What is the difference between an interior designer and a design-build firm?

An interior designer handles aesthetic direction like space planning, finishes, and furniture. A design-build firm provides both design and construction management under one contract, making one team responsible for how the project looks and how it gets built.

When should I hire a design-build firm instead of just an interior designer in Paradise Valley?

Any time the project involves moving walls, updating plumbing or electrical, or anything requiring permits and contractors. For projects that are purely furnishing and styling an existing space, an interior designer alone may suffice.

How much does a design-build project in Paradise Valley cost?

Typically starts at $150,000 for a meaningful scope, and often exceeds $500,000 for full estate renovations. A detailed proposal is the only reliable way to understand project cost.

What is the difference between Modern Southwest and Mid-Century Modern design?

Modern Southwest draws from the desert landscape with warm earthy tones, organic shapes, and materials like stone, clay, and mesquite. Mid-Century Modern emphasizes clean horizontal lines, flat planes, and large glass openings influenced by 1950s and 60s architecture.

Which design style is more popular in Scottsdale homes right now?

Both are popular with different buyers. Modern Southwest aligns with the desert setting and works well for older or custom-built homes. Mid-Century Modern has strong appeal in neighborhoods like Arcadia and central Scottsdale where the architecture originated.

Can Modern Southwest and Mid-Century Modern be mixed in the same home?

Yes, and it works particularly well in Scottsdale. Let one style lead and use the other as an accent. A Mid-Century structure with warm desert-tone textiles and natural stone reads as cohesive and intentional.

How do you hire a luxury interior designer in Scottsdale?

Review portfolios for aesthetic alignment, schedule consultations with two or three firms, ask about process and contractor coordination, and choose based on fit, transparency, and track record rather than price alone.

What should I expect to pay for luxury interior design in Scottsdale?

Design fees typically range from $15,000 to $75,000 or more depending on scope. Hourly rates run $150 to $550. Some firms charge flat fees or a percentage of total project cost.

What questions should I ask a luxury interior designer before hiring them?

What does the design fee cover? How do you handle contractor coordination? Can I see references from similar projects? What happens if the project goes over budget? Do you hold a general contractor license?

What outdoor entertaining trends did Living with Lolo discuss in Forbes?

The shift toward multi-functional outdoor rooms, the rise of permanent outdoor kitchens, and how warm-weather clients are investing in shade structures, misting systems, and performance textiles to make outdoor spaces usable year-round.

What makes a great outdoor entertaining space in Scottsdale?

Covered areas with overhead fans or misting, durable furniture with high-performance fabrics, ambient lighting for evening use, and landscaping that creates enclosure without blocking views.

How much does a luxury outdoor entertainment area cost in Arizona?

Typically $50,000 to $250,000 or more, depending on kitchen complexity, shade structures, water features, and furniture budget.

What does it mean that Living with Lolo was named an Inc. Best Workplace 2026?

It means the firm has demonstrated a culture of employee satisfaction, strong management, and a workplace that supports the people doing the work -- which for clients signals an engaged, stable, motivated team.

How does a strong workplace culture affect a design-build project?

Lower turnover, better communication, and more consistent execution. When designers, project managers, and contractors are part of a culture that prioritizes excellence, it shows up in every client project.

Does Living with Lolo offer design services for residential clients in Arizona?

Yes. Living with Lolo is a full-service luxury interior design and licensed general contracting firm based in Scottsdale, serving clients throughout the Phoenix metro area, Paradise Valley, Arcadia, and beyond.

What is a hot/cold wellness room in a home?

A dedicated space combining contrast therapy elements -- typically a sauna, cold plunge or ice bath, and sometimes a steam shower -- designed for residential use.

How much does it cost to add a wellness room to a home?

Typically $30,000 to $150,000 or more depending on equipment, size, and finish level. A basic sauna-and-cold-plunge setup starts at the lower end; fully custom rooms run significantly higher.

Is a home wellness room a good investment?

In the luxury market, yes. In high-end markets like Scottsdale and Park City, buyers increasingly expect spa-level amenities. Clients consistently report it among the most appreciated features of their renovation.

What was Living with Lolo's micro-makeover featured in House Beautiful?

The feature highlighted how strategic changes to lighting, textiles, and accessories can transform a space without renovation, illustrating the micro-makeover concept for a national audience.

What is a micro-makeover in interior design?

A focused design refresh that prioritizes the changes with the highest visual impact per dollar spent, working with the existing architecture and furniture rather than replacing it.

Is Living with Lolo available for micro-makeover projects?

Yes. Living with Lolo offers micro-makeover services alongside full-service design and design-build projects, ideal for clients who want a fresh look without a full renovation.

What is a micro-makeover in interior design?

A micro-makeover is a targeted refresh that focuses on high-impact changes rather than full renovation -- new lighting, updated textiles, rearranged furniture, and fresh accessories that dramatically change a room's feel without the cost or disruption of a major project.

How much does a micro-makeover cost?

Typically $5,000 to $25,000 depending on scope. Because it focuses on accessories, lighting, and styling rather than construction, costs are significantly lower than a full redesign.

Is a micro-makeover worth it compared to a full renovation?

For the right home, yes. It is ideal when the bones are good but the styling feels dated. Most effective in living rooms, primary bedrooms, and entryways.

Uncategorized Archives • Living with Lolo

Interior Designer vs. Design-Build Firm: Which One Do You Actually Need in Paradise Valley?

by Lauren Lerner | Jun 19, 2026 | Modern Interior Design Ideas, Scottsdale Interior Design Projects, Uncategorized

Paradise Valley is not Scottsdale. The homes are larger, the finishes run higher, the HOA restrictions are stricter, and the expectations for a finished renovation are different in ways that matter when you're choosing who to hire.

If you're planning a full home renovation, a gut-to-stud remodel, or a significant addition on a Paradise Valley estate, the question of whether to hire an interior designer or a design-build firm is not a minor decision. It will determine how your project is coordinated, how decisions get made under pressure, and whether what gets built actually matches what was designed.

We wrote a broader version of this guide for Scottsdale homeowners at Design-Build vs. Hiring a Designer and Contractor Separately. This post is specifically for Paradise Valley, where the project scale, the regulatory environment, and the level of finish involved create a different set of variables.

What Makes Paradise Valley Projects Different

Paradise Valley is an incorporated town, not a Scottsdale neighborhood. That distinction matters for renovation projects in several ways.

The town has its own building department, its own permit review process, and its own code requirements, which run more stringent than the City of Scottsdale in certain areas. HOA restrictions in communities like Camelback Country Estates, Clearwater Hills, and Paradise Valley Country Club layer additional review requirements on top of the town's permitting process. A renovation that would move through permit review in three weeks in north Scottsdale can take six to ten weeks in Paradise Valley depending on scope and HOA involvement.

The homes themselves are larger than the Scottsdale average. Many Paradise Valley estates run 5,000 to 12,000 square feet, with complex mechanical, electrical, and structural systems. The finish level also runs higher than most markets. Clients in Paradise Valley are comparing their renovation to what they have seen in estates in Aspen, coastal California, and international luxury markets.

Why the Design-Build Model Matters More at Estate Scale

The coordination challenge between a standalone interior designer and a general contractor is manageable on a smaller project. On a 7,000-square-foot full home renovation with multiple subcontractors, long-lead specialty items, and HOA review requirements, it compounds quickly.

Here is what that coordination problem actually looks like in practice:

The interior designer specifies a custom plaster finish. The general contractor has not vetted a plasterer who can deliver that specification. The search adds three weeks to the schedule.
A structural change required to open the kitchen was not fully priced during the design phase. The contractor's estimate comes in $60,000 higher than the designer's budget assumption. Someone has to call the client.
A tile selection arrives from Italy eight weeks late. The designer and the contractor have different assumptions about who was tracking that lead time. The tile setter has already moved to another job.

None of these are unusual scenarios. All of them are compounded by having two separate teams operating on separate contracts. When the designer and the contractor are the same firm, they own the outcome together from day one.

Why the Dual License Matters for High-End Renovations

Most interior designers in Paradise Valley are not licensed general contractors. They can design a space and specify everything in it, but they cannot legally manage permitted construction in Arizona, pull permits, or supervise licensed trades. When structural work, plumbing, electrical, or mechanical changes are involved, a separate GC is legally required.

At Living with Lolo, we hold Arizona General Contractor License ROC #347577, which means we can manage the full scope of a Paradise Valley renovation under one contract. We pull permits. We manage the review process with the Paradise Valley Building Department. We supervise all trades on site. And we do all of that while maintaining direct control over the design, so the specification decided in the design phase is the specification that gets built.

HOA Complexity and the Permit Process

Paradise Valley HOA review can require architectural drawings, material samples, and written project descriptions before a renovation can begin. That review process does not move faster because you have a good designer. It moves faster when the person managing your project has done it before in that specific community.

We have worked in Paradise Valley communities including Clearwater Hills, the Biltmore area estates, and custom builds along Camelback Mountain. We know which HOAs require full architectural drawing packages and which can move through with a lighter submission. We also know the Paradise Valley Building Department's review standards, which run more detailed than many adjacent jurisdictions. You can see more about how we manage the full project lifecycle on our process page.

