Minimalist Portland Apartment Tour with Alivia Fields

MCI recently partnered with Portland-based lifestyle photographer and travel blogger Alivia Fields (@aliviafields) to help design her new PDX apartment: an eco-friendly oasis filled with light, love and avocado toast. Now we’re excited to share the reveal!

@aliviafields

Travel photographer + social influencer + environmental activist. Alivia Fields is passionate about ethical living and sustainability. Learn more about her mission to spread light + love at aliviafields.co and check out her travelogue, Never Going Home.

Minimal and sustainably minded, the space combines earthy hues, natural textiles, and modern elements to create a stylish, down-to-earth atmosphere.

Check out Alivia’s Southeast Portland apartment tour for an inside look!

Read our post on how we blended styles to create a cohesive space for Alivia and her husband Zach.

Mackenzie Collier Featured on Babes Who Hustle

"BABE #312: MACKENZIE COLLIER - Owner, Mackenzie Collier Interiors"

We are excited to share that our one and only Mackenzie Collier was featured on Babes Who Hustle, a global media platform and off-screen community created to connect and empower hardworking women across all industries and professions! Take an inside look at how Mackenzie Collier Interiors was born, and learn a bit more about how our fearless leader made her dreams come to fruition.

We’ve included a sneak peak of the interview below; check out the full article at Babes Who Hustle!

Mackenzie Collier

Eight years ago, Mackenzie graduated from design school during a time when the economy was slow and her options for quality employers was slim-to-none. Unable to find a design firm whose values and aesthetic aligned with hers, she decided to open up her own. Today, Mackenzie Collier Interiors is a full-service residential and commercial interior design studio in the heart of downtown Phoenix, AZ, specializing in sustainable, functional design. As owner and lead designer, Mackenzie employs six hustlin’ babes, and together they provide quality interior design services rooted in transparency—from their process to their pricing and beyond.

Photo By: Agnes Art & Photo

The Hustle:

Tell us about your hustle. I’m the owner and lead interior designer at Mackenzie Collier Interiors, a full-service interior design firm specializing in both commercial and residential projects. I’ve been slowly growing my business for eight years, so I’ve really done every role in my business at some point. Currently, I oversee my business development and design teams every day, while also plotting the future expansion of our newest by-the-room design service called Scheme.

What does your typical workday look like? A typical work day for me starts with 6:00 a.m. coffee, greek yogurt, a kitchen dance party and then a couple hours of quiet meditation and/or scrolling through social media, depending how zen I’m feeling that day. I try to either run or do yoga before work whenever possible. At 10:00 a.m. I head into my office in downtown Phoenix. I work on a block schedule, so each day my morning and afternoon blocks are devoted to a different aspect of my business, like team development, financial planning, marketing initiatives, design meetings, etc. On Mondays I schedule all of my tasks into the appropriate blocks and it has really increased my productivity since I quit trying to multitask. At lunch time, I love checking out all of the restaurants and coffee shops in downtown Phoenix; there are new ones popping up every day.

Photo By: James Stewart

What inspired Mackenzie Collier Interiors? I started Mackenzie Collier Interiors eight years ago, right after I graduated from design school and the economy was slow. I couldn’t find a design firm whose values and visual aesthetic aligned with mine. All the firms had overly serious aesthetics (think, burgundy tassels on very heavy drapes) and made their money through sneaky markups, hiding price tags and withholding information from clients. It just didn’t sit well with me, so I decided to try to freelance while I also worked full time as a nanny for two years. Freelancing slowly and painfully grew into a full-time business, and now I have a team of six women who hustle hard to work on some of the coolest projects on the West Coast. I think we’ve had success because we’re diligent about acting with integrity and providing transparency within our pricing and design process. Because of our highly efficient design process, we can offer quality interior design services at a price point that works well for young families and people whose lives are in transition. This year we’re expanding to Portland, Oregon, and Denver, Colorado, which is a long-time dream of mine.

What have some of your favorite projects looked like? I have really loved working on some of our adaptive reuse projects where we take a crumbling old building that’s nearly condemned and bring it back to life while honoring its character and history. The city of Phoenix has a bad habit of allowing developers to come in and knock down all of our charming old buildings to build high-rise condominiums, so I’m always so excited when we get the call to help bring an older building back to life. We’ve completed some large commercial design projects in the Warehouse District as well as on Roosevelt Row in downtown Phoenix, and I’m very proud of the results. We also love working in the many historic neighborhoods of downtown Phoenix. Architectural charm is hard to come by in the Southwest, so it’s really important to me to help preserve it whenever I get the chance.

Agnes Art & Photo

What does your approach to work-life balance look like? This has always been a huge struggle for me. I’ve been driven and achievement-focused since I was a little girl. For many years, my self-worth was tied up with my productivity and achievements rather than who I was as a person. Looking back now, I can see that life just kept serving up bigger and bigger challenges every year (serious illness, break-ups, financial setbacks) until I had no choice but to stop working 80 hours a week and come to the realization that even when I produce nothing at all, I have so many other intrinsic qualities that deem me worthy of happiness and love. Who knew?! These days, I work from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday (regularly). Having an office outside my home really helps with that. Of course, occasionally I need to play catch-up on the weekend, but overall I prioritize my life outside of work: my adventures, relationships, friendships. I’m able to do that because I finally got over the fear of delegating important tasks to my team.

