Joan Lombardi Design

After looking at the website of Joan Lombardi Design and talking in person with Joan, the principal of the firm, I hired them to design the total remodel of my large townhouse/condo in Santa Fe, New Mexico. That clearly turned out to be a wonderful decision. We saw eye-to-eye on our desire to create a very open, contemporary look, incorporating the outside spaces into the inside. It was eventually decided to nearly gut the condo and totally redo the inside as well as outdoor spaces, utilizing large sliding doors and tall windows to capture the light and bring the feeling of greenery and wide open space into our large living room and dining room areas as well as my office (the third bedroom converted into an office/library/sitting room) and bedroom suite. This was all accomplished in the context of the "homeowners association" requirements, with Joan and my contractor sitting down with the committee to review and explain the plans to their satisfaction. Not only did Joan work especially well with me, but her interaction (and at times direction) with the general contractor and his sub-contractors was an invaluable aid to me. She always seemed available via telephone, text, email or in person to answer questions, explain the plans and/or solve the inevitable construction implementation snafus that arose during our nine plus months of construction -- construction, by-the-way, that was completed on time, on budget (almost $1,000,000 for the entire renovation project) and nearly perfect, with a minimum of "check list" items afterwards, largely due to her nearly daily diligence. Her sense of bringing the outdoor environment into the indoor spaces, and vice versa, helped achieve the very modern, minimalist aesthetic that I wanted. As you can imagine, trying to create brand new spaces that look very contemporary, with its focus on minimal, clean lines, requires extremely high quality finishing work, which Joan not only designed, picked out colors, surfaces, fabrics, etc., but was on-site almost daily to oversee the job. Her attention to detail was most welcome. Many times, when a problem arose, she would instantly come up with a solution, including quickly drawing a new detailed plan of the spot in question, or suggest a different approach that could be easily implemented. Watching her work with the contractor and his subcontractors was an amazing lesson in her ingenuity and ability to get along with and be respected by a crew largely of males. Her many years of construction, design and architectural experience and acumen clearly showed through on numerous occasions. Before starting her design work, she interviewed me several times to assure her that she understood what my personal tastes and aesthetic ideas were, and how to incorporate them into her overall plan. In addition, she helped me pick out favorite works of art, pieces of furniture, etc. that would make sense fitting into the new spaces, fitting in as though they were designed just for that particular room and place. Indeed, she did design some of the plans specifically to utilize certain pieces of art and/or furniture -- and yet make it seem as though they always were destined to be in that setting. In addition, her sense of lighting was incredible, allowing the rooms to be seen at their best and yet be functional according to my lifestyle. The same can be said for her overall color palate and individual room and furniture and flooring selections -- all of which came together to create the lovely rooms that all my friends admire and yet provide me with a wonderful feeling of home. Since she early on in the process had created an overall design plan to work with both the indoor and outdoor spaces, she also did the landscaping design work for the patios, greenery, outdoor sitting and dining areas, etc. While leaving some especially-desired aspen trees in place, she selected new trees, plants, rocks, paving surfaces, water features, etc. to bring the indoor-outdoor concept to fruition. Both the large patio that serves as an extension of the indoor entertainment areas (and nearly doubles the size of the group possible), as well as the lovely, little private patio she created for me off my bedroom where I relax with my morning coffee, read, sun, etc. flow from one to the other seamlessly. The color palate inside and outside is a cool, light look that enhances the clean, contemporary look of the whole house. Being in Santa Fe, her ability to use design to capture the gorgeous sunshine and light that we have here certainly has brought a great feeling inside my home. Suffice to say, I wholeheartedly endorse every aspect of the relationship I've had with Joan Lombardi Design during the year she worked on my beautiful "new" house and gardens. To that point, I am looking forward to having her help me with her design talent on a redo of my New York City apartment as well. She is not only a consummate professional, with wonderfully creative ideas, but her friendly, always cheerful manner of interacting with all the people involved, especially me, was a truly delightful experience. Yours truly, Nancy Zeckendorf

My husband and I are in the process of upgrading and remodeling a condo we purchased this summer. Joan is very professional in manner and method of conducting business. She has provided her expertise and knowledge to make my decision making effortless. She is excellent with color and provided her opinions and selections in a timely fashion. She also did research and information gathering on her own expanding our selections. She has always been forthright in her suggestions and opinions. She is willing to work within our budget and has saved us a good deal of money. She is available when she is needed and always willing to work around my schedule. I have been exhausted this last year buying a condo and selling our home. Joan has offered to drive the times we have had to shop and look for materials for floors, lighting, tile, plaster and paint colors, furniture selections, etc. making it so much easier on me. Her aesthetic is matchless but thankfully blends well with my own in important ways making the time spent with her enjoyable as well as productive. She is very secure and intelligent and grounded in practicality and real life situations. As an example of her expertise - I had saved two pieces of granite from the kitchen cutouts when we built our home 14 years ago. I recently took the slabs to a stone and granite fabricator. Joan met me there and talked to the owner about how to cut and finish the slabs and get the exact sizes they would be. We then went to a metal fabrication shop where she explained to them the exact materials and measurements needed to encase the granite slabs and provide a base of legs. I could never have done this without her knowledge and experience in making furniture. This project has not yet been completed but is over half finished.

Joan is amazing. After just a 2 day visit with us and seeing our new home under construction, she "got it". She knew what I wanted and what was possible within to confines of the home and our budget. We are in a complex of many new homes and clearly have the most beautiful in the neighborhood. After the initial visit we worked by e-mail, exchanging photos and calls.It worked and everything is beautiful

My husband and I have been working with Joan Lombardi on different projects since 2004 to present. She has a background in interior and architectural design. Her eye for color is phenomenal. She designed and chose the color wave for a beautiful area rug in our den. Joan drew up plans for our new bathroom/bedroom suite and also drew renderings of original pieces of furniture for our den and bedroom. She is extremely talented and works within a budget. Joan does an excellent job and a pleasure to work with.