When a Standalone Designer Actually Makes Sense in Paradise Valley

A standalone interior designer is the right choice when:

Your project involves no permitted construction. You are furnishing and accessorizing a completed home, or making cosmetic changes that do not require permits.
You already have an established relationship with a licensed Paradise Valley contractor who has worked on your home before.
Your scope is narrow enough that the coordination risk between two separate teams is low.

For anything larger, especially anything involving permits, structural changes, custom millwork, or a finish level that requires close coordination between design and construction, the integrated model is the more reliable choice.

What to Ask Before You Hire Anyone for a Paradise Valley Project

Are you a licensed general contractor in Arizona? If not, who will pull my permits and manage my trades?
Have you worked in the Paradise Valley Building Department's permit review process before?
Do you have experience with my specific HOA's architectural review requirements?
Who is my single point of contact if a field decision needs to be made during construction?
How do you handle budget changes when construction reveals something the design phase did not anticipate?

Working With Living with Lolo in Paradise Valley

We are a licensed design-build firm serving Paradise Valley with experience in estate-scale renovations, HOA-regulated communities, and full gut-to-stud remodels. We hold both an interior design credential and Arizona GC License ROC #347577, and we manage every project under one contract.

We also serve Paradise Valley homeowners who need a general contractor, a remodeling contractor, or specialized work like kitchen remodeling or bathroom remodeling in Paradise Valley.

We take on a limited number of projects each year specifically because we do not hand work off. Book your 15-minute discovery call here. We review every inquiry personally and respond within 48 hours.

Lauren Lerner

Lauren Lerner is the founder and principal designer of Living with Lolo, Scottsdale’s luxury interior design and licensed design-build firm. Named Phoenix Magazine Best Interior Design three consecutive years, Lauren leads projects from concept through construction for high-end homes in Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, and Phoenix.

livingwithlolo.com/

Modern Southwest vs. Mid-Century Modern: What’s Right for Your Scottsdale Home?

by Lauren Lerner | Jun 19, 2026 | Modern Interior Design Ideas, Scottsdale Interior Design Projects, Uncategorized

If you've been researching interior designers in Scottsdale, you've probably come across two styles more than any other: Modern Southwest and Mid-Century Modern. Both are genuinely well-suited to desert living. Both photograph beautifully. And both show up in Scottsdale homes at a high level of quality.

But they are fundamentally different in feel, and choosing the wrong one for your architecture, your lifestyle, or your lot can make a finished space look off in ways that are hard to articulate but impossible to ignore.

At Living with Lolo, we've completed full-scale renovations in both styles across Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, and Arcadia. This guide breaks down exactly what separates them, what each one requires to do well, and how to figure out which is right for your home before you commit.

Quick answer: Modern Southwest grounds a space in the desert landscape through warm earth tones, natural stone, textured plaster, and organic forms. Mid-Century Modern creates contrast with the landscape through clean geometry, warm wood tones, and retro-forward furnishings. If your home reads as adobe or hacienda, Southwest tends to be the stronger fit. If your home has a flat roof, large glass expanses, and clean lines, Mid-Century is often the better starting point.

What Actually Separates These Two Styles

The easiest way to understand the difference is to look at how each style treats the relationship between the home and its surroundings.

Modern Southwest design leans into the landscape. It uses materials that feel like they came from the desert: adobe, terracotta, natural stone, hand-plastered walls, and warm ochre and clay tones. The palette reads as an extension of the ground outside. Furniture tends toward low profiles, organic shapes, and natural textiles like leather, linen, and wool. Art and objects draw from Native American and Southwestern traditions, though in luxury applications this is done with restraint and intention.

Mid-Century Modern design creates a precise, graphic composition against the desert rather than blending with it. Clean horizontal lines, flat or shed rooflines, large plate glass windows, and open-plan layouts define the architecture. Inside, the palette is typically warmer than people expect: walnut, teak, amber, and caramel tones dominate wood selections. Upholstery runs toward structured, low-slung silhouettes. Lighting is sculptural and often iconic.

Materials and Finishes: Side by Side

Where the styles most visibly diverge is in their material palette.

Category	Modern Southwest	Mid-Century Modern
Flooring	Terracotta tile, saltillo, large-format stone, concrete	White oak, walnut, cork, polished concrete
Wall treatment	Venetian plaster, hand-troweled stucco, adobe texture	Smooth drywall, wood paneling, board and batten
Cabinetry	Flat-front with brushed bronze or matte black hardware, natural wood grain	Flat-front with minimal hardware, walnut or teak veneer
Countertops	Quartzite, leathered granite, honed travertine	Slab marble, butcher block, painted steel
Metals	Oil-rubbed bronze, hammered copper, raw iron	Brass, chrome, brushed gold, powder-coated steel
Key textiles	Natural linen, Navajo-inspired weaves, leather, shearling	Boucle, tweed, velvet, mohair

Why Both Styles Work in Scottsdale, and How to Choose

Scottsdale is one of the few markets in the country where both styles are genuinely at home. Modern Southwest has deep regional roots, reflecting the adobe building tradition of the Southwest adapted for contemporary luxury. Homes in North Scottsdale, Troon, Desert Mountain, and Paradise Valley built with stucco exteriors, clay tile roofs, and beamed ceilings tend to support this style naturally.

Mid-Century Modern arrived in Scottsdale through the postwar building boom that produced flat-roof, glass-heavy homes that framed desert views as artwork. Neighborhoods like Old Town, Arcadia, and McCormick Ranch have strong concentrations of authentic mid-century architecture.

The mistake most homeowners make is choosing a style based on what they like on Pinterest rather than what their home's structure can support. A hacienda-style home in Silverleaf is not the right candidate for a strict mid-century interior without significant architectural modification. The cleaner path is to let the architecture lead.

How These Styles Show Up in Real Projects

In our Modern Southwest projects, the work tends to center on texture and material layering. A living room might combine a hand-plastered accent wall in warm white with a travertine fireplace surround, exposed wood beam ceiling detail, and furnishings in natural leather and woven linen. The palette runs from white and cream into sand, terracotta, and ochre.

In our Mid-Century Modern projects, the focus shifts to geometry and proportion. A kitchen renovation might feature flat-front cabinetry in walnut veneer, slab counters in Calacatta marble, terrazzo tile backsplash, and brushed brass hardware. The ceiling stays smooth. The lines stay clean.

Common Questions About These Two Styles

Can you mix Modern Southwest and Mid-Century Modern?

Yes, and it's actually common in Scottsdale. The key is choosing one as the primary direction and pulling selectively from the other. A home that is 80 percent Modern Southwest can absorb a few mid-century-inspired furniture silhouettes without losing coherence. What does not work is splitting the design 50/50, which produces a space that reads as indecisive rather than layered.

Which style holds its value better in the Scottsdale market?

Both are strong performers. Authentic mid-century homes in Arcadia and Old Town have held and appreciated well. Modern Southwest continues to lead in North Scottsdale and estate markets. Neither style is a liability from a resale standpoint when executed at a high level.

Is one style more expensive to execute?

Modern Southwest can carry higher material costs when it involves authentic handcrafted elements, custom plasterwork, hand-painted tile, or carved wood beam installation. At the specification level most of our clients work at, the budget difference between the two is minimal. The bigger cost driver is scope, not style.

What if I want something that feels Scottsdale but not overly Southwest?

Modern Southwest at its best is warm, sophisticated, and grounded, closer to a high-end Santa Fe resort than a Route 66 roadside stop. Our Modern Southwest portfolio is a good place to calibrate your reference point.

Ready to Find Your Style Direction?

Choosing between Modern Southwest and Mid-Century Modern is not a decision you should make from a mood board alone. It requires looking at your home's architecture, your lot's orientation and light conditions, and how you want the finished space to feel.

At Living with Lolo, we hold an Arizona General Contractor license (ROC #347577) and manage design and construction under one roof. Explore our style pages: Modern Southwest design and Mid-Century Modern design. Or book a 15-minute discovery call here.

Lauren Lerner

livingwithlolo.com/

How to Hire a Luxury Interior Designer in Scottsdale

by Lauren Lerner | Jun 12, 2026 | Interior Design Tips, Modern Interior Design Ideas, Scottsdale Interior Design Projects, Uncategorized

Interior Design Guide
14 min read · June 2026

Every week I talk with homeowners who are somewhere in the process of figuring out whether to hire a designer, and if so, who. Some of them have already had a bad experience with someone who underdelivered. Some of them are doing this for the first time and have no idea how this works. Some of them have a house they love and a renovation on the horizon and they just want to get it right.This guide covers exactly what you need to know before you hire a luxury interior designer in Scottsdale. Not generic advice from a national design blog, but what actually matters in this specific market, from someone who quotes and manages projects here every week.

