My Space! |
“Everyone’s home should be as unique as the individuals that live in it.”
Marty Cohen
My Space!
“Everyone’s home should be as unique as the individuals that live in it.”
Marty Cohen
My Space!
When you walk through my front door and glance immediately to your right you will see a shiny black piano resting on an oriental carpet surrounded by canary yellow walls. There is a bass guitar, several other guitars and various other instruments poised for action at any given moment like they are all waiting a party. Continuing on your welcome walk through the entrance, you’ll notice paintings, several other interesting pieces of art and living room decor that may be cozy to some and messy to others. There is no TV, the fireplace is center stage for our sitting area in the living room, organized to encourage friendly conversation with friends over wine, coffee or the delicate treats. Music is the cornerstone of every room in our home and our individual personalities come to life in every room even without us being present.
As a busy professional, I am constantly on the go (like many of you reading this article), writing, creating and traveling (and mothering when my daughter was home). Finding a few minutes at home in a quiet comfortable space to curl up and recharge my batteries reading or just relaxing in a hot tub with fresh flowers, candles and a room decorated to resemble a spa retreat room all seemed more like a dream than a real possibility. I loved my home before we decorated but sometimes the space felt cold to me, the white walls disappeared and felt lifeless. There was something missing! I couldn’t tell you what but it just didn’t feel like home, my home and most importantly when people came to visit I wanted something that uniquely defined me, my family and our personalities and most importantly that they instantly felt at home.
The process of designing one’s home interiors is a delicate blend of psychology, visual interpretation of dreams and visual interpretation of each unique personality. I am over the edge about beautiful spaces and find it a very unique person that can turn a white room into an artist canvas delivering master piece after master piece of completed work. Meet a master of this art form, Marty Cohen and learn how to use his strategies for making dreams your own clients dreams come true.
Over the Edge subject of the month…. Marty Cohen, Chief Creative Officer, The M Group Interiors, themgroupinteriors.com
The Art In Personality
I do everything I can to get invited to Marty’s home. I go so far as to invite myself for wine, dinner or a brief visit whether for five minutes or five hours, it’s always a visual treat. The door opens up to a view of the living, dining, kitchen and entrance space, space that yells out THIS IS MARTY, THIS IS WHO HE IS, warm, inviting, friendly, creative, incredibly intelligent. The rooms immediately embrace me, as though I
am on a conveyor belt, walking from one section to the next luring me to touch every textured surface. Comfortable, inviting browns, deep set reds, dark woods, earthy tones, leathers, rich fabrics. And every time I go, new things jet out at me. The brief visits leave me feeling refreshed as though I’ve just left a Montana ski resort sitting by the fireplace for a week just clearing my head.
“Everybody wants to express themselves sharing their uniqueness in some way” Marty says as he scoops up his dog and strokes his ears and pets his head walking me into the kitchen for a drink before we retreat to the living space wine in hand. Marty is a quiet, modest, very cerebral person. If you ran into him at a coffee shop you’d instantly get a sense of style and sophistication about him but might not see instantly his overwhelming ability to be creative, one of the most creative people I know.
He’s also quite modest and unless you dug deeply into his history breaking through his modesty you’d never know he is a graduate of the School of Environmental Design at the University of Colorado where he studied architecture and design and has a Masters in Design Studies (MDesS) from Harvard where during that time he collaborated on residential and commercial projects with noted architects Graham Gund, Moshe Safdie and Larry Yaw just to name a few.
What Women Want
Marty understands what women want! How? Because he asks, he makes it a point to understand our daily needs, to interpret our personalities, to understand our work schedules and daily demands on our time as well as to reflect on the mementos most important to us and to learn as much about our passions as possible. “I start by creating a vision for each project.” Marty explains, “then I test the concepts with my clients and am constantly checking in with them to see how they are feeling. “ When a project is completed there is no greater satisfaction for me than to watch the joy on their faces when experiencing each of the rooms for the first time. “There are so many benefits to having a room of your dreams or a house of your dreams and there are so many ways to achieve the perfect space without paying a fortune.” Marty continues, “not all projects have unlimited budgets, in fact quite the opposite is often the case. I love turning a small budget into big exciting and creative outcomes and dreams come true!”
My Space
I had my bedroom decorated more than seven years ago and the moment I first stepped in, the room took my breath away. It took me a few minutes to realize I was still in my home. Our bedroom was completely transformed into a private resort get-away and even seven years later still shields me from the outside world as my get-away quite spot where I can lounge, read and gaze out the windows at the trees in our back yard while reading and relaxing in a white down-filled cushioned chaise lounge. The pressures of the day to day grind melt away when I enter and whether I crash from a flight not getting in till 3am or on a rainy Saturday I enjoy the coziness and energy the space creates for me the release is the same, very freeing.
I had not known Marty at the time. One of the points Marty makes to me is that women are much more knowledgeable about what they want. They are more educated about design. I must admit that I am much more in tune to what I want and more educated about the whole process that one of my dreams is to do it all over again. I am over the edge about how much your environment influences your life. So based on where you are in your life and in your career designing your surroundings to encourage the outcomes you desire can make a great impact on the success of those outcomes.
In the day of the MYSPACE era, we are constantly redesigning our spaces whether virtual or physical. The hunger for fresh, new and unique is insatiable. One way to feed that hunger is to seek the assistance of a professional, the value of your home and investment along with the value of your life and the value of time are all dramatically increased. But how can we transfer Marty’s methods and passions for his work into professional lessons for our businesses as well. Here are 5 Cross Over lessons you may want to take note of:
5 Cross Over Lessons from Designing Your Space to Designer your Business
- Start with a well defined vision
- Ask what your clients feel they need most, what are their daily challenges in life and in business. You never know where you might find your business linkage to solving a problem for them.
- Deliver fresh ideas and refine these ideas, in other words when you have the best you’ve ever done, improve it and then check in again
- Collaborate with your client, make them feel a participant in designing the solution for their business
- Each client’s personality is unique, each solution is unique and everyone has a desire to have their personalities reflected in their work and their home
- Give your client great AHA and WOW moments that will stay with them for a long time
I am Over the Edge about designing My Space to encourage creativity in my life and I am over the edge about Marty’s ability to interpret what women want and make their dreams of having the perfect home environment come true for them and their families. To learn more about Marty visit his website at http://themgroupinteriors.com or contact him at Toll Free: 888-258-1922 Raleigh Office: 919-806-8600 Charlotte Office: 704-617-4301.
Let me hear from you about what you’re passionate about. Email me any thoughts and ideas for future articles anytime at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it !