Meet the Portage Interior Designer who is the Most Complete Master Designer to the Affluent.
Steven C. Adamko – The Most Unique Interior Designer, Lighting Designer, and Furniture Designer, and Licensed Residential Builder in Portage, MI … But Wait! … There’s More!
Yup! … There’s a lot more! Like 40 years of experience, knowledge, skills, talent, imagination, insight, wisdom, study, education, and more!
I am also a YouTuber, podcaster, speaker, and author.
Add to that carpenter and furniture builder.
To tell you the truth, there is no one in the whole state of Michigan with my total combined skill set. I am indeed, a very unique interior designer And that’s a fact!
I’m the Only interior designer in the State of Michigan that produces and hosts his own Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, PodBean, PlayerFM, Deezer, Archive.org, Libsyn, and more.
My background is in architecture. I started out by wanting to be a carpenter when I was five years old. Then I wanted to be an architect in high school. Ultimately I went into interior design and studied at Kendall School of Design when it was still a private school with only four disciplines. Those disciplines were Illustration, Advertising, Furniture Design, and Interior Design.
All my interiors integrate with architecture. And in many cases I design all the architectural interior elements.
Architecture and interior design are a hand-in-glove relationship. In my view architecture is the glove, and interior design is the hand. With a masterful interior design, that interior design animates the glove. It’s what architecture is for … to house interiors for people to live in.
In today’s world there’s way too much focus on HDTV, fads, and trends! It seemed like everybody jumps on these bandwagons, and is totally asinine! People have gotten away from the true principles of interior design and architecture that have stood true for centuries.
This state of affairs is definitely driven by media. And most of what you read and hear is total bullshit. That’s right, you heard me right, and I didn’t mumble!
We have a state where interior design is not licensed. And I’m speaking directly to Michigan. Every discipline relative to residential buildings has to be licensed. Builders, contractors, carpenters, electricians, HVAC, architects, landscape architects, all have to be licensed. Accept, interior designers! … This leaves a big huge gaping hole! That’s why anybody can get into interior design and call themselves an interior designer with no background or credentials. How would you like that to be the case in medicine, finance, and insurance?
So many people in the interior design industry seem to insinuate that they are phenomenal, amazing, and awesome just because they have PASSION. Well, let me fill you in, passion without wisdom and knowledge is not good. If you want a real referenced here it is! Proverbs 19: 2-4 … “It is dangerous to have zeal (passion) without knowledge, and the one who acts hastily makes poor choices.”
There are too many masqueraders in this field of interior design and decoration. That’s why the Unique Interior Designer really stands out.
So the bottom line here is that you have to have some wisdom and insight to choose the best interior designer for you. There’s a lot riding on the line! There’s a lot of money in expense that goes into interior design. So many things connect to each other. And if you mess up or make the wrong choices, or your interior designer or decorator makes the wrong choices … Then you have some major Missed Opportunities staring you in the face.
In that case, just remember the old commercial and slap your face while saying “I could’ve had a V8!” Yup, you could have! But you missed your Grand opportunity by picking the wrong designer. You listened to too many of your neighbors, friends, and family who don’t know what real interior designer is all about, to influence your decision. But, let me ask you a question, did your family, friends, and neighbors pay the bill?
The lesson here is … do your own due diligence and research. Ask the right questions. Use your own brain and stop borrowing the brains of others. It’s your house, your life, and your money. So do your own interviewing, and make sure us the right questions, to get the right answers, to get the right results, with the right designer who will give you everything you want and need and more … Far beyond what you can imagine!
In all my work, it’s always about the client. It’s about their needs, wants, and desires coupled with my skills, talents, and abilities.
I Don’t Do My Style! I Do My Expertise! … I Am a Very Unique Interior Designer! You will not find anyone else like me.
Make no mistake about it. You get you get a total comprehensive and holistic design expert like you have never experienced before.
I operate at an extremely high level with unmatched attention to every detail. This applies to all interactions between the architecture and the interiors in order to create a “Symphonic Synergy.” This is a unique trait that contributes to me being a very unique interior designer.
This video is a very particular style with a very particular ambiance. It’s not for everyone, because I don’t design for everyone. I only design for particular individuals and their desires and aspirations. This video will show you all my abilities that you get, no matter what style, look, or ambiance you desire. Check it out Here!
What Does it Take to Qualify as a Fantastically Unique Interior Designer such as Steven C. Adamko
- A Unique Interior Designer is one who can design totally from scratch with just a concept or an idea.