Step 1: Define Your Scope Before You Start Searching

The biggest mistake people make is searching for a designer before they are clear on what they actually need done. "Full redesign" is not a scope. Neither is "update the main floor." Before you start making calls, get specific.Write down the following before your first conversation with any firm:

Which rooms you plan to touch and what you want to change in each
Whether any walls are moving, plumbing is relocating, or electrical is changing
Whether you want furnishings included or just design and construction
Your timeline, including any hard deadlines
A realistic budget range, even a rough one

Scope directly affects which firm you should hire. A client doing a cosmetic refresh with new furniture and paint does not need the same kind of firm as a client who is removing a load-bearing wall, reconfiguring their kitchen layout, and adding a wine cellar. Getting clear on this before your first call saves everyone time and prevents the kind of misalignment that derails projects early.One question worth sitting with before you pick up the phone: is your project primarily a design project, or a construction project with design involved? If you are planning to relocate plumbing, open up walls, or add square footage, you need a licensed general contractor involved, not just a designer with strong vendor relationships. Some firms, like Living with Lolo, hold both credentials under one contract. Many do not.

Step 2: Know What Credentials Actually Matter in Arizona

The title "interior designer" is not regulated in Arizona. Anyone can use it. This does not mean all designers are equal, and it does not mean credentials do not matter. It means you need to know what to look for instead of assuming a title tells you anything.For a design-only engagement, look for:

A degree in interior design from an accredited program
Membership in ASID (American Society of Interior Designers) or IDS (Interior Design Society), which signals ongoing professional development and accountability to a code of ethics
A portfolio that shows projects at the scale and finish level of your own home

For a project involving any construction, look for:

An active Arizona Registrar of Contractors (ROC) general contractor license held by the firm or a principal of the firm
The ability to pull permits, manage subcontractors, and oversee licensed trades directly
Proof of bonding and general liability insurance

Living with Lolo holds ROC #347577, an active Arizona general contractor license. This is not standard. Most interior designers in Scottsdale cannot pull a permit, oversee structural work, or manage a licensed trade contractor. They can hire one, which means you end up with two separate firms, two contracts, two sets of expectations, and twice the opportunity for costly miscommunication.

Step 3: Understand How Fees Are Structured Before Your First Call

The most common source of sticker shock in the design process is not the furniture. It is the design fee, and more specifically, not understanding how it was calculated. Knowing how fees are structured before you sit down with a firm means you will not be blindsided by a proposal you were not expecting.There are three main structures luxury interior designers in Scottsdale use:Flat project fee. A set amount for a defined scope of services. This gives you budget predictability if the scope is clearly defined upfront. If the scope expands, expect the fee to change with it.Hourly rate. You pay for time. Luxury designers in Scottsdale typically charge between $150 and $350 per hour. For a complex project, hourly can become expensive and unpredictable quickly.Percentage of project cost. The design fee is calculated as a percentage of the total budget, typically 10 to 20 percent. On a $600,000 project, that is $60,000 to $120,000 in design fees before any furniture is ordered or any wall is opened.Most full-service firms use some combination, often a flat design fee plus a procurement markup on furniture and materials. Understanding this before your first conversation lets you compare proposals accurately. Two firms quoting "design fees" may be describing very different things.For a detailed breakdown of what projects actually cost in this market, see: How much does luxury interior design cost in Scottsdale?

Step 4: Evaluate the Portfolio Carefully

Every firm has a portfolio. Not every portfolio tells you what you need to know. Here is how to read one.Look at scale. Does the firm work on projects comparable to yours in square footage, finish level, and complexity? A designer whose portfolio shows 2,000-square-foot condo renovations is not necessarily equipped for a 9,000-square-foot whole-home project with custom millwork throughout. The project management demands are not the same.Look at style alignment. Does their work look like what you want? A designer known for clean contemporary spaces is going to find it harder to give you warm organic modern authentically. Great designers can work across styles, but the portfolio tells you where they are most fluent and confident.Look for project depth. Do they show before-and-after, or only finished photography? Do they show projects during construction? A firm that shows only styled final photography may not have the operational experience to manage a complex build.Ask what you are not seeing. In any initial conversation, ask the firm to walk you through a project similar to yours. Ask what the challenges were. Ask how they handled them. The answer tells you more than any photograph.

The right designer is not the one with the most beautiful portfolio. It is the one with the operational capacity to deliver that result for your specific project, on your timeline, at your scale.

Desert Interlude living room by Living with Lolo, Scottsdale — open-plan warm contemporary condo interior design

Living area, Desert Interlude — Full Home Furnishings, Scottsdale, AZ

Desert Interlude is a full-home furnishing project we completed in a Scottsdale condo. Warm Contemporary in style, every room was designed with the same material choices and palette discipline, from the primary suite to the secondary bedrooms and bathrooms. When you evaluate a portfolio, that coherence is what to look for. A home where the secondary spaces feel as resolved as the main living area is the work of a firm with a real design vision, not just a collection of showpiece shots.

Step 5: What to Ask in an Initial Consultation

An initial call, whether 15 minutes or an hour, is where you determine fit. These are the questions worth asking in every conversation.Do you hold an Arizona general contractor license? If the answer is no and your project involves construction, ask directly how they intend to manage the build scope, who holds the contractor license, and how that relationship is structured contractually.Who will be my day-to-day contact? At a larger firm, you may meet the principal in the sales process and then be handed off to a junior designer. Know who you are actually hiring.Have you worked at this scale and budget before? Firms that primarily manage $80,000 projects are not always equipped for the vendor relationships, procurement complexity, and site management demands of a $700,000 renovation. Ask directly.How do you handle budget overruns? Every complex project has surprises. What matters is how they are managed and who absorbs them when they happen. The honest answer here is always more reassuring than a guarantee that surprises never occur.What does your project management process look like? Who is on site during construction? How are changes documented? How often do you communicate with clients and in what format?Can you provide references from projects at a comparable scale? References from previous clients who ran projects similar to yours are the single most useful information you can gather before signing anything.

Step 6: Red Flags to Watch For

Some things should give you pause regardless of how compelling the initial conversation feels.No general contractor license and no clear plan for who manages construction. "I work with great contractors" is not a construction management plan. It is a referral. Know who holds the license and how decisions on site get made.A portfolio that does not show projects at your scale. Being the largest project a firm has ever managed is not a position you want to be in. Complexity compounds quickly at larger project sizes.Vague answers on fees. Any reputable firm should be able to tell you clearly how they charge, what is included in that fee, and what would cause it to change. "We will figure that out" is not a fee structure.Reluctance to provide references. References from past clients at a comparable scope should be available and offered readily. If a firm is reluctant to provide them, that warrants a direct question about why.Pressure to sign quickly. Firms that push you to commit before you have had time to review a contract, visit a completed project, or speak with a previous client are not behaving the way a trustworthy long-term partner would.

Step 7: What Changes When Your Designer Also Holds a GC License

If your project involves any construction at all, the decision about whether your designer also holds a general contractor license is one of the most consequential decisions you will make in this entire process.When design and construction are handled by separate firms, you have two contracts, two contacts, and two sets of accountability. Disagreements between them about who is responsible for a problem land on you. Schedule delays caused by communication gaps cost you time and money. Finish decisions made by the contractor that do not match the design intent require expensive corrections that neither party wants to pay for.When design and construction are managed by the same firm under one contract, these friction points disappear. Your designer is your general contractor. What is drawn gets built as drawn, because the same team is accountable for both. There is no gap to fall into.At Living with Lolo, we manage design and construction under one contract for every project. We pull the permits. We manage the subcontractors. We are on site. When the project is finished, it looks like what we designed because we are the ones who built it.If you are planning a major renovation in Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, or the surrounding area and want to understand whether your project is a good fit for our process, book a complimentary discovery call here. We will give you an honest assessment of scope, timeline, and what to expect from start to finish.

Ready to Talk Through Your Project?

Every project begins with a conversation. Tell us about your home, your vision, and what you want to accomplish. We will take it from there, completely. Book a Discovery Call

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I look for when hiring a luxury interior designer in Scottsdale?

Look for a portfolio that matches your project scale and finish level, clear and transparent fee structures, professional affiliations like ASID or IDS, and for any project involving construction, an active Arizona general contractor license. Always ask for references from completed projects at a scope similar to yours before signing anything.

How much does it cost to hire a luxury interior designer in Scottsdale?

Design fees for luxury interior design in Scottsdale typically range from $15,000 to $75,000 or more depending on project scope and whether construction management is included. This is separate from furnishings and construction costs. Total project investment for a whole-home renovation typically runs $400,000 to over $1 million in this market. See our full breakdown: How much does luxury interior design cost in Scottsdale?

What credentials should a luxury interior designer in Scottsdale have?

Look for a degree in interior design from an accredited program and membership in ASID or IDS. If your project includes any construction, your designer should either hold an active Arizona ROC general contractor license or work under a firm that does. The title "interior designer" is not regulated in Arizona, so credentials require active verification.

How do I know if an interior designer is the right fit?

The right fit combines portfolio alignment, clear communication, transparent pricing, and the operational capacity to manage your specific project scope. Ask about their largest completed project, their day-to-day project management process, and request at least two references from work at a comparable scale before signing.

What is the difference between a luxury interior designer and a design-build firm?

A design-only interior designer specifies, sources, and manages the aesthetic scope but cannot manage construction directly or pull permits. A design-build firm holds a contractor license and manages both design and construction under one contract. For any project involving structural changes, permits, or significant renovation, a design-build firm eliminates the coordination gap between what gets designed and what actually gets built.

