04/13/2026
Over time, the right design clients have a way of becoming part of your life in the most unexpected ways. My very first client, Gigi, turned into my adopted grandmother, my daily dose of laughter, and one of the great joys of my life. She is now in “that big martini land in the sky,” as she always called it.
An unlikely friendship formed in an instant the day she handed me my first payment check. She asked if I knew what the “FGL” initials at the end of her name stood for. I didn’t. She proudly said “f**king good lay.” I told her I was sorry to hear she was only good and not great.
She’d collect design magazines for me, marking pages with sticky notes and bent corners. She’d say, “Those people in Architectural Digest have nothing on you,” then flip to something else: “Look how ugly this is.”
The week after I finished decorating her powder room, I returned to find a sign on the door: “Meth Lab.” And it was laminated. At least it was chic.
Who could forget the toy crocodile always stationed by the front door? “He goes through a dozen Barbies a week.”
When my daughters were little she would pull out her “homemade Oreos” from the toaster oven. The empty store packaging in the trash was beside the point.
Always in a ball cap, my favorite read “SLUT,” in big sequin letters. She was always herself.
Every day at 5pm was her sacred “winkie poo,” a dirty martini with 3 plain olives. “None of that blue cheese stuffed s**t.”
I only saw her cry twice. Once when she walked into the reveal of her home after I had completely redesigned it following her husband’s passing. She said everything finally felt like it was truly hers. And again last weekend when I visited her. When I caught her staring at me from the “Troy is gonna hate this piece of s**t mechanical chair I have to have.” I asked her what she was looking at. “Everything” she said with a smile. She held onto my usual hug and kiss goodbye a bit longer than normal that day. She told me how much she loved me and how proud she was. I knew something was different with that last visit. I think she did too.
She was never just a client. She was laughter, mischief, loyalty, and love, all wrapped into one unforgettable person.