Career and/or life advice for other babes? If you own a business, work backwards financially. First figure out how much money your ideal lifestyle would cost (don’t forget to add taxes). Dream big. Then, divide it by the number of hours you want to work every year. If that hourly number is too high to be competitive in your industry, with your experience, then either learn to delegate nonessential tasks to someone who can work at a lower rate or go earn the credentials (or hire someone with those credentials) that could launch you to the income level you want. Don’t wait. Go for it. The only difference between people who are “successful” and people who hope to be successful is action. I like to remind myself there are successful people out there who are dumber than me, with worse ideas than me who simply got out of bed one day and went for it. 

Design School Tips From Our Designers in Phoenix Arizona.

Aleah

Senior Interior Designer and Project Manager in our Phoenix Arizona Office

Photo By: Agnes Art & Photo

Hi! I went to The Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University (Go Devils!). ASU’s Interior Design program is consistently ranked one of the top schools in the nation by Design Intelligence. This ranking compelled me to want to work harder, faster and stronger throughout my design school career to ensure that I was living up to my school's reputation. This also gave my professors and peers a similar mentality as we moved through a program that was competitive, engaging and gave us the proper tools and training to go into a professional environment straight out of college.

Let’s say you can go back to when you first started school and give yourself three pieces of advice. What would they be?

1. Don’t procrastinate so you don’t have to pull multiple all-nighters during midterms & finals. Coffee can only go so far haha

2. Sell it with ranch! Presentations to “judges” are so much harder than presentations to actual clients (the client won’t make you cry I promise), but it does build confidence so take advice openly and willingly while still standing strong!

3. It’s difficult now, but all the sleepless nights are totally worth it in the end when you can actually make projects come to life and stand behind your style and expertise!

Maddy

Interior Designer and Marketing Coordinator in our Phoenix Office

Photo By: Agnes Art & Photo

I went to the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. I chose this program because one of their main missions is to help find their students find employment after graduation. They also focused on gaining real world experience while still in school by helping students find internships in the field. Also I wanted a program that had small class sizes to optimize my time with professors.  

Was interior design school what you expected? What was surprising about it? 

Design school was different than I expected. My studio classes really went in depth on the concept of a project and bring them to life in an out of the box way while still creating practical practices and understanding the architecture. My courses really pushed me to understand my concept and embody it in my design. With this, my program also pushed the real world experiences. I participated in four different internships that crossed over many sectors of interior design. Internships paired with more conceptual curriculum I felt made me a well rounded design student. I was surprised at the emphasis on more conceptual thinking but, now I see where it pushes my mind to a different level while designing. I can go to a more creative place and then make it practical. 

Photo By: James Stewart Photography

Yoselin

Senior Interior Designer in our Phoenix Office

Photo By: Agnes Art & Photo

I began my Interior Design journey at Phoenix College where I focused on strengthening my creative skills and technical knowledge. I continued on to the Design program at Northern Arizona University to complete my degree. I chose NAU primarily because of their inclusive and diverse environment which I believe is an outstanding way to help students not only in an academic, but professional way as well. Being the number one university in the state for online courses made it very simple and convenient for me as I had access to the same small class sizes as well as plenty of personal time with my professors. My absolute favorite thing was how the courses involved plenty of field work opportunities and that was one of my priorities during college in order to gain real-life experience and be prepared right after graduation!

What is designing really like and How is it different than decorating? 

 Although decor-pretty pillows and fun furniture- takes a huge part in interior design, there are so many other tasks that are required to become a professional in the field! Learning about the history of design and the distinct styles, the integrity of each space, building codes, Computer-aided drawing (CAD) and so much more is involved and necessary to know in order to become an interior designer! Another important detail to know is you will get to work with a wide range of people including homeowners, contractors, architects, builders and vendors - so my best advice is to build relationships with different professionals in the field. ALSO practice and get more comfortable about speaking with others-interior design is all about the details therefore communication is key in order to build trustworthy relationships with your clients, vendors and colleagues!

Karliegh

Interior Designer in our Phoenix Office

Photo By: Agnes Art & Photo

 I went into the Interior Design program at The Art Institute because I wanted a hands on experience to prepare me for the Interior Design field. Each one of our instructors shared industry experience and education during each course. We were able to learn more about the industry than we could have been taught from a curriculum.

Looking back, now that you’re working in the field, what do you wish you would have learned but didn’t?

At The Art Institute, we never really focused on budget; we always based our designs on the aesthetic and that isn't real life. Working in the field in real life, you have to really pay attention to a client's budget and find a way to make it just as aesthetically pleasing as someone with a higher budget. You also have to know where the best places to shop are for each kind of budget. This is another thing I wish our program would have focused on. Vendor knowledge is very important!

Photo By: Roehner and Ryan

Blending Two Styles Together Seamlessly

Blending two lives together to create a cohesive space can be a challenge. When two people have their own opinions and different styles creating