Lauren Lerner

Principal Designer, Living with LoloLauren Lerner is a luxury interior designer based in Scottsdale, AZ and the founder of Living with Lolo. Her work has been featured in Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Vogue, Martha Stewart Living, The Wall Street Journal, and GQ. She specializes in high-end residential design and design-build renovation across Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Arcadia, and the greater Phoenix metro area.

Lauren Lerner

livingwithlolo.com/

We Were Featured in Forbes: Outdoor Entertaining Trends Worth Knowing

by Lauren Lerner | Jun 3, 2026 | Interior Design Tips, Modern Interior Design Ideas, Uncategorized

4 min readJune 2026

As Seen In Forbes

Earlier this week, I got a call I always love getting. Terri Williams at Forbes was writing a piece on outdoor entertaining trends and wanted to include our perspective and our work. The article is live now, and our Bronco Revival project is featured throughout.

You can read the full piece here: Incorporate These Outdoor Entertaining Trends in Your Backyard Design.

Why Outdoor Spaces Have Changed

For a long time, outdoor design was treated as an afterthought. You finished the inside of the house and then figured out what to do with the backyard. That is not how our clients think about it anymore, and honestly, it is not how we think about it either.

The homes we work on in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley have some of the best outdoor climates in the country. Nine months of the year, you can live outside. So the question we ask at the start of every project is: what does this family actually do out here, and what would they do if the space made it easy?

The answers drive everything: the shade structure, the cooking setup, the seating, the lighting, the flow from inside to outside. These are not decorating decisions. They are design decisions.

What We See Working Right Now

Indoor-Outdoor Continuity

The most successful outdoor spaces we design feel like a natural extension of the interior. Same material palette, same level of finish, same attention to detail. When you walk outside, it should feel like you are still in your home. That continuity is what makes a space feel intentional versus assembled.

On the Bronco Revival project, we carried the warm, organic material palette from inside all the way through to the outdoor living areas. The result is a backyard that photographs beautifully but more importantly, one the clients actually use every day.

Functional Outdoor Kitchens

We have been doing outdoor kitchens for years, but what has shifted is how serious clients are about the functionality. This is not a built-in grill and a mini fridge anymore. Clients want full prep space, real appliances, smart storage, and good lighting. They want to be able to cook a full dinner outside and not feel like they are camping.

Dedicated Dining That Stays

Outdoor dining tables that feel permanent, not like patio furniture you fold up and store. Weather-resistant materials that look like something out of an interiors magazine. Good light overhead. The kind of setup where guests do not want to go inside.

Layered Shade and Overhead Structure

In Arizona, shade is not optional. But the way we are approaching it has gotten much more design-forward. Pergolas with climbing plants, fabric sails layered with fixed shade, louvered roof systems that let you control light and airflow. The overhead structure is one of the first things we design now, not one of the last.

Lighting That Changes the Mood

This is one of the biggest shifts I have seen in the last few years. Clients are investing in real outdoor lighting design: low-voltage landscape lighting, overhead bistro or string configurations, architectural uplighting on plantings and walls. Done right, lighting doubles the number of hours a space gets used.

The best outdoor spaces are designed the same way we design interiors: from how the family actually lives, not from a catalog.

The Bronco Revival Outdoor Spaces

The Bronco Revival project in Scottsdale was a full home renovation, and the outdoor spaces were central to the vision. The clients wanted a backyard they could entertain in easily, something that felt warm and modern and genuinely nice rather than trying too hard.

We designed the outdoor living and dining areas to flow directly from the interior great room, using the same material sensibility throughout. Natural textures, a restrained palette, carefully placed shade. Terri featured several of the images from this project in the Forbes piece, and we could not be prouder of how they turned out. Photography is by Stephanie Studer of Life Created.

See the full project in our Bronco Revival portfolio, and read the Forbes article here: Incorporate These Outdoor Entertaining Trends in Your Backyard Design.

Thinking About Your Own Backyard?

If your outdoor space is not living up to what it could be, whether it is underused, disconnected from the inside, or just never quite finished, this is worth a conversation. We handle outdoor design as part of full home renovations, and we manage the entire process: design, construction, landscape coordination, and installation.

Let's talk about your outdoor space.

Book a Discovery Call

Lauren Lerner

livingwithlolo.com/

We Made Inc. Best Workplaces 2026. Here’s What That Actually Means for Your Project.

by Lauren Lerner | Jun 2, 2026 | Interior Design Tips, Modern Interior Design Ideas, Uncategorized

4 min readJune 2026

Every project we take on runs through the same team. The same designer who walked your home during the discovery call is the same one presenting your design concept, managing construction, and standing in your space at final installation. That is not an accident. It is a deliberate choice, and it is one that Inc. magazine just recognized us for.Living with Lolo was named to the Inc. Best Workplaces 2026 list. The recognition is based on employee survey data, not self-nomination. Companies are evaluated on whether people actually trust the environment they work in, whether they understand their role, feel heard, and have real visibility into how decisions get made. Inc. described our recognition as being for cultivating employee trust through explicit expectations, defined decision rights, and direct feedback.That language might sound like HR-speak. But for someone hiring a design-build firm to manage a six-figure renovation of their home, it translates into something concrete.

A Team That Stays

Interior design and construction are relational in a way that most industries are not. The vendor relationships, the institutional knowledge of how a project evolved, the understanding of how a particular client communicates. None of that transfers cleanly when someone leaves mid-project. We have invested in building a team that genuinely wants to be here, and that stability shows up in how your project runs from start to finish.

Everyone Knows Exactly What They Own

Defined decision rights is a phrase that sounds corporate but matters enormously in practice. It means every person on our team has clear ownership of their piece of the project. You are not getting handoffs to someone who does not have context. The person answering your question has the authority and the information to actually answer it.

We Communicate Directly With Our Team and With You

A culture of direct feedback internally creates a firm that is willing to have honest conversations externally. We will tell you when something will not work the way you are imagining it. We will flag when a contractor's timeline is unrealistic. We will push back when a finish that looked great on the sample board will not hold up in your actual space. That same directness is what earned this recognition, and it is what our clients experience in every review meeting.This is our second Inc. recognition this year. We were also named to the Inc. Regionals Southwest 2026 list for fastest-growing private companies across Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.Two Inc. honors in the same year feels significant. But more than the recognition itself, it reflects the kind of firm we have been quietly building since 2017: one where the people doing the work take real pride in it, and where that pride shows up in every project we deliver.

The team that shows up for each other is the same team that shows up for you. That is not a policy. It is just how we are built. - Lauren Lerner

Related Resources

Ready to Transform Your Home?

Lauren Lerner and the Living with Lolo team work with clients across Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Arcadia, and the greater Phoenix metro area.Book a Discovery Call

Lauren Lerner

Principal Designer, Living with Lolo

Lauren Lerner is a luxury interior designer based in Scottsdale, AZ and the founder of Living with Lolo. Her work has been featured in Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Vogue, Martha Stewart Living, The Wall Street Journal, and GQ. She specializes in high-end residential design across Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Arcadia, and the greater Phoenix metro area.

Lauren Lerner

livingwithlolo.com/

Why Your Next Renovation Should Include a Hot/Cold Wellness Room

by Lauren Lerner | Jun 2, 2026 | Interior Design Tips, Modern Interior Design Ideas, Uncategorized

4 min readJune 2026

June 2, 20266 min read

As featured in Bob Vila

Of all the custom features I am designing right now, the hot/cold wellness room is the one I am working on the most. I said as much when Bob Vila asked me about the top custom home features of 2026, and I want to give you the full picture here because one paragraph does not do it justice.This is not a trend. It is a shift in how people think about their homes.

What a Wellness Room Actually Is

When most people hear "home wellness room," they picture a treadmill pushed against a wall in a spare bedroom. That is a home gym. What I am designing is something entirely different: a dedicated room built around recovery, not just exercise.A proper hot/cold wellness room typically includes an infrared sauna, a cold plunge, soft lighting on dimmer controls, natural materials like stone and wood, and ventilation designed specifically for the thermal cycling. The best ones feel more like a spa than a gym, and that is intentional.The clients who go all in are also adding red light therapy beds, hyperbaric chambers, and fully custom sauna builds with integrated sound and chromotherapy. These are not afterthoughts. They are the primary reason the room exists.

Why It Is Worth the Square Footage

The question I get most often is whether it justifies the space. My answer is always the same: it depends on whether you will actually use it.What I have observed with clients who have these spaces is that they stop treating wellness as a scheduled item and start treating it as part of how their home functions. It stops being something you have to drive to. The cold plunge is three steps from your bedroom. The sauna is ready in 20 minutes. The barrier disappears, and the routine follows.That shift in daily life is what makes it worth the square footage. A room you use every day earns its place faster than almost any other investment in a home.

