Therese DuBravac

Therese was the designer on a kitchen and basement remodel for us last year. This was a big job and she was an absolute Rock of Gibraltar, force of nature, miracle worker -- all of those. Therese very rapidly understands your functional priorities for the space and your aesthetics and puts them into practice as she brings to life a vision that is better even, in our case, than what we could have dared imagine. The design process with Therese is as collaborative as you want it to be. If you would rather she just make a decision about something, she'll readily do that. But she won't take decisions away from you that you want to make. Therese functions as much more than a designer. She has a tremendous sense of responsibility, engagement and investment in the entirety of project, and she stands with you through thick and thin. She's a delight and a total pro. My wife and I would work with her and Neil Kelly again in a heartbeat, and would highly recommend Therese and NK to anyone, based on our experience. They're definitely not the cheapest of course, but you very much get the sense that you are getting what you paid for. Truly exceptional.

Therese designed our bathroom. She was very knowledgeable and conscientious. She took a lot of time making sure I was happy with the design and materials. It's a beautiful bathroom.

A friend directed me to contact Neil Kelly because of their quality of service. I chose to work with them because I was impressed with Therese DuBravac and the solution she came up with to make my tiny kitchen more functional. She had the most practical and economical design which accomplished the goals I had. Therese has wonderful product knowledge and was able to direct me to keep within budget and attain an efficient workspace while maximizing cupboard and counter space. My new kitchen is efficient, well-lit, beautiful and functional. I am thrilled with the result.

We have worked with Therese on 4 projects over 10 years. She has consistently provided creative and workable solutions to remodeling challenges in our condominium. She is a good listener and a strong advocate for good design and client needs. We strongly recommend her. She has a great sense of humor and a great sense of style.

We had been contemplating a kitchen/bathroom remodel for several years and finally decided to go forward. We spoke with a number of different designers and all were adequate. And then we met Therese DuBravac. Wow! She listened attentively and asked questions until she understood just what we were looking for. She had a slew of ideas and took all the time necessary to make sure we understood and were satisfied. She drew and redrew plans until we had just what we wanted. She took us to prior clients' homes and to showrooms and guided us as we chose materials. What a gem she is! Therese has an immense store of knowledge and experience, but more importantly, she is easy to talk with and empathetic. We felt quite comfortable calling her whenever we had questions or concerns. She found a way to stay within our budget and the work was completed exactly on time. And the finished product is perfect in every way. Therese has our highest recommendation!

We worked with Therese on our remodel about 8 years ago and really liked working with her and her team. When we decided to build out our shop for a retirement home and have our son and family take over our house we knew who we wanted to call, Therese, is very knowledge, has enough confidence to allow you to feel comfortable with all the decisions to be made, keeps you on schedule and within budget. She will tell you all the pros and cons and is always available to answer questions, or have you come in just to review any concerns. We really appreciate her upbeat demeanor and patience when we have other requests or changes along the way.

We have an old log house with very funky plumbing and odd construction. We were serendipitously matched with Therese as the Neil Kelly designer in 2011. We redid all 3 bathrooms, part of the kitchen, plus replaced all the exterior windows and created an entry door. She is amazingly creative: she figured out how to make a shower enclosure that still showcases the beautiful logs plus provides ventilation. She saved and re-used some one-of-a-kind Mexican tiles in another shower. We now have storage in places that I would never have thought possible. She was always open to our questions and suggestions. One small thing that I really appreciated was the "teaching" -- she quoted building codes while explaining why certain designs had to be used or changed. She is unfailingly polite, friendly and available. She was willing to meet in the evenings or on weekends to accommodate our crazy work schedules. She answers my emails even in the middle of the night. If needed, she will go shopping with us to pick out materials. The project ran a bit longer than planned due to weather, but she always was upfront about the delay and reasons for it. Because we had such a great experience with that house, we specifically asked for her expertise this year when we decided to remodel our kitchen and laundry room in the Portland house. Once again, she was so accommodating: she gave us four different scenarios (different design configurations with different price options) and let the decision be ours. No pressure. She is part wizard and maybe part marriage counselor-- very deft handling of a cranky spouse. Our kitchen project is not quite finished, but it is impressively on time, almost to the minute. I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience with Therese and will miss seeing her when the kitchen is done.

Therese was the designer we chose to remodel our kitchen. When we wanted to remodel our master bedroom/bathroom, we went back to Therese. She is a talented, creative designer who has fantastic ideas, yet listened to what we wanted and made sure her designs reflected that. If we had anything else to remodel, we would go to Therese first.

Therese was so wonderful to work with. Since I had never planned a kitchen before I relied heavily on her to make sure that it was a great "working" kitchen that was also beautiful to be in. I am so happy with the results. It is a truly functional kitchen that is a joy to be in.

Therese DeBravac was the lead designer and contact for us with our kitchen remodel. She was terrific! She has great design ideas but was willing to listen closely to our ideas and then incorporate those into her work. She was a good communicator, reliable, timely, and pleasant to work with. She kept on top of what was going on throughout the project and if something needed adjusting or changing, she got it done quickly. There were few, if any, unexpected changes, and only ones none of us could have anticipated because it's an old house. I highly recommend her, without reservation, and we would turn to her again for future projects.

Therese Dubravac is fabulous. I hired Neil/Kelly, the firm she works with, to help me with what I knew was a difficult project. After the 2008 market bust, I drastically scaled down my project, yet Therese continued to deliver beautiful, creative design solutions. The result was stunning. She is fun, smart, knowledgable, experienced and has a trustworthy eye for great design. Of course, she graduated from the University of Oregon School Architecture and Allied Arts, a top-flight institution for creative design. A lot of designers are all full of themselves yet she was so pleasant to work with. I highly recommend her for any residential interior or exterior project.

Therese was the point person for a complete remodel of our condo's kitchen. She guided us through the design process and monitored construction. We were thoroughly pleased with every step of the remodel, especially the craftsmanship of the workers. Therese was a pleasure to work with, extremely knowledgeable about products and alternatives. She would be my first choice if we had another project in the condo.