But I love it when a client will let me help them create a new fresh look...hummmm...strange yet truthful thought..isn't that what design is about? Raleigh, NC-based Susan Tollefsen (Susan Tollefsen Interiors) has been an interior designer for 12 years but she’s been working at design in one form or another most of her life – from crafting Barbie’s Dream Drapes as a child to styling dorm rooms in
college. Design has been a lifelong passion and she always brings freshness and a new way of looking at things to every project. Flip through her portfolio and you’ll find a sense of style that is fun yet thought-provoking…ever-stylish but with a twist! Susan describes her work as “kitschy glam.” It can be quirky and whimsical (she once covered a dog statue in timepieces and dubbed it The Watch Dog for a focal point on a mantle) but she doesn't shy away from classic and traditional lines either. Winner of the 2009 Nation’s Next Top Model Home design competition, Susan creates interiors that have thought and meaning to them. "It's easy to pull off clean and simple interiors, she said, “but I encourage clients to go a step further. It takes time to layer and give interiors lots of dimension by adding art, fabrics, accoutrement, wallpaper, murals, and unusual pieces of furniture, either new or ‘flea market’ finds. The goal is to have a room that is rich and interesting, not like something you’d find in a mass-marketed furniture showroom. And as Jonathon Adler says, ‘you should have something inappropriate in every room.’ I believe in that!”