What Goes Into Designing One Well

The room itself is straightforward if you plan for it early. The details that matter most:

Waterproofing and drainage, especially around the cold plunge. This is not optional.
Ventilation sized for both the sauna heat and the humidity from the cold plunge. Standard bath ventilation is not sufficient.
Electrical for the sauna heater, which typically requires a dedicated 240V circuit.
Natural materials that can handle temperature swings: teak, cedar, stone, and concrete all perform well.
Lighting on dimmers with a warm, low-lux option for post-plunge recovery.
A transition space, even a small bench area between the sauna and plunge, so the thermal cycling is intentional rather than rushed.

Where projects go wrong is when the wellness room gets treated as a finish-out item rather than a structural one. The plumbing, drainage, and electrical need to be in the plan from the beginning. Retrofitting is expensive and often impractical.

Who Is Asking for This

Across my client base in Scottsdale and the Phoenix metro, requests for dedicated wellness spaces have increased significantly in the past two years. It is not a specific demographic. I am designing these for clients in their 30s and clients in their 60s. Athletes and executives. New builds and renovations.What they share is a willingness to invest in how they feel at home, not just how their home looks. That is the broader shift I am seeing, and the wellness room is where it shows up most clearly right now.

How to Start Planning Yours

If you are in the early stages of a custom build or a major renovation, the best time to plan the wellness room is now. The structural and mechanical requirements are much easier to design in than to add later.If you are working with an existing space, a converted bedroom or a room off the primary suite both work well. The minimum functional size is around 150 square feet, though 200 to 300 gives you room to move and adds a proper transition zone.I would love to talk through what this could look like in your home.

Ready to Design Your Wellness Room?

Let's talk about your space, your goals, and what a recovery-focused room would look like in your home. Book a Discovery Call

Lauren Lerner

Principal Designer, Living with LoloLauren Lerner is an award-winning interior designer based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Named Phoenix Magazine Best Interior Designer 2024, 2025, and 2026. As seen in Bob Vila, House Beautiful, Architectural Digest, and more.

Lauren Lerner

livingwithlolo.com/

Living with Lolo in House Beautiful: What Is a Micro-Makeover?

by Lauren Lerner | Jun 1, 2026 | Interior Design Tips, Modern Interior Design Ideas, Uncategorized

Journal / PressAs Seen In House Beautiful

When House Beautiful reached out to include my perspective in a piece on micro-makeovers, I knew it would resonate. It is one of the most common conversations I have with clients, and one of the most misunderstood concepts in residential design.The article, What Is a Micro-Makeover?, explores how targeted, intentional updates to a single room or space can dramatically shift how a home feels, without the timeline or investment of a full renovation. My insights were featured alongside before-and-after images from a recent project, and the piece includes a backlink to Living with Lolo.

What a micro-makeover actually means

A micro-makeover is not a compromise. It is a focused edit. Instead of pulling everything apart and starting over, you identify the one or two decisions in a room that are doing the most damage to how it looks and feels, and you fix those first. For most of my clients in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley, those decisions usually come down to lighting, layering, and scale.The before-and-after work I shared with House Beautiful shows how much a room can shift when you address the right things in the right order. New furniture alone rarely transforms a space. But replace the overhead lighting, add a layer of texture through textiles, and bring in one piece at the right scale, and suddenly the room reads completely differently.

Why this approach matters for busy homeowners

Most of my clients are not looking for a year-long renovation. They want their home to feel like it reflects who they are right now, without uprooting their lives to get there. Micro-makeovers are how we do that. They are scoped tightly, executed quickly, and the results tend to be some of the most satisfying work we do together, because the transformation is immediate.I often tell clients that a home is never finished. You layer it over time, and each phase should feel intentional. A micro-makeover is just one focused layer, done well.

Read the full feature

You can read the full House Beautiful piece here: What Is a Micro-Makeover?. And if you are sitting in a room right now wondering where to even begin, that is exactly the conversation a discovery call is built for.

Curious what a micro-makeover could do for one room in your home? Let's talk.Book a Discovery Call

Lauren Lerner

livingwithlolo.com/

Interior Design Trends Scottsdale 2026: What We’re Seeing in Real Projects

by Lauren Lerner | Jun 1, 2026 | Modern Interior Design Ideas, Scottsdale Interior Design Projects, Uncategorized

9 min readJune 2026

Every year I notice a shift in what clients are asking for. Not a wholesale change in taste, but a refinement. The clients coming to us in 2026 are more specific about what they want and more willing to invest in doing it right. The projects we are finishing right now reflect that.Our Desert Oasis project is a good example. It is a full home renovation in Scottsdale that captures almost every direction we are seeing the market move. I will reference it throughout this post because it is the most recent work we have wrapped, and it illustrates these trends better than any list of inspiration images could.Here is what is actually showing up in luxury interior design in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley this year.

Trend 01Earth Tones Are Replacing Cool Gray for Good

The cool gray era is over. What replaced it is warmer, richer, and more specific: warm white, soft sand, dusty sage, terracotta, warm taupe. These are not trendy colors. They are colors that feel connected to the landscape in a way that slate and greige never did.On Desert Oasis, we built the entire palette around the colors that were already there when you looked out the windows. Warm stone, low desert brush, the kind of golden light you get at 4pm in Arizona. Everything inside echoes that. The result is a home that feels intentional and calm rather than decorated.If you have been sitting on a gray kitchen or gray walls wondering why the space never quite felt warm enough, this is why. The fix is usually simpler than people expect.

Trend 02Natural Stone as a Primary Design Element

We have always used natural stone, but the way clients are using it now has changed. It is no longer a backsplash material or a flooring choice. It is the focal point of the room.Full-slab stone kitchen islands. Bookmatched quartzite feature walls. Travertine floors that run continuously from interior to exterior. Slab shower walls with no grout lines. These are not budget decisions. They are design decisions, and the clients who make them consistently tell us those are the moments in the home they love most.On Desert Oasis, we used warm travertine on the floors throughout the main living areas and carried it outside to the covered patio. The continuity alone changed the scale of the space. It read as one large room instead of two separate ones.If you are in the planning phase of a renovation, I would encourage you to look at natural stone early. The slabs you can source right now are exceptional, and the options in warm tones are better than they have been in years.

Trend 03Textured Wall Finishes Over Paint

Flat paint on smooth drywall is not going away, but the clients who want their home to feel distinctive are looking at what is on the walls differently. Limewash. Venetian plaster. Woven grasscloth and linen wallcovering. Handcrafted tile used as a feature wall, not just a kitchen backsplash.What these finishes have in common is that they change with the light. A limewash wall looks completely different at noon than it does at 7pm. That kind of depth is what separates a finished room from a designed one.On Desert Oasis, we used a warm limewash in the primary bedroom and a hand-applied plaster finish in the entry. Both were intentionally imperfect. That is the point. The slight variation in tone and texture is what makes the space feel handcrafted rather than assembled.

The clients who are happiest with their homes are the ones who were willing to choose something specific over something safe.

Trend 04Indoor-Outdoor Continuity as a Design Priority, Not an Afterthought

Arizona gives us nine months of genuinely livable outdoor weather. The homes we work on in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley should take full advantage of that. And yet, in a surprising number of renovation projects we see, the outdoor spaces are treated as a leftover, something to figure out after the inside is done.The trend we are seeing is the opposite. Clients are asking us to design the indoor and outdoor spaces together from the beginning, using the same materials, the same level of finish, and the same standard of comfort. When you walk outside, it should feel like you are still in your home.On Desert Oasis, the covered outdoor living area was designed simultaneously with the interior great room. Same stone floors. Same ceiling height relationship. Same warm palette. The pocket doors disappear into the wall when open, and the distinction between inside and outside essentially vanishes. That was the goal from day one.We handle outdoor design as part of full home renovations. If you are planning a renovation and thinking about the backyard as a separate phase, I would encourage you to reconsider that sequencing. It is much harder to integrate the two after the fact.

Trend 05Intentional Lighting Design

This is the trend I think is most underappreciated. Most homeowners do not realize how much their lighting plan is limiting their space until they are standing in a room with a proper layered lighting design for the first time.What we mean by layered: ambient light (recessed, cove, or indirect), task light (pendants over islands, sconces at reading chairs, vanity lighting), accent light (picture lights, shelf uplighting, architectural details), and landscape or exterior lighting that makes the property feel finished after dark.Every layer should be independently dimmable. That single change, the ability to dial back overhead light and let accent and task lighting do the work, makes a room feel entirely different at 8pm than it does at noon. It is the difference between a space that has one mood and a space that has several.On Desert Oasis, we worked with the lighting plan from the very beginning of the design process, not as a late-stage selection. The result is a home where every room transitions beautifully from daytime to evening. The clients mentioned it specifically when they walked through for the first time.

What This Means for Your Project

If you are planning a renovation in 2026, the common thread across all five of these trends is specificity. Warmer colors that connect to a particular place. Stone chosen for a particular slab. Finishes that respond to the light in a particular room. Lighting designed for how a particular family actually lives.Generic renovation decisions produce generic results. The clients who are happiest with their homes are the ones who were willing to choose something specific over something safe.If you want to see how these trends come together in a real project, take a look at the Desert Oasis project or browse our full portfolio. And if you are thinking about a renovation and want to talk through what is possible, we would love to hear about it.

Ready to start planning your 2026 renovation? Book a Discovery Call

Frequently Asked Questions

What interior design trends are popular in Scottsdale in 2026?

