I’m paying homage to W Magazine and their “Five Firsts” interview format where they question influential artists, musicians, models and actors about embarrassing or memorable Firsts in their lives and careers. This being my fifth official blog post, I found it only fitting.

For those of you young designers, just getting started in the industry, everything is a learning experience. I can’t say this enough.

Every internship role and task is a valuable training tool, every person you meet could be a lead, a future boss, client or best friend. Every project a memory, a learning experience, a life-threatening or even historic event.

Don’t believe me? Read on and see for yourself…

…or at least you will, later on down this crazy fabulous winding road called life. <wink>

1: First Design Job

I consider my student credit internship with Looney & Associates by first design job. I had to dress the part, learn the larger professional office “way” and be at the ready for anyone’s needs. While there, I had a part in all aspects of design…except client presentations and out of office travel. I remember my interview with two of their FFE designers and then a followup with Jim, a fellow Rebel (alumnus of Ole Miss) and we joked about that. Honestly, the rest of the interview was a complete blur…I was sweating, wringing my hands in anxiousness and nodding politely. I would’ve agreed to just about anything at the chance to work there: my dream employer and highly-awarded Hospitality Design firm.

Somehow I landed the internship and I remember my first day vividly. I was so nervous yet excited, like a child on their first day of school. I picked out my outfit and the most uncomfortable shoes (which I would learn later to have multiple pairs to switch in and out of throughout the day). I was instructed to meet Ursula at the front desk…her name sounded so intimidating, but I was greeted with a friendly, smiling face and the warmest of voices (phew).

Ursula showed me around the office, told me the do’s and don’ts, gave me some paperwork to fill out and walked me over to what would be my desk and workstation. It felt so official and grown up. After more designers and architects walked in to begin their work day, I was greeted with genuine grins and about a million names…I didn’t know how I could possibly remember them all?!

The next months flew by, once I got into the swing of things. I was hungry to learn and definitely too eager for more work. I cringe remembering back on how AS SOON AS I had finished a task, I’d intercom call that particular designer and ask “What’s next?” in a proud tone. Or worse, I’d walk over and hover behind them like a gnat. Man, I bet they were so annoyed by this {shaking my head}. Luckily, I got the hint and began to ease up and realize that it took these office superiors their time to give me work in order to help them. It never dawned on me till having an intern yourself. It’s legit planning ahead, people…Interns out there, please take this into account too.

While in their employ, I did everything. Everything because it got me a step further ahead from where I had started:

• Organizing the resource library (multiple times because I’m an organization nerd) = I had my hands on the resources, met trade reps who’d pick items up, actually got a couple of job offers from some, learned the products, felt the fabrics and textiles and watched how the designers made their selections and why

• Returning samples = a great way to get your foot in the door of the prestigious locations, become a familiar face to the showroom reps and get comfortable knowing your way around design centers

• Building specification binders for large hotel groups = see how projects are built, all of the components, learn the review and revision processes, approvals and updates, re-selections and phasing overall of the FFE side. I know this is more old-fashioned now in today’s day and age, but I still do binders because I cannot dog-ear a page in a digital PDF document nor neon flag a pending spec I need to address.

• Writing specifications and learning new software = I became the unofficial drapery spec writer while there and I still love it to this day. Database style software to sub categorize, sort, quantify and budget projects are incredibly helpful to designers and I still use the same software I first learned at Looney to this day in my very own firm: Spexx.

• Redline pickups, room counts, L/R casegood counts and Revit library building = this gave me a peek into the architectural side of the firm, helping build custom furniture concepts into Autocad for specification details, do model red-line edits for a sheet set, room counts were annoying but very important and the dreaded updating of the Autocad library into Revit. I remember Jenna prefacing the explanation of this task with an apology LOL.

• Don’t assume anything = everyone has bad days, is stressed out overworked and also have other stuff going on in their lives that we don’t even know about. Don’t burn bridges or make any enemies. I thought one person just couldn’t stand me…later I came to find out, she sang my biggest praise and ended up landing me an interview with Paul Duesing Partners.

2: First Design Project

The PDP years, as I now refer to them as, were a whirlwind. I traveled across the globe earning enviable AA status, worked by tail off on installs, stayed in the some of the world’s best hotels, witnessed some of the most incredible and detailed design projects and basically learned everything I know today. Again technically NOT my first design project, we had a project that David and myself oversaw called Sylvan Thirty…that was fresh and young just like us LOL. The real first (to me at least) was CalNeva. The news of my involvement was literally dropped on my plate mid-project meeting (where I thought I was only there to take notes) and it grew to become the first project my boss gave me the reins to oversee his vision.

