Big Picture

Putting clients first sometimes means making tough business decisions, but doing the right thing paid off for interior designer Lauren Coburn when she advised a North Shore couple with three daughters to slow their roll rather than furnish a house that didn’t meet their long-term needs. “Just wait,” she told them. “The pieces we bring in might not translate to another space.” It wasn’t long before those potential clients became bona fide ones, and this time it wasn’t just about decorating; they also wanted the designer’s help assembling a dream team to build the house they had long envisioned.

After closely scrutinizing several candidates, Coburn recommended architect Charles Cook, owner of Cook Architectural Design Studio. Cook designed a Mediterranean-style abode with a stucco exterior, a clay tile roof, and front and rear arcades. “From the ground up, this is the first Mediterranean-style home that we’ve done,” Cook says, pointing to the prominent arches along the front. For the interior, Cook designed a classic center foyer flanked by the living room on one side and the dining room on the other, with the more private family spaces located in the back. “When you come into the front entry, you can actually see straight through to the backyard,” he points out, noting that you can also look up and see the sky through the cupola over the curvaceous central staircase. “It was crucial to bring daylight into such a large house.”