The dominant trends in Scottsdale luxury homes right now are warm earth tone palettes (sand, terracotta, dusty sage replacing cool gray), natural stone used as a primary design element rather than a backsplash material, textured wall finishes like limewash and Venetian plaster, seamless indoor-outdoor continuity, and intentional layered lighting design. These trends reflect the desert landscape and the Arizona lifestyle rather than generic national trends.

What design style is most popular in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley?

In Scottsdale and Paradise Valley, the most requested styles are Modern Southwest, Modern Mediterranean, and Transitional -- all of which lean into natural materials, warm tones, and strong indoor-outdoor connection. Clients are moving away from the cool-toned modern aesthetic that dominated the 2010s toward something warmer, more organic, and more specific to the desert setting.

How much does a luxury home renovation cost in Scottsdale in 2026?

Full-service luxury interior design and design-build projects in Scottsdale typically range from $350,000 to $1 million across design fees, construction, and furnishings. Design fees alone typically range from $21,000 to $53,000 depending on scope. Living with Lolo manages the full process -- design, construction, procurement, and installation -- under one contract as a licensed Arizona General Contractor (ROC #347577).

Who is the best interior designer in Scottsdale?

Lauren Lerner of Living with Lolo has been named Best Interior Design by Phoenix Magazine three consecutive years: 2024, 2025, and 2026. The firm is also a licensed Arizona General Contractor (ROC #347577), making it one of the only luxury design firms in the Scottsdale market that manages both design and construction under one roof.

Lauren Lerner

livingwithlolo.com/

What Is a Micro-Makeover? The Interior Design Strategy That Actually Works

by Lauren Lerner | Jun 1, 2026 | Interior Design Tips, Modern Interior Design Ideas, Uncategorized

4 min readJune 2026

June 1, 20265 min read

When House Beautiful reached out about a story on micro-makeovers, I knew the concept was going to land. It comes up constantly with my clients: people who love their home on some level but feel like something is off, and they want a change that does not require six figures or a construction crew.A micro-makeover is a focused, intentional refresh of a space without a full renovation. Same bones. Same square footage. But with the right changes, the room feels entirely different.I was quoted in the piece alongside client Alyssa Rotunno, whose bedroom transformation is a perfect example of what this actually looks like. No new floors. No moved walls. Just deliberate edits that completely shifted how the room felt.

What Goes Into a Micro-Makeover?

Every room is different, but the highest-impact changes tend to fall into a few categories.

Lighting

This is almost always the single fastest way to elevate a space. Swapping a builder-grade ceiling fixture for something intentional, like a sculptural pendant or a pair of wall sconces flanking the bed, changes the entire atmosphere of a room. Most people underestimate how much bad lighting is quietly working against their space.

Textiles

Pillows, throws, window treatments, a new area rug. These add warmth, color, and texture without any permanence. They are also the easiest things to refresh as your taste evolves. If a room feels flat or cold, textiles are usually the fastest fix.

Furniture Arrangement

Most rooms are arranged incorrectly. The default setup, with everything pushed against the walls, rarely creates the best flow or conversation. A thoughtful rearrangement can make a room feel twice as large without buying a single new thing.

One New Anchor Piece

Sometimes all a room needs is one piece that pulls the whole story together. A new bed frame. A statement chair. A properly scaled side table that finally makes the lamp stop looking like it belongs somewhere else. One well-chosen piece can do more than a dozen small ones.

Art and Accessories

This is where personality lives. Edited, intentional, and layered rather than a collection of things accumulated over the years that have never been reconsidered. A micro-makeover is often an opportunity to clear out what is not working and be intentional about what stays.

Why Micro-Makeovers Work

The honest truth is that most people do not need a renovation. They need a designer to look at the space with fresh eyes and identify what is working, what is not, and what one or two changes would move the needle most.The bedroom featured in the House Beautiful story had good proportions and a strong fireplace focal point. It just needed a refined color story, updated textiles, and better lighting to read like the room it always had the potential to be. The bones were there the whole time.

Is a Micro-Makeover Right for You?

If any of these sound familiar, the answer is probably yes:

Your room feels fine but not special.
You moved in and never fully made it yours.
You renovated years ago and the space has not kept up with your taste.
You spend money on decor but the room still does not feel cohesive.

A micro-makeover is not about buying more things. It is about buying the right things, placed intentionally, in a space that has been thought through from ceiling to floor.If you are ready to stop feeling like something is off and start loving the rooms you actually live in, I would love to talk.

Ready to Transform Your Space?

A micro-makeover starts with a conversation. Let's talk about your home and figure out exactly what it needs. Book a Discovery Call

Lauren Lerner

Principal Designer, Living with LoloLauren Lerner is an award-winning interior designer based in Scottsdale, Arizona, serving clients across the Phoenix metro and beyond. Named Phoenix Magazine Best Interior Designer 2024, 2025, and 2026. As seen in House Beautiful, Architectural Digest, and more.

Lauren Lerner

livingwithlolo.com/

Design-Build vs. Hiring a Designer and Contractor Separately: What Scottsdale Homeowners Should Know

by Lauren Lerner | May 30, 2026 | Interior Design Tips, Scottsdale Interior Design Projects, Uncategorized

7 min read
May 2026

When most Scottsdale homeowners begin planning a renovation or new build, they assume the process works in two distinct phases: hire an interior designer to create the vision, then hire a general contractor to build it. Two professionals. Two contracts. Two separate conversations that never quite overlap.This is still how most projects in Scottsdale are run. It is also why so many of them go over budget, miss their timelines, or deliver results that look nothing like the original design boards.At Living With Lolo, we operate as a licensed general contractor (ROC #347577) and interior designer under one roof. This post explains what that actually means for your project, and why it matters more than most homeowners realize before they sign their first contract.

How the Traditional Model Works and Where It Breaks Down

The traditional approach goes like this: you hire an interior designer to develop a concept, select finishes, and produce design drawings. Once the design is approved, you bring in a general contractor to execute it. The contractor reviews the drawings, prices the work, and manages the trades.In theory, this works. In practice, the handoff between designer and contractor is where projects unravel.The contractor has never been in the room for the design conversations. They are reading drawings cold, often weeks or months after those drawings were finalized. When they encounter a detail that does not work structurally, is not achievable on the budget, or requires a trade they do not have a relationship with, they flag it, and the project stalls while the designer and contractor negotiate.Multiply that by 40 or 50 details across a full renovation, and you begin to understand why timelines slip and budgets inflate.

What Design-Build Actually Means

A design-build firm manages both the design and the construction under a single contract, with a single point of contact. The designer and the contractor are the same entity, or at minimum, they work together from the first site visit through the final installation.This changes the entire project dynamic. When we develop a design concept at Living With Lolo, we already know what it will cost to build, which trades are available, what the lead times look like, and whether the structural requirements are achievable within the project scope. There is no handoff because there is no gap between design intent and construction reality.Our seven-step process reflects this integration, from the initial 15-minute discovery call through procurement, permitted construction, and final installation. At every stage, the design team and the construction team are operating from the same information, with the same timeline, under the same contract.

The Real Difference for Scottsdale Homeowners

Budget Accuracy

When your designer and contractor are separate, budget estimates come in at two different points: the designer estimates before the contractor has priced it, and the contractor prices it after the design is complete. The gap between those two numbers is often where projects get into trouble.With a design-build model, pricing happens alongside design. We know what materials cost, what trades charge, and what the market looks like in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley because we are active in it continuously. Our estimates are based on current conditions, not assumptions.

Timeline Reliability

The traditional model adds weeks to every decision point because two teams need to communicate, review, and agree. A tile selection that takes two days to approve with a single integrated team can take two weeks when it needs to travel between a designer, a contractor, and a homeowner waiting on both.Full-home renovations in Scottsdale typically complete in 5-6 months with an integrated team. The same scope with separate designer and contractor relationships often runs 8-12 months, not because the work takes longer, but because the coordination takes longer.

Design Integrity

When a contractor builds from drawings they received after the design was finalized, they make field decisions without the designer present. Those decisions compound. By the time the project is done, what was built can look meaningfully different from what was designed.When design and construction are integrated, the designer is active through construction, not just during the design phase. We are in the field. We are making field decisions. And those decisions honor the original design intent because we made it.

When You Might Still Use a Standalone Designer

A standalone designer makes sense when you have an existing, trusted general contractor, your project does not involve permitted construction or structural changes, and you are doing a furnishing-only scope where no trades are involved.For those projects, the coordination risk is lower and a design-build firm may be more than you need. We offer furnishing-only services ourselves for exactly this reason.But for full renovations, permitted work, new construction interiors, or any project where design decisions will affect structure, the integrated model is not a luxury. It is the logical choice.

What to Ask Before You Hire Anyone

Whether you work with us or with another firm, here are the questions that will tell you the most about how a project will actually run:

Are you licensed as a general contractor in Arizona, or will I need to hire a separate GC?
At what point in the project does the contractor see the design drawings?
Who is my single point of contact through construction?
How do you handle field decisions that deviate from the design?
What does your procurement process look like, and who manages vendor communication?