It was 2013, model room specs had be issued for review with the luxury operator and a site visit was in order to see the status of renovation and construction. Greeted by tons of young hippies trying desperately to get to Burning Man, we arrived at the Reno airport, got our bags and made the trek up the mountains to Crystal Bay in North Lake Tahoe, where the site was. This particular site visit would become infamous. I won’t share all of the incriminating details but let’s just say that Reno’s Annual Rib Fest and our rowdy gang at Table 38 quickly turned into the Makers Mark Festival. But that’s a whole ‘nother story.

I earned my place in the fold that night as one of the few women on the project. I’d return to the site later, to install the model room for a photo-shoot, traipsing across the now demolished casino floor to the tower elevators only to find out on Day 2 that bears had moved into the hotel and how “we should be aware of this while navigating the property”. Carolyn, my comrade from PDP, and I were instructed to “make ourselves big and put our hands up in the air” if we encountered a bear. We laughed and thought OH HELL NO! Luckily we never met a bear while there and I wonder if it was the MEP team’s way of pulling a ‘Parent Trap Mountain Lion Trick’ on us. Who knows? I joke today on job-sites though, when warned about anything to be weary of, “Oh, well at least it’s not bears!”.

The project grew, operators changed again, and the PDP team saw through the architectural design details, work began onsite and a lot of specification writing was underway. We had a grand, modern vision hailing to the days of The Rat Pack for the Lobby, Casino Floor, the Showroom (a notorious stage - see my links at the end for more fun CalNeva reading), the Ball Room, Meeting Rooms, Prefunction gallery area, The Circle Bar, the 3-Meal Restaurant and the Specialty Restaurant which literally straddled state lines. I remember our last phase, before shutdown, we were collaborating over tabletop, bar-ware and working with an esteemed Celebrity chef navigating our way through the logistics on how to plan the table layouts and how they’d run POS station tickets to tax the patrons correctly, based on which state they were dining in - California or Nevada. I remember the codes for one state allowing fireplaces and the other not - fire features were placed accordingly. So many fun challenges to overcome and really get creative with as a team.

I’m sad I was never able to see it all come to life as it was shut down mid-project due to financial reasons outside of my knowledge at the time. I’ve seen glimpses of it though in some links below and I know just how it would’ve all looked in my mind. <sigh> I was most fond of the 3-Meal restaurant which was a Riva-inspired, Lakehouse vibe…

3: First Design Install

Technically not my first install but by far my most memorable and the hottest by far…and we’ve had several summer installs this year at KND.

The place: Scottsdale, Arizona

The season: Devil’s Spring (as I call it)

The temperature: 110 (according to my iPhone at the time) but I truly believe…

…the mercury lied.

It was well over 120 with the heat index and given that we were standing in the back of a solid metal big-rig delivery truck.

What on Earth were we doing, might you ask?

Oh just in search of the last brass finial on earth for an antique lamp that was “lost” when offloading the new purchases, custom designs and un-crating the personal belongings of a client’s home. Yes, these are the “real” dramas of the day during installs that will end the world if you do not fix them.

It was 2014, the main house was still well under construction and it was time to install the smaller three private guest houses on the property aptly named The Casitas or ‘little houses’. There were three of them each unique in design & character to host each child’s family and grandchildren during the holiday stays. Genius concept.

After a couple of weeks of install, the bedrooms, bathrooms and living spaces were all set up and of course there were some surprises along the way. Items missing or mistakenly loaded to a later truck, items were swapped out for others (different than originally specified and planned), art spotted and then the fun part: accessories. The final touch of adding more layers. The dilemma here: we didn’t have any of these yet.

I had two hours to take a rental car, drive to Phoenix, find some shops, buy like a maniac, load the car, return, remove packaging and make ready for the owners to arrive and see it all for the first time with their very own eyes. The drive to Phoenix is 24 minutes each way with zero traffic by the way.

Miraculously, we had internet that day so I made a quick plan of attack and figured out where the most stores were located, mapped it on the navigation and drove like hell. Sorry City of Scottsdale if you had a mystery burgundy rental car on a red-light camera - Momma had to shop A LOT and fast!

