in person, compare it with your fabrics, and know how it will look in the room?

Even better, what if you could see the rug in your own home before making the decision? 🙌

I started the day in Beaufort, where Fletcher's & Co. brought four rugs out for my client to see right in her space. And this is exactly why seeing things in person matters. The rug that absolutely nailed the design was the one we had at the bottom of our list going in! 🧡

Then it was off to Hilton Head to meet a rug delivery from Gilman Floors for a client who is currently at her primary home in New Jersey. They provided exceptional service, placed the rugs for us, and they were even more beautiful in person than we expected. ✨

Sometimes good design is less about clicking “add to cart” and more about having the right local resources, seeing things at full scale, and making sure every piece works in the actual space.

08/29/2026

One of the biggest advantages of working with a smaller design firm? Flexibility.

I don’t have a warehouse, a receiving department, or a fleet of delivery trucks. And that means my clients don’t have to pay for all of that overhead either.

With many traditional design firms, furniture may be marked up, shipped to a receiving warehouse, unpacked and inspected, stored for weeks or months, and then delivered to your home a second time. Every one of those steps can come with an additional fee.

My approach is different.

I work with a smaller group of clients, which allows me to figure out what makes the most sense for each individual project.

If you’re building from out of state and ordering items from Wayfair, Perigold or another retailer, you can often have smaller pieces shipped directly to me. I can unpack them, inspect them, make sure everything arrived safely, and then bring a carload over to your house when the time is right.

And my darling husband gets the glamorous job of breaking down all the cardboard boxes. 😂

For larger furniture, most retailers already offer complimentary storage while your home is under construction. So why pay a design firm additional storage fees when we can simply coordinate delivery directly from the retailer when your home is ready?

Being small means I can be practical.

It means I can source from the places that make the most sense for your budget, your style and your timeline, rather than forcing every purchase through one procurement system.

Sometimes the smartest design decision isn’t finding a less expensive sofa. It’s eliminating thousands of dollars in unnecessary markups, receiving fees, storage fees and duplicate delivery charges.

That’s the kind of full-service flexibility I want Bluff & Bay Interiors to provide.

https://bluffandbay.com

08/27/2026

Happy National Dog Day! 🐾

Although around our house, pretty much every day is Dog Day.

I love nice things. Beautiful furniture, great fabrics, a well-designed room... all of it. But I love the dogs more.

Over the years, that has meant everything from my son’s dog making himself perfectly comfortable in my father’s recliner, to Maggie deciding that essentially every sofa and chair we have ever owned belongs to her.

At some point, you just have to own your decisions. 😂

I know there is a very good chance none of my sofas are going to make it 10 years looking pristine, and I’m okay with that. A home is meant to be lived in, and ours has always included dogs stretched across the cushions, paws where they probably shouldn’t be, and a whole lot of fur.

As a designer, I still do everything I can to protect the furniture. Performance fabrics are your friend, and I’m a big believer in adding a Guardsman Protection Plan when it’s available. You can absolutely make smart choices that give your furniture a fighting chance.

But there is also something to be said for accepting that sometimes the dog is going to win.

Ellie, Maggie, Herschel and Dundee have all been part of our family over the years, and apparently we passed the obsession along. My three boys now have six dogs between them.

So yes, I like a beautiful home.

I just happen to think it’s even better with a dog on the sofa. ❤️🐶

Builder liaison and interior design services for Bluffton, Hilton Head, Beaufort and Savannah. Furnishings, lighting, rugs, window treatments, artwork, décor and professional renderings to bring your vision to life.

08/21/2026

🏡 The lowest builder bid is not always the best deal.

In addition to my own build, I’ve worked with many clients building across the Lowcountry, and one thing I’ve learned is that builder fit matters just as much as price.

Two builders can quote the same house very differently because their allowances, standard finishes, processes, communication styles, and flexibility can be completely different.

And if you’re building from out of state, those differences become even more important.

Before you sign a contract, I recommend:

🔹 Interview more than one builder. Even if you think you already have a favorite.

🔹 Walk through completed homes, not just model homes. Look closely at trim work, cabinetry, flooring transitions, paint, tile installation, and the little details that tell you how a builder finishes a home.

🔹 Talk to homeowners. Local community Facebook groups can be incredibly helpful. Ask people what went well, what surprised them, and what they wish they had known before signing.

🔹 Understand what is actually included in the price. A lower initial number can look very different once you start upgrading flooring, lighting, cabinetry, plumbing, countertops, appliances, and millwork.

🔹 Ask how changes are handled. Some builders are very flexible during construction. Others have a much more rigid process.

🔹 Ask how they communicate delays, pricing changes, and decisions that need to be made. If you’re hundreds of miles away, good communication is not optional.

🔹 Pay attention to how you feel during the sales and interview process. Are your questions answered clearly? Are details documented? Do you feel rushed? Are expectations being set realistically?

💡 I also tell clients to plan for the reality that the final cost of a custom or semi-custom home can easily end up higher than the number you started with once selections and upgrades come into play.

Learn more here:
https://www.bluffandbay.com/post-the-complete-guide-to-building-and-furnishing-a-home-in-bluffton

Builder liaison and interior design services for Bluffton, Hilton Head, Beaufort and Savannah. Furnishings, lighting, rugs, window treatments, artwork, décor and professional renderings to bring your vision to life.

08/20/2026

Sometimes it makes sense to source everything from one vendor. And I love me some Ethan Allen. 💙 But when you’re furnishing an entire home, those little extras can start adding up FAST.