How Living With Lolo Approaches This

We hold Arizona General Contractor License ROC #347577. Every project we take on, from a single-room renovation in Paradise Valley to a full design-build estate in Silverleaf, is managed under one contract, with Lauren and the team active through every phase.We are selective about the projects we take. We work with a limited number of clients each year specifically because we do not hand projects off. We see them through. That requires capacity, not volume.If you are planning a renovation or build in Scottsdale or Paradise Valley and want to understand what this looks like for your specific project, the first step is a 15-minute discovery call. We review every inquiry personally and respond within 48 hours. Book your discovery call here.

Lauren Lerner

livingwithlolo.com/

Glass Front Doors: A Designer’s Honest Take on When They Work and When They Don’t

by Lauren Lerner | May 27, 2026 | Interior Design Tips, Modern Interior Design Ideas, Uncategorized

5 min read
May 2026

I will be honest with you: I still specify glass front doors for clients. I have installed them, I have loved the way they look, and in the right home they make a real statement. But I have also lived with one myself, and that experience changed how I think about them. Not because they are always wrong, but because context matters enormously, and most people do not think through the full picture before they fall in love with the look.When House Beautiful asked me about design decisions I have reconsidered, my glass front door came up immediately. My own home had a front entry that sat very close to the street. We have two dogs. And a glass front door, it turned out, meant they had a full view of every person, dog, and squirrel that walked by all day long. The barking was constant. That is my specific situation, and it is not yours. But it is a useful lens for thinking through whether a glass front door actually fits the way you live.

When Your Entry Is Close to the Street, a Glass Door Changes Everything

My house is the clearest example I have. The front door is set close to the street, with no long driveway, no courtyard, no buffer between the sidewalk and the entry. A glass front door in that situation means you are essentially living in a fishbowl. Everyone walking by can see directly into your entry hall. Delivery drivers can see whether anyone is home. And if you have dogs who pick up on movement outside, you are setting yourself up for a very noisy house.Our two dogs made the problem impossible to ignore. The moment anyone walked within twenty feet of the front door, they could see movement through the glass and they responded accordingly. It was not the door's fault, exactly. It was the combination of the door and how our house sits on the lot. A different house would have been a different experience entirely.This is the first question I now ask clients when they bring up glass front doors: how close is your entry to the street, and how is it oriented? If the answer is that the entry sits far back, angled away from foot traffic, or protected by a courtyard or deep porch, a glass front door can be beautiful and completely livable. If the entry faces directly onto a busy sidewalk, think hard before you commit.

Privacy Considerations Really Do Depend on Your Specific Home

The privacy issue is not universal. I have clients in gated communities where the front entry is a long drive from any public street, or where the door faces a private motor court. In those situations, a glass front door gives you a beautiful, light-filled entry with very little real-world privacy impact. Nobody is walking past that door at any point in the day.In a more urban or close-to-street setting, it is a different calculation. Even frosted or reeded glass gives away more than people expect. Light and movement read through it. The sense that someone can see in, even if they cannot see clearly, creates a different feeling in the home than a solid door does.Frosted glass, privacy film, and textured panels all help. But they also change the look, and you are still starting from a position of less privacy and adding back some of it, rather than starting from a position of full privacy and choosing when to let light in. My advice has always been to design for how you actually live, not for how the door looks in a listing photo.

"The right door for your home depends entirely on how your house sits on the lot. Context always beats trends." Lauren Lerner, Living with Lolo

Heat and Energy Are Genuine Concerns in Arizona

In a climate like ours, a glass front door is a direct line for solar heat gain. West and south-facing entries in particular can become uncomfortably warm in the afternoon, and the heat transfers directly into your entry hall. Even high-performance glazing has limitations when the sun is bearing down on it for six or more hours a day.Beyond comfort, there is the energy cost. Your HVAC system works harder to compensate for the heat load that comes through that glass. Over the years of owning a home, that adds up in real dollars on real utility bills. I have had clients retrofit their entries after a single summer because the heat was genuinely unbearable standing at the door.If natural light in the entry is important to you, and it often is, there are smarter ways to get it. I will cover those at the end of this post.

The Maintenance Reality Nobody Talks About

Glass front doors show everything. Fingerprints from every person who has touched the door. Smudges from pets and children. Dust and pollen that settles on the exterior glass, which is especially persistent in a dusty climate like ours in Arizona. Keeping a glass front door looking clean requires consistent effort, and the entry is one of the first things guests see when they arrive.This sounds like a minor thing, but over years of ownership it adds up. I have seen clients grow genuinely resentful of a door they once loved simply because of the upkeep. A solid door, by contrast, is forgiving. A well-chosen paint color or stain holds up beautifully and requires far less attention to look good day to day.If you love the look of glass in your entry, I would much rather see you invest in beautiful hardware on a solid door and get your light through other means.

When a Glass Front Door Actually Works Well

Here is the part people do not expect me to say: I think glass front doors can be a genuinely great choice. In the right home, with the right site conditions, they deliver something a solid door simply cannot.If your entry is set well back from the street, if you have a long approach, a gated drive, a courtyard, or a deep covered porch, the privacy concern essentially disappears. You get the natural light, the visual connection to the exterior, and the drama of an entry that feels open and welcoming. In a home where the front door is not visible from a public sidewalk, a glass door is not a fishbowl. It is just beautiful design.Similarly, if your home faces north or northeast and is protected from the worst of the afternoon sun, the heat gain concern is much less significant. High-performance glazing in a well-oriented entry can actually be a smart choice that brings light without the energy penalty.No dogs that react to street movement also helps significantly, as my own house made very clear.

A solid entry door with thoughtful interior design creates an arrival moment that is just as dramatic as any glass door. Living with Lolo project, Scottsdale, AZ.

Alternatives Worth Considering

The good news is that there are beautiful alternatives that give you the light, the drama, and the curb appeal you want without the tradeoffs, regardless of your site conditions.Sidelights are my first suggestion. Flanking your door with narrow glass panels on one or both sides gives you natural light in the entry without compromising the door itself. You get the bright, welcoming look of a glass entry with a solid door at the center. The sidelights can be frosted, reeded, or textured so you get light diffusion without visibility from the street.Transom windows above the door are another excellent option. They let in daylight at a high angle, which means less direct heat gain and virtually no privacy concerns. Combined with a striking solid door, a well-designed transom can give your entry more presence than most glass doors achieve.Finally, do not underestimate what a bold paint color, exceptional hardware, or architectural detailing can do for a solid door. Some of the most memorable front entries I have designed have no glass at all. The best entries create a sense of arrival through proportion, material, and detail, not transparency. If you are working with us on a full-service interior design project in the Phoenix area, your entry is always a conversation we have early in the process.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are glass front doors a good idea?

It depends on your home's site conditions. If your front entry sits well back from the street, faces away from foot traffic, or is protected by a courtyard or covered porch, a glass front door can be a beautiful and practical choice. If your entry is close to a public sidewalk and you have dogs or value privacy, a solid door with sidelights or transom windows often works better.

What are the pros and cons of a glass front door?

Pros include natural light in the entry, strong curb appeal, and a welcoming, open feel. Cons include reduced privacy if the entry faces a public sidewalk, increased heat gain in hot climates, higher maintenance due to fingerprints and smudging, and potential security vulnerability. Whether the pros outweigh the cons depends heavily on your specific home and site.

What is a good alternative to a glass front door?

The best alternatives are sidelights (narrow glass panels flanking a solid door), transom windows above the door, or a beautifully finished solid door with exceptional hardware and architectural detailing. Sidelights and transoms deliver natural light and visual openness in the entry while keeping the door itself solid for privacy and security.

Do glass front doors make a home hotter in Arizona?

They can, particularly on west or south-facing entries. The sun's direct exposure through glass transfers heat into the entry and forces the HVAC system to work harder. North or northeast-facing entries with high-performance glazing are much less affected. Homeowners in Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, and the greater Phoenix area should consider their entry's orientation carefully before choosing a glass front door.

Ready to Design an Entry That Works for How You Live?

Lauren Lerner and the Living with Lolo team work with clients across Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Arcadia, and the greater Phoenix metro area. Book a Discovery Call

Lauren Lerner

livingwithlolo.com/

Stunning Desert Modern Home Tour: Interior Designer Lauren Lerner’s Scottsdale Oasis

by Lauren Lerner | Aug 20, 2025 | Interior Design Project Reveal, Modern Interior Design Ideas, Scottsdale Interior Design Projects, Uncategorized

3 min readAugust 2025

Desert modern is one of those design styles that looks simple from the outside and turns out to be one of the most technically demanding aesthetics to execute well. The restraint required is real. Every material, every finish, every piece of furniture has to earn its place, because in a space defined by warm neutrals and natural texture, there is nowhere to hide a bad decision. This home tour is a walk through one of the projects I am most proud of, not because it is the largest we have done, but because every element is exactly where it should be.

The home sits in North Scottsdale, positioned to capture views of the desert preserve to the east and the McDowell Mountains to the north. The architecture was already strong when we came on board. Our job was to build an interior that responded to the Sonoran Desert landscape rather than competing with it. That orientation guided every decision from the flooring to the furniture scale to the window treatment approach. Scottsdale's particular quality of light, the way it moves from warm morning gold to a flatter afternoon diffusion, is not something most out-of-market designers plan around. We do.