- A Unique Interior Designer is one who is multi-talented and a multi-faceted.
- A Unique Interior Designer is one who not only designs interiors, but designs custom lighting plans, custom furniture, and millwork at the same time, for the same job, thereby creating a holistic and totally orchestrated interior design presentation tailored exclusively for the client.
- A Unique Interior Designer is one who precisely captures the exact look, feel, and ambience that is totally tailored to the client.
- A Unique Interior Designer is one who is not only a top-notch designer, but also a licensed residential builder.
- A Unique Interior Designer is one who can actually “see and feel” the actual finished interiors long before they become an actual reality. This is a God given gift that enables me to describe exactly and precisely what the client will see, feel, and experience in the completed project. This gives great comfort, confidence, and excitement to the client that they have truly selected the right designer … That being Me!
- A Unique Interior Designer has a total command of the interior design project … Like the conductor of a symphony orchestra.
- A Unique Interior Designer is able to use the words that capture the essence of what the client desires, in addition to asking the right questions, to get the right answers, to deliver precisely and accurately the right results for the client.
- A Unique Interior Designer is one who studies all the time.
- A Unique Interior Designer is one who prescribes like a doctor, substantiates like an attorney, hits the target like an expert archer, and checks your vision like an ophthalmologist … Not only what you see with your eyeballs, but what you’ll also see with your mind and imagination.
- A Unique Interior Designer is one who has his own interior design Podcast. Who actually is the host and producer of that Podcast, and at Podcast is called Interior Design Beat … And it’s on all the major Podcast platforms.
- A Unique Interior Designer that has all the qualities listed above, is none other than Steven C. Adamko. There is no other interior designer in the whole State of Michigan that has this level of robust attributes! None! And you can take that to the bank!
If You Have Just a “Look” with Your Interior Design with NO Defined Ambience … Then You Are The Loser!
Women! … If you don’t have a Defined Ambience in your interior design, it’s just like being all dressed up, looking pretty or gorgeous, and going to a fine dinner without putting on your Favorite Perfume! The favorite perfume is just like the Defined Ambience! If you don’t have that, you might as well count yourself naked, even though you’re dressed to the nines!
The thrill is gone and the feeling is gone … and so is all the emotion! You’re like the old ad that said, “Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.”
You Must Have Feeling! You Must Have Emotion!
How many remember a song from the movie Flashdance, sung by Irene Cara? The song was called “What a Feeling!” It was all about, feeling, passion, and emotion. “Take your passion and make it happen! You can have it all! You can really have an all!” (Go ahead. Get on YouTube and listen to the sound track…I’ll wait. Ok. Do you have it now…the Feeling?)
In interior design, it’s very important to have it all. Not just a look, but a look and a feeling. Your environment needs to “take a hold of your heart” and also has to “take your breath away.” That’s why You need a very Unique Interior Designer that can make all that happen!
This feeling in interior design has a name; it’s called Ambience. And Ambience is that intangible aspect of an interior design that captures the mind, the heart, the emotions, and the intellect of both the occupants and the visitors.
But how do we move from just a Look, to a Look with Ambience?! How do you start when you don’t even know where to begin or where you’ll end up? We start with the words! Words are containers for thoughts, ideas, concepts, feelings and emotions. Just think of Hallmark greeting cards. You may buy the card for the picture but it’s really the words inside it that you are after in order to communicate the right feeling and emotions for you as a giver and for the recipient.
As a designer, I can ask a client what they want the room to look like. But I think the most important question is what you want the room to feel like. And most people will say I just want to feel cozy and comfortable. But everyone says that! You want a room that is uniquely yours, right? So we have to ask another question; “what does cozy and comfortable mean to you?”
Now, the challenge comes when you have to describe what you want this room look and feel like, as well as to portray this in a way that exudes clarity, cohesion, and orchestration. How do we do that? With words!
A Unique Interior Designer is a Master of Words! Words that fire up the imagination and the motions!
Words are containers for expressing and articulating thoughts, ideas, and emotions. So what kind of words shall we use to define Ambience? The answer…Adjectives! We’ll use adjectives to define our objective and the adjectives will give the form and substance to the intangible aspect of ambiance. This is spectacularly helpful for people who don’t have the ability to visualize well.
Can you see the necessity of getting beyond just “cozy and comfortable” and the need to go much deeper so that you can have the kind of feeling that is the unique expression of you and not like so many others who have not taken the time to get below the surface issues? Many people will say “I just never thought about it” or “I’ve never thought about it that deeply before”. Bingo! That’s why they have never experienced any ambiance in their home their entire life. Now’s the time to change all of that and get you to experiencing your environment on a much higher level.
OK, so here is a sample of a “mission statement” that will help you stimulate your own mind and to dig deeper into being able to express your true self in your interior. For example, say that a lady wanted a sophisticated living room that showcased, to a degree, her travels and experiences around the world. I would help her come up with some adjectives, as many as possible, to describe the feeling or ambiance she desires. Then we would write a paragraph or “mission statement” to describe the space using the adjectives and descriptive phrases we came up with.
An example would be as follows, with adjectives underlined… “To have a room that is multi-dimensions in textural orchestration with a fine-tuned combination of fabrics such as silks, chenille, leather and other natural fibers and distinctive weaves. Oriental rugs, polished wood floors, a natural stone in honed or textured finish forming a nice contrast with the polished wood floors and textured rugs. Walls would be textured/mottled wall coverings to emulate the rich environmental surroundings of ancient civilizations from around the world. The rich backgrounds would be a perfect foil and enhancement of various objects of art from around the world.”
See, the words have helped facilitate the envisioning of what is the essence and desire of the client. Without a goal or target it is impossible hit the bull’s eye with accuracy on a continual basis, if at all! Without this approach, one cannot hope to accomplish any degree of ambiance and the whole room would stay at the level of “just a look” and the “magic element” would be nonexistent. A Unique Interior Designer, such as myself, facilitates this kind of magic.
This portion of the design process is so critical! Without it, there is a waste of time, money, and energy. Without this step, it is hard to coordinate your resources for maximum return on your investment. Why settle for something less when you can have so much more. As the song says, “you can really have an all!”
Take time to invest in this vital first step, so you won’t be sorry later and wondering “Why isn’t it working?”This is the magic move! It will put you ahead of the rest, right from the very start. There’s a great phrase that I like…“Slow down to speed up.” The one, who fails to plan, plans to fail without knowing it. Tips and tricks without a good foundation plan, which starts with a dream, vision, description, and a plan just won’t work if you desire excellence in your environment.
It does not matter what your budget is, the principles for success are the same. Ambiance is so important regardless of whether your environment is formal or informal. Now is the time to “Make it happen…What a Feeling!” It’s phenomenal when it all comes together in such an orchestrated way. See it and Feel it!
Written by: Steven C. Adamko, The Unique Interior Designer
The Importance of a Master Plan
The importance of a master plan. Well, obviously, your time and money are two of the things that are almost inseparable. And so your time, your money, your resources are able to be allocated properly. Because it doesn’t really matter how much money you have or how little money you have. If somebody says, I’ve got a thousand dollars to spend, that’s a lot of money to spend. And, if somebody says, well I’ve got a hundred thousand dollars, that’s a lot of money for them. And, even if it’s a million dollars, for a multi-millionaire, it’s still a significant amount of money to spend.
So, do we want to just spend the money, or do we really want to invest the money? You invest the money because you want a return on your investment, in more ways than one. That’s why very smart people use a very unique interior designer like me!
Again, back to the emotional, intellectual, the visual and all those aspects; you want a big return on these also. It also helps you to orchestrate all the components, whether you’re working in a room where you have to orchestrate all the different furniture pieces. Or you’re working in a house where you need to transition in different areas and have some relatedness, and all that helps you to accomplish that.
And so, when I talk about the importance of words, we’re talking about intangible things first, because the intangible almost always precedes the tangible. Somebody that has an idea, a concept, and then eventually, “wah la;” we now have a reality. Because it used to just be a dream about going to the moon with rocket ships and all that, and now we seem to almost fly there almost daily.
And then the other thing, it’s important to have it on paper. Because without having it documented, you can’t look at it, you can’t ponder it, you can’t meditate on it. And it’s part of what gets you excited. Is everybody getting something out of this so far, is that expanding your understanding? Because I’ve got to create a foundation first and then you can see some of the other things that can happen when you do this right, because we’re going to get into a bunch of slides here momentarily.
Finally, realize what you’re working with, whether it’s in a house you have right now, whether it’s in a house you plan to build, you’re always working within the context of architecture. So, you have architecture, you have interior design, and they are and should act as a hand and glove scenario.
Written by: Steven C. Adamko, The Unique Interior Designer