Some people have design in their bones. Sue Mac Ridgeway is certainly one of those people! She gets design; it’s her primary language.” -A client A legacy of design When Sue Mac begins work with a client, she brings four generations of insight into what makes a pleasing room, home or environment. Sue Mac was influenced by her great-grandmother, grandmother and mother, each of whom were known as an arbiter of taste and style. As a child she saw her families’ homes in various publishings. Sue Mac learned from a young age about style and placement from her mother. She traveled with her mother to the North Carolina Furniture Market and the Atlanta Merchandise Mart as a buying assistant for her mothers’ home furnishings store, she opened after all the children were grown. It was during those times that Sue Mac discovered her love for interior design. Though at the time she was attending The Fashion Institute of America, Massey Jr. College in Atlanta, Ga. She later switched her studies from Fashion Design to Interior Design. Using a series of questions coupled with visits to their homes, she elicits her client’s tastes. Sue Mac is a respecter of her client’s budgets, often by repurposing furnishings or working in stages on a project when needed. “Many people are afraid to use the services of a decorator or designer, because they think it will be too costly. But in reality, the opposite is true! Using someone with experience can save the client a lot of time, frustration, and money. The experience of a professional can relieve much stress and also save them money by buying at wholesale and adding a percentage of the wholesale price. If the client were to buy at full retail they would see quite a difference! Depending on the client, she will assess their needs and priorities. For example: Some clients want only “originals” and others want the “look” of the original, but are less concerned with the actual “stamp” of origin. Once their style of choice is determined, as well as, their taste in color, fabrics and furnishings, Sue Mac can then, begin to help them achieve their desired look! Most clients have a sense of what they want, they are just unsure as to “how” to accomplish their desired look. It is not unusual to go to a client’s home who has never used a professional decorator or designer in the past and find the house in chaos and several “test” coats of paint on the wall and a mixed scale of furniture. For example a sofa that is too large or small for the room, table, lamps, rugs, etc. in varied scales instead of continuity. Many have given up after struggling for months trying to pick just the right color for their walls and wondering why that piece of furniture or lamp is not looking as nice as it did in the store. They are frustrated and need rescuing! Colors and furniture scale can be very deceiving depending on the lighting, background, room dimension, etc.” All of my clients get a bit of ‘homework as we begin’. Sue Mac asks them to mark images of interiors indicating their tastes in lighting, colors, style, etc. Then she works with them to understand what it is exactly that they want and how they want to surround themselves on a day to day basis. Building on this, she finds out how they want each room to function. From there, we inventory their home, determine what they’d like to keep, replace or re-purpose. Then, we begin to pull fabrics, surface finishes, furnishings, and fixtures