This is one of the places I love helping clients save.

Take a small pedestal table. The Ethan Allen Arden is beautiful, but once you add up all the pieces in a room, do we really need to spend over $1,000 on every accent table?

✨ Uttermost has a very similar version with a glass top for almost half the price.

✨ Wayfair has a version with a stone top for about 1/4 of the price.

And before you assume the Wayfair table looks or feels cheap, it doesn’t. It has a nice substantial weight to it. I know because I have one sitting right here that an out-of-state client ordered and had shipped to me. 😊

This is where thoughtful sourcing makes such a difference. If we can save $500 or $700 on a secondary piece in the room without sacrificing the overall look, that leaves more room in the budget for the things that really make the space special.

Maybe that’s the gorgeous fabric you fell in love with. Maybe it’s a beautiful piece of original artwork. Maybe it’s the rug that completely makes the room. ❤️

Not every piece needs to be the splurge.

Spend where you’ll notice it. Save where you won’t. 🏡✨

Request my free guide on where to Save and Where to Splurge when building or decorating a home by commenting guide below or the button here:
https://www.bluffandbay.com/about-kary-gregor-interior-designer

08/18/2026

You can’t just tell your designer, “I want coastal,” and call it a day. 🌊

Coastal can mean soft and serene, colorful and preppy, collected and traditional, clean and modern, or something completely different.

That’s why I love creating style boards at the beginning of a project. Seeing the colors, fabrics, wood tones, hardware, rugs, lighting and textures together takes so much of the guesswork out of the process. It gives us a visual language for what your version of coastal actually looks like.

And you may discover you’re not especially coastal at all. You might lean Minimalistic Modern, Moody Modern, Traditional Southern, Eclectic, or be a combination of several different styles.

Curious where you land?

👉 Take my 60-second Style Quiz:
https://www.bluffandbay.com/lowcountry-interior-design-styles

And if you love coastal but want to avoid the seashell-lamp-and-“Life Is Better at the Beach” version of it, I wrote about that too. 😊

👉 Read Coastal Without the Cliché:
https://www.bluffandbay.com/post-coastal-decor-without-the-cliche

Builder liaison and interior design services for Bluffton, Hilton Head, Beaufort and Savannah. Furnishings, lighting, rugs, window treatments, artwork, décor and professional renderings to bring your vision to life.

08/17/2026

Having a hard time seeing the vision? 👀🏡

Whether you’re building an entire home from the ground up or simply trying to pull together one room, it can be difficult to picture how all the individual decisions will come together.

That’s where renderings can make such a difference.

I help clients take the guesswork out of design by creating realistic visuals that show how furniture, rugs, lighting, finishes, colors and other selections work together before you commit to them.

✨ See the room before you buy
✨ Compare options before making expensive decisions
✨ Make sure scale, color and finishes work together
✨ Create a cohesive look from one room to the next
✨ Feel confident that there’s a plan behind every purchase

For a whole-house build, renderings can help connect the construction selections with the furniture and décor that will eventually live in the home. For a single room, they can help you finally answer, “Is this actually going to look the way I think it will?”

If you’re building or furnishing a home in Bluffton or the Lowcountry, I’ve put together more advice on where to invest, where you can save and how to approach all those decisions:

👉 https://www.bluffandbay.com/post-where-to-splurge-and-where-to-save-building-in-bluffton.html

You don’t have to be able to see the finished vision. That’s what I’m here for.

Interior design, builder liaison, and home watch for the South Carolina Lowcountry. For out-of-state buyers building a new home, see your home furnished before it's built.

08/15/2026

Rugs are one of those purchases where the price range can feel a little crazy. 🤯

A 9' x 12' rug can cost under $1,000… or well over $10,000. So what are you actually paying for—and when is it worth spending more?

It really comes down to how you live and what you want the rug to do for the room. 🏡

🐾 Have pets? Stain resistance and cleanability may matter more than craftsmanship.
🌿 Want a casual Lowcountry look? Jute and natural fibers can be beautiful—but they aren’t always the most forgiving.
🎨 Want the rug to be the statement? A hand-knotted Persian, Turkish or Oushak can function almost like artwork and last for generations.
💰 Just need a beautiful foundation for the room? There are plenty of great options around the $1,000 price point.

And then there’s the question of where to shop. I’m sharing some of my favorite rug sources in Bluffton and the Lowcountry, when I think the drive to Furnitureland South is actually worth it, and where I shop for everything from affordable jute to colorful Oushaks and one-of-a-kind traditional rugs.

Before you buy your next rug, read the full guide on the blog. 👇
https://www.bluffandbay.com/post-the-complete-guide-to-buying-a-rug-bluffton-hilton-head

08/15/2026

Is the Oushak rug too much… or exactly what this room needs? 🐾

Technically, this is my office. In reality, it’s Maggie and Ellie’s bedroom—I just happen to have a desk in it. 😂

I love my blue-and-white chinoiserie draperies, but they definitely make a statement. So the question becomes: do I keep the floor quiet and neutral, or bring in an Oushak with enough pattern to balance all that color at the windows?

This is exactly why I love creating renderings. Sometimes you need to actually see the whole room together before you know whether something feels layered and interesting… or like you’ve gone one pattern too far.

A rendering gives you a chance to digest the decision before you commit—and feel confident about what you’re buying.

Even when the clients are two dogs who have contributed absolutely nothing to the design budget. 🐶🐶

What do you think—Oushak or go back to a natural jute?