The Foundation: Material Palette and Why It Matters

We started, as we always do, with the material palette. Desert modern lives or dies on this decision. The palette here was built on three anchors: a warm limestone-look large-format porcelain for the floors, a riven natural stone for the kitchen island and primary bath, and whitewashed white oak for the cabinetry and custom millwork. Everything else, the soft goods, the lighting, the hardware, was selected to support those three elements rather than introduce new visual variables.

The porcelain runs continuously from the entry through the main living areas and into the primary suite, with only a threshold shift to mark the bedroom boundary. That continuity does a lot of work spatially. It keeps the eye moving and makes the square footage read larger than it is. More importantly, it responds to how the Arizona light moves through the house across the day. In the morning, the eastern exposure warms the stone tones. By afternoon, the diffused western light flattens everything into something quieter. Both readings are beautiful, and they were both considered during selection.

The white oak cabinetry was milled with a tight linear grain and finished in a wire-brushed whitewash that gives it texture without heaviness. I specified it flat-front with integrated hardware pulls, which keeps the surface clean and lets the material speak for itself. This is the kind of detail that separates a well-executed desert modern kitchen in Scottsdale from one that reads as a generic contemporary renovation.

Furniture Scale and the Desert Modern Living Room

One of the most common mistakes I see in attempts at this style is furniture that is either too small for the architecture or too busy in its forms. Desert modern architecture in the Scottsdale and Paradise Valley area tends toward generous ceiling heights and open volumes. Furniture needs to be proportional to that scale. In this living room, we worked with a large sectional in a bouclé fabric the color of dried desert grass, anchored by a custom concrete-top coffee table and flanked by two linen-upholstered accent chairs.

The sectional is large enough to fill the room without crowding it. The concrete table has weight and permanence without visual heaviness. The chairs introduce a secondary texture that plays against the bouclé. None of it is precious or fragile, which matters in a home that is actually lived in. Desert modern in Arizona should feel grounded and comfortable, not like a furniture showroom.

Lighting in this space is a combination of a custom woven pendant over the dining table, recessed lighting on a dimmer system, and a series of sculptural ceramic table lamps. The woven pendant is the one piece with real visual presence. Everything else stays quiet. That hierarchy is intentional. In a room with strong natural light and strong views across the Scottsdale desert, you do not want the artificial lighting competing for attention.

The Primary Suite: Where the Style Lands Best

The primary suite is where this aesthetic has its fullest expression. The bedroom has floor-to-ceiling windows on two walls, which means the North Scottsdale desert preserve is always present. The material palette carries through from the main living areas, with the same oak millwork on a custom built-in wardrobe wall and the same stone on the fireplace surround. The bed is a low-profile platform design in natural linen with a solid headboard, no tufting, no nailheads, just form and fabric.

The primary bath is a full gut renovation. We opened the shower to curbless entry, installed a floating double vanity in the same wire-brushed oak, and used a book-matched slab of natural travertine on the shower walls and floor. Travertine is a material that performs particularly well in the Arizona climate: it handles temperature variation, reads warm under the desert light, and gets better looking with age. The result reads completely differently from the sleek surfaces you find in a conventional luxury bath, and that difference is the point. If you are thinking through a similar renovation in Scottsdale or Paradise Valley, our guide on what to expect during a Scottsdale remodel walks through the full process in detail.

What This Project Demonstrates About Desert Modern Done Right

The homes I see that attempt desert modern and fall short tend to share a few characteristics. The material palette is too varied. The furniture scale is inconsistent. The connection to the Sonoran Desert landscape is an afterthought rather than the organizing principle. Getting the style right in a Scottsdale home requires making those decisions in sequence and holding them consistently across every room.

This project worked because the architecture gave us a strong starting point and the clients were aligned on the vision from the first conversation. They understood that restraint was the point, that the home would get its richness from material quality and spatial clarity rather than from layering in more elements. That alignment made every decision easier and the result more coherent.

If you are interested in what this kind of project involves from a design and construction standpoint, our services page outlines how we approach full-scope residential projects in Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, and the broader Phoenix metro. And if budget is part of your planning process, our 2026 remodel cost guide gives a realistic picture of what luxury-tier work in the Scottsdale market requires. I am happy to talk through any of it directly. Reach out here to start a conversation.

The Foundation: Material Palette and Why It Matters

The porcelain runs continuously from the entry through the main living areas and into the primary suite, with only a threshold shift to mark the bedroom boundary. That continuity does a lot of work spatially. It keeps the eye moving and makes the square footage read larger than it is. More importantly, it responds to how the light moves through the house across the day. In the morning, the eastern exposure warms the stone tones. By afternoon, the diffused western light flattens everything into something quieter. Both readings are beautiful, and they were both considered during selection.

The white oak cabinetry was milled with a tight linear grain and finished in a wire-brushed whitewash that gives it texture without heaviness. I specified it flat-front with integrated hardware pulls, which keeps the surface clean and lets the material speak for itself. This is the kind of detail that separates a well-executed desert modern kitchen from one that reads as a generic contemporary renovation.

Furniture Scale and the Desert Modern Living Room

One of the most common mistakes I see in attempts at this style is furniture that is either too small for the architecture or too busy in its forms. Desert modern architecture tends toward generous ceiling heights and open volumes. Furniture needs to be proportional to that scale. In this living room, we worked with a large sectional in a bouclé fabric the color of dried desert grass, anchored by a custom concrete-top coffee table and flanked by two linen-upholstered accent chairs.

The sectional is large enough to fill the room without crowding it. The concrete table has weight and permanence without visual heaviness. The chairs introduce a secondary texture that plays against the bouclé. None of it is precious or fragile, which matters in a home that is actually lived in. Desert modern should feel grounded and comfortable, not like a furniture showroom.

Lighting in this space is a combination of a custom woven pendant over the dining table, recessed lighting on a dimmer system, and a series of sculptural ceramic table lamps. The woven pendant is the one piece with real visual presence. Everything else stays quiet. That hierarchy is intentional. In a room with strong natural light and strong views, you do not want the artificial lighting competing for attention.

The Primary Suite: Where the Style Lands Best

The primary suite is where this aesthetic has its fullest expression. The bedroom has floor-to-ceiling windows on two walls, which means the desert is always present. The material palette carries through from the main living areas, with the same oak millwork on a custom built-in wardrobe wall and the same stone on the fireplace surround. The bed is a low-profile platform design in natural linen with a solid headboard, no tufting, no nailheads, just form and fabric.

The primary bath is a full gut renovation. We opened the shower to curbless entry, installed a floating double vanity in the same wire-brushed oak, and used a book-matched slab of natural travertine on the shower walls and floor. The travertine is warm and imperfect in the way that only natural stone can be. It reads completely differently from the sleek surfaces you find in a conventional luxury bath, and that difference is the point. If you are thinking through a similar renovation, our guide on what to expect during a Scottsdale remodel walks through the full process in detail.

What This Project Demonstrates About Desert Modern Done Right

The homes I see that attempt desert modern and fall short tend to share a few characteristics. The material palette is too varied. The furniture scale is inconsistent. The connection to the landscape is an afterthought rather than the organizing principle. Getting the style right requires making those decisions in sequence and holding them consistently across every room.

If you are interested in what this kind of project involves from a design and construction standpoint, our services page outlines how we approach full-scope residential projects. And if budget is part of your planning process, our 2026 remodel cost guide gives a realistic picture of what luxury-tier work in the Scottsdale market requires. I am happy to talk through any of it directly. Reach out here to start a conversation.

This project is one of the clearest examples I have of what happens when desert architecture and organic modern design sensibility come together in the right way. Every material choice was driven by how it would interact with the Arizona light and the desert landscape visible from every room. The result is a home that reads differently at 7am than it does at 7pm, which is exactly what this style is capable of when it is done well. — Lauren Lerner

Related Resources

Designing a Scottsdale or Paradise Valley home in the desert modern aesthetic?

This is a style we work in constantly in this market. Let us talk about your project.

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What a primary suite designed as a genuine retreat looks like:

Frequently Asked Questions

What is desert modern interior design?

Desert modern is an aesthetic that combines the warm, natural material palette of the desert — stone, wood, clay, organic textiles — with clean contemporary architecture and minimal ornamentation. It is not the same as mid-century modern, which is more geometric. Desert modern is specifically rooted in the landscape, climate, and light conditions of the Sonoran Desert.

What makes a home feel desert modern vs. generic modern?

The difference is in the material palette and the relationship to the landscape. Desert modern uses warm neutrals rather than cool grays, natural textures rather than polished surfaces, and organic forms rather than hard angles. The design responds to the specific light, heat, and visual character of the desert rather than following a generic contemporary template.

Ready to Transform Your Home?

Lauren Lerner and the Living with Lolo team work with clients across Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Arcadia, and the greater Phoenix metro area.

Book a Discovery Call

Lauren Lerner

Principal Designer, Living with Lolo

Lauren Lerner

livingwithlolo.com/

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