WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
“…Flawless and magical.”
"Buying your first home (and a fixer-upper to boot) is fraught with anxiety, apprehension, and a lot of excitement. So my story begins.
After mowing through countless challenges, with unwanted pests, a new hot water heater, oh yes after 2 years a new roof, plus cracked tile in 2 bedrooms, and an assortment of other dirty projects, I felt confident enough to start the fun stuff!
A friend came in, and we painted, caulked, painted, and painted! My used and a few pieces new, filled in to bridge the gaps, and the cottage feel of my 1950s fixer-upper was coming together.
The dining room, oh Lord, what to do with that? A not buttery yellow, nor sunshiny, it was a dull muted depressed yellow. I love color, as my home will now attest to, but I had no ideas for this room.
My dear friend Ashley Foster, saw me through the other rooms, and told me it would all work out. When I had to replace the main air conditioning vents, and windows that would not open, she just said this is going to be great!. So again with patience and an eye for style and combining colors effectively, she broached the subject of the dining room, gently.
I was ready. Her home, which I admired and been in countless times was, and is, a haven – comfortable, warm, and welcoming. So please Ash, it’s all yours.
Gray? She wants to paint my dining room grey? The polar opposite of anything I’ve been entertaining.
Well, because of her talent and expertise, I said okay. She replaced the Thumbelina chairs at my gorgeous dining room, and were totally not to scale, with four beautiful blue green chairs, and to captain chairs in a beautiful orange and grey and blue fabric.
She herself tore out the ugly pocket accordion folding doors with wire shelves, and suggested the lovely rustic shelves my brother put in, they are perfect! Holding all my oriental China, and keepsakes she added a white wine rack to each, so the wine glasses are accessible under the bottom shelf, they hang upside down, and not only save space but are so cute.
The rug she suggested fits perfectly with chairs and the Belgium buffet I inherited! A few sconces for the wall, with fun artwork we bought mixing new with my old, now my favorite room in the house.
The grey? At night time it’s a soft lavender, drawing you into the room, just for the glow. In the morning and the afternoon, the light coming through the French doors reveals warmth and a tendency to want to linger over morning tea.
Ashley’s influence in my home and my life has been virtually instrumental to create an atmosphere of calmness and happy, which my entire family loves. Her work is flawless and magical.”
-Merri Lee Madsen
Sanibel, Florida
“…Ashley gets to know her clients…"
“Having never worked with an interior decorator before, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I asked Ashley Foster to decorate my nursery. I imagined she would tell me what was in style and complete her own vision for this space. I couldn’t have been more mistaken. Ashley not only asked what my likes and dislikes were, she went so far as to check my Pinterest page to see what my dream nursery would look like.
What I liked most about working with Ashley was when we would go to various home décor stores, she kept it very simple. I am easily overwhelmed by too many choices. She simply asked me to point out what I liked and what artwork I responded to. After pointing out a lot of different pieces that I could never see working together, she seemed to find a common theme with each article I pointed out. I was amazed at what she was able to put together using the pieces I selected! It made me feel confident in my own style and tastes. Ashley emphasized the importance of selecting what I liked because I was the one who would be in the space every day. She even created original framed artwork using some of the lyrics to a song in our wedding (needless to say this is the piece I love the most).
When many decorators force their own vision upon clients, Ashley gets to know her clients and tailors each space into something extremely personal. Her knowledge of design, ability to create personal pieces, and the research she puts into her clients sets her apart from other decorators. Trends come and go, but when you are able to design a space based on the personality of the people using it-the space becomes timeless.”
– Sarah Banks
Akron, OH
"Ashley brought a lot to the table"
“In the second half of 2011 Frans and I bought a 28 year old foreclosure house in a beautiful Florida waterfront neighborhood. What attracted us on the house besides the location was its “un-Florida” design. Not your standard all-in-one open space but plenty of individual cozy living, dining and office/work spaces and two characteristic staircases to connect all these area’s together.
We had the intention of taking a couple of weeks to just paint and clean the house, then move in and slowly renovate what was necessary over the next couple of years.
To say that things did not go exactly as planned is an understatement and we found ourselves with a house that needed 8 months of renovations before we were able to move in.
The years before our house project we had seen some of Ashley’s creative design work during events and in the homes of some friends and acquaintances in the Fort Myers, Sanibel Island Florida area. Her input always resulted in a stylish, understated and warm living (or event) space that felt welcoming, inviting, functional and fun.
We initially approached Ashley to help us create an overall interior design idea for our home; our house was to include functional office and work space for us to do more work from home. We had some ideas but how could we effectively utilize our existing furniture in these new spaces and stay within some sort of a budget? We looked to Ashley to find themes and colors that would create individual identities for the different area’s and still reflect our personalities. She accomplished all this and made it look easy to guide us through the process while her ideas highlighted and enhanced the unique features that had attracted us to the house in the first place.
Ashley was also instrumental in organizing and streamlining the process of moving our work space into our home. When our remodeling project went from a ‘quick paint job’ to the whirlwind of a total remodeling she helped us reorganize our current and future workspaces to make the transition process easier and our future space that much more functional.
Ashley brought a lot to the table.
First her ability to listen and understand our needs and wants; with that knowledge she then guided us through the process of putting unique colors, materials and pieces together. She led us to think outside the box to create our unique, elegant, but comfortable and functional space not just for us, but with us.
Her organizational skills; where she showed our ability to create a functional structure in our living and working area’s and helped us through the process of de-cluttering and streamlining to successfully create the spaces that we had been looking for.
We now enjoy a great house with the functionality and the style that makes it home for us and the friends that share it with us.”
-Jana Telecka
Southwest Florida