Thousands of dollars in blankets, candles, woven baskets, trays, coffee table books, tchotchkes and picture frames poured into the center lawn and shuffleboard areas then onto folding tables. The mad dash to place these items began. The team of three, Vanessa, Paul and myself styled the three guest homes faster than ever and pulled it all off without a hitch. The clients were very pleased and we just had a little more sweat on our brows.

design Clients: yes we designers make miracles happen & a lot of them are behind the scenes

On a personal note: I do, in my own practice, always pre-purchase about half of the accessories and then source the remaining in the days before leading up to the scheduled install. Sometimes I have no plan whatsoever and just grab as I see items and be sure to keep receipts. Sometimes, I’m on a mission to find that one lapis box for the entry table. Being on the boss side of things now, I grab and mix up during installs freely ignoring the original spec tags or where they are supposed to live. It’s a fun, fluid process that would drive me crazy back in the day as a young designer witnessing my boss do this. I remember thinking to myself like, “No! That belongs in Casita 1 Bedroom 2. That’s why the silk twist cord was made in a raspberry finish - to match the accent gimp at the shade.” Funny how things change and hindsight is 20/20.

4: First Design Fail

Back in the Looney days, I remember about half-way through my internship, Jim tasked me to help calculate the flagstone and come up with an appropriate symmetrical layout on his Southern estate style front porch. I took my time, studied the finish specification of the bluestone and began to consider the placement of the layout to the front door but also how they would meet up at the front steps while coordinating to the columns. Drawing in Autocad, I built a custom hatch and dragged it back and forth till I thought it was just right.

A quick test print to see for myself, added a layout tag with the appropriate scale noted, final print on “the good paper”, I then set it on his desk for his review.

He came right over, not ten minutes had passed since he wrapped up his international conference call, and handed the floor finish plan back to me without a mark or red pen note in sight.

I thought to myself, “Oh it’s just perfect! YESSSSSS!”

I looked up at him from my desk and he kindly asked, “so what grout width are you proposing here?”

I blushed and wanted to open palm slap myself in the forehead. I looked down to see completely flush, butt-jointed tiles and I had completely forgotten to account for ANY grout in my hatch.

He smiled and suggested what he wanted and I apologized saying how I’d fix it and return it to him later.

It was all innocent and he was so very understanding but I will never forget that. I’m reminded of this moment whenever I look at tile layouts still to this day. LOL

5: First Design chaperone trip

Hotel artwork is usually the first thing to be cut from a budget. Make a point to pay attention to the hotels you stay in. Are they missing or very sparse on artwork? Chances are someone or something caused the project to go over budget, something maybe required corrections, basically those allotted funds were no longer available in the later phases of production and purchasing hence cutting this scope altogether. While there are a ton of great purveyors out there to offer you selections of original and reproductions, nothing beats truly original artwork and photography. That’s where our story begins…just me and a Castilian photographer whom I had never met, who had zero social media presence of his face out there (very Alec Monopoly of him) so it would be literally a blind date for our first meeting.

My boss had met him before and worked with him, however he was out of the country at client meetings, so I had to wing these trips alone. My mission: meet him in Tahoe first, shoot CalNeva prior to demolition, review images and shoot one last lot then reunite the following week to do the same in wine country California.

For the first leg in North Lake Tahoe, we met at the property and got to work. The property was still in operation, at that time, in its final weeks so the front desk gal had shown him the property and shared all of the history and ghost stories. I met him in The Showroom, the big performance stage area just off the Casino floor. What I knew was he was Spanish, what I learned very quickly was that this photographer didn’t speak any English other than “yes” “no” and “okay”. He was very polite and would nod as if he knew what you were saying but I’m not sure how much he actually did. So, being the good Texan I am, I broke out my Spanglish and did my best.

It turned out to be a fairly simple task, we had first morning light, daytime, high sun we’d be inside shooting interiors, then dusk and sunset again outside. Nighttime was for dinner, a night cap and a little video poker at the Circle Bar (the only gaming still in operation onsite) then to bed ready to hit it hard again the next morning bright and early. Well actually dark and early, because we had to get the cherry picker and the shot setup so when the sun rose, he could capture the totems just right.

I wish I could share the footage and photographic proof but yes, there were “mysterious hazes” and unknown shadow figures when we shot underground in the old prohibition and gangster tunnels. I have chills just thinking about it. Read my links below, there are a lot of stories about this historic property, famous faces discovered, rumors that an icon passed away onsite, presidential affairs and more.

Leg 2 of the photographic tour would be much more relaxing for me, or so I thought. Having never been to San Francisco, I deplaned and walked to the tram to go to the baggage claim. Little did I know, I got on the rental car one or whichever one just keeps looping and never gets you to baggage claim. Total blonde moment, but yes it took me two loops before realizing this. Once on the correct tram, I (now) confidently walked up to the rental car pickup desk. After looking up my rental number, she beamed with pride, “Congrats! We’ve put you in a yellow Mustang convertible!” I sighed and politely declined. We had a ton of photography equipment, our iPads, laptops and personal luggage and I wasn’t going to be the victim of a soft-top car theft encounter. Yes, this had happened to previous designers and even if SUV’s, iPad left in front seats led to busted front windows to get them. So the bright blue Eco compact SUV it was. I picked up my new buddy from his freind’s house in Berkeley and we made the trip to Napa.

You know that scene in Love Actually where Jamie first meets Aurelia and he’s driving them to his summer home making super awkward small talk? Yeah, that was us…well, without the romance at the end LOL. I literally pointed at things and started saying them in Spanish. Oh my gosh, so embarrassing! I’m a very talkative person, so once that got old or rather I ran out of words I knew in Spanish, I pulled out my old iPod chocked full of great music from all eras and turned it to Shuffle. Music is truly the international language. We sang and hummed to the rhythms, there may have even been a little car dancing involved.

Now this jobsite was an old historic property with buildings dating back to Victorian days, backed up to some of the most beautiful vineyards and the one building we had to shoot (as it was the first to be partially demolished and revived) was crawling with snakes…yes, live snakes.

There was no power, no internet, no running water so you had to come prepared. There were commodes functioning but it was a mellow yellow type rule going on there…you wanted to get in and out fast, if you know what I mean. Luckily I had tons of specs edits to do, so I pulled out my thick pile of papers to redline and got to work. The property manager let his dog hang with me for one afternoon which was fun. It was 85 degrees and the sun was shining, I couldn’t complain. Long days and lots of help setting up shots, I would point out where on the site map something was and check off shots as he captured them. Then we had the last night - the evening shoot. Our dear photographer had the idea to do a long exposure shoot, problem was there was no moon, no power, no flood lights so we put our little rental car to use and flipped on the high beams. Off-roading up hills and down dips to get the headlamps pointed right on the building we were trying to capture, then he would run and jump and click the flash and hold the other lamp in his hand to up-light the adjacent trees, buildings and stone walls. I thought he was absolutely insane hopping all around like that.

The final shots turned out fabulous. Again, I cannot share them so you’ll just have to take my word for it. Another memorable and successful trip in the books for me and again, a memorable time for sure.

Looking back on my life, past jobs and experience, I remember back then (in the moment) thinking if something didn’t happen the way I had hoped or planned, that I wouldn’t succeed and get to where I wanted to be professionally. I didn’t end up getting that job with Looney after-all once my internship and contract period ended. I fell very ill with West Nile virus and was bed-ridden for almost two months. What I thought was the ultimate failure and defeat, turned out to be the biggest blessing. Had I not become so sick, the position I was intended to fill wouldn’t have been reassigned to a healthy able-bodied designer, I wouldn’t be in search of a new job and I would’t have received the recommendation to interview with Paul. The rest there was history and worked out in a miraculous way to be quite perfect. Remember that if you ever feel like life isn’t going right. There’s a reason and I do believe in karma, in addition to a strong work ethic.

Now, back to work for me…I can’t just write blog posts all day. I have clients to attend to. Have a great one y’all.

Cheers,

KN

I’d love to hear about your Firsts

Share and tag @kathrynnelsonid in your Instagram story, tweet or Facebook post. It’s always fun to see where we started, came from, what we all have learned and what has shaped us professionally.

*** BONUS LINKS***

Love a little more background and to learn a little something new too? Check out these links below for topics mentioned above…

CalNeva to be a Nobu Hotel???

CalNeva Revealed

The Incredible History of the CalNeva

The Story Behind CalNeva

Billionaire Larry Ellison to Reopen CalNeva

Four Unsolved Mysteries From the Real-Life Hotel That Inspired 'Bad Times at the El Royale'

How to Shoot Long Exposure Shoots (for Beginners)