Designer Spotlight Danielle McCullough

Danielle made Nashville her home so she could help organize yours.

Danielle McCullough grew up putting things in their right place. "I got it from my mom", she says, "who was always having us cleaning our closets and organize our bedrooms". After growing up and working in marketing and event planning, she redesigned two closets and the laundry room in her own home. She enjoyed the experience so much she ended up joining Artisan Custom Closets, training as a Design Consultant and moving to Nashville. Now she can offer Nashville customers a warm, personal touch from someone who knows the area's homes and style trends.

My goal is to make your closet your favorite place to go.

Danielle wants to create a sense of 'joy and excitement' every time a customer enters their new master closet space. Instead of just a functional space, she wants it to become a place they want to visit, their 'happy place'.

I start by listening.

Danielle starts by really listening to her clients. She asks them about their vision for the room, what their challenges are and where they want things to be. Then when she's taken them through all of their options and heard everything they're looking for, she's able to make suggestions based on her experience and expertise. "I always offer to match the feeling of the home. We do a lot of renovation homes so sometimes they don't want to match the current home at all. I always offer them all of our options and ask them what they're drawn to. Do they like things open or closed off so they don't see what's behind the drawers? It's a matter of what they like." She just wants her clients to be the happiest they can be when it's all done.

"I'll say something like 'I know you were picturing shoes in this area but I think they will actually function better for you over here. And I'll explain why. It's an open conversation", she says.

More space than you imagined.

Danielle's favorite part of her job is installation day. She loves the surprised and delighted looks on her clients faces when they see everything in place. They love their new space. And along with the sheer beauty of it, clients are always surprised at how adding things actually creates more space. "I had a client who kept reminding me that she couldn't lose an inch of space and I said "You will not lose space". She found it hard to believe she would actually gain an inch or an inch and a half. And even on the day of install she was like 'have you measured? Are you sure I'm not losing…' And when it was all done and she put everything away she sent me pictures and told me how glad she was that we did this for her."

Not just a solution. Your solution.

Danielle really enjoys meeting and helping her clients. Which is why every closet solution is unique to the client. "We had a client that had one vision for a space. He wanted a full-length mirror but the space where he wanted it was so narrow. So, we placed it in a place where he could have the full-length without being up against a wall. Another client completely rethought her laundry room. In fact, she created two. She put one laundry room with the kids and one in her master closet. The master had to incorporate a washer and dryer so that one half of the room was her laundry room and one half was closet space. We created a built-in look around the appliances that really pulled it all together."

Danielle likes to keep things loose and comfortable for everyone, even the family pet. "I was using my laser measurement to measure the distance to a wall and the cat jumped up and started trying to bat the light on the wall. It was so funny."

Staying up on the trends.

As a designer, Danielle is very aware of current trends as well as solutions that stand the test of time. "I always offer to match the look to the rest of the house", she says. "But when they're planning on renovations, I'll match it to their future home." "Right now", she says, "I'm seeing a lot of white and gray in all sorts of rooms, from pantries and kitchens to mudrooms and closets. And people are really loving the gloss white. We have it in our showroom, which helps. They walk in and they're like 'Oh my gosh, I was gonna do all white but I love the white gloss'. And then the satin brass is huge here right now. I see it everywhere."

"I'm seeing an increase in garages. I've also seen total renovations. People are ripping out kitchens and adding pantries where there weren't pantries before and ripping out bathrooms and combining closets and just totally renovating all over the Nashville area, a lot more than Atlanta. There are a lot of custom homes in Nashville, people buying older homes and converting them into these massive custom homes. Somebody even took an antebellum farmhouse and left the center house and built out from it."

Danielle has a process that makes it easy.

Danielle's customers are always amazed at how easy the process is with Artisan Custom Closets. Once they contact us, she comes out to their home, consults with them, measures the space and catalogues the items that need to be stored. Then she creates a CAD drawing that lets the customer see what her new closet will look like in 3-D. Once the customer approves the design and selects all the final colors, styles and accessories, she'll provide a contract. Once that's signed and received, the materials will be ordered within five days. Then, the only thing left is installation day, which usually happens all in one day. "I always try to stop by to see their excitement their happiness on installation day", she says.

An exciting time

For Danielle, it's a really exciting time to be a design consultant. And she can't wait to help her next customer. She'd love to see the look on your face when you walk into your new space and see just how much of a difference a custom designed closet can make.

Why not schedule a free consultation today to discover what a custom closet designer can do for you in your home.