17 Mar Tea with Tara: Meet Design Consultant Jaci

Jaci has focused on kitchen and bath design for over ten years. Her decade in the industry has given her extensive product knowledge and an eye for style. She sees each project as a unique experience with new challenges, which makes her role as a design consultant exciting and rewarding.

Describe your perfect day.

Honestly, right now, it’s just being with my son Tyler. I like being at home with my family and doing laid back things. I don’t want all the hustle and bustle of running around. Quality family time is all that I want right now. Preferably at the beach! But if I’ve got my dog, my son and my husband, I’m good!

Do you have a hobby or passion outside the world of interiors?

Traveling. My husband and I are both very well-traveled. We have our ten year game plan of places to visit. Before I had a family, my hobby was gaming, but that’s kind of taken a step to the side. In fact, I met my husband at a comic book shop, playing a card game called Magic: The Gathering. He’s a great guy. I hit the jackpot!

How does travel near or far influence your lifestyle and/or work?

The places I’ve been, and the things that I’ve seen-especially art, in particular-bring home a new perspective. That perspective changes how you see color combinations and motifs and you can incorporate them in a softer way at home and for clients. In Italy, I got a huge appreciation for stonework. Through visiting the Caribbean, bright colors. We were in Mexico in August, and I now have a newfound love of macrame. We’re expecting our second son but if it was a girl, the baby’s nursery would have been boho themed, off this one piece of art that I brought home with me.

Also, I set up my contacts in my phone by assigning them a photo from my travels. For instance, my best friend is the Guggenheim since we went to a Van Gogh exhibit together and my mom is the Bahamas from our cruise there. My husband is Paris.

Photo by Tomas Eidsvold on Unsplash

If you weren’t designing spaces, what would you be doing?

I would be a veterinarian. I’m probably too squeamish, but I LOVE animals! I grew up with a menagerie. Over the years I had 13 fish tanks, a rabbit, multiple dogs, 23 birds, 2 turtles, hamsters and 3 chinchillas. Once, my dad made a sign for the front door that said ‘Neighborhood Petting Zoo’! Below are two of my childhood dogs, Charlotte (L) and Diana (R).

Can you share a personal goal or hope for the future?

My true goal in life is for my children to have a better life than I do. Every decision I make for the rest of my life will be to better my kids. Family is everything!

We all can’t wait for the world to fully open up again. When that day comes, where would you go, if money and time were no object?

I want to take a month, with Australia being the main destination, but we’ll make it a world tour. At least two countries in either direction is the plan. Japan’s in consideration and somewhere in Europe probably makes sense, too. I really want to go to Thailand and China. And if we’re going to Australia, we’re definitely hitting New Zealand. You only make that trip once, most likely. The locations of where we stop are up in the air, but that’s the idea. We can spend a couple of days in each city, breaking up the flight to Australia. This has been my dream for our ten year wedding anniversary.

Photo by Photoholgic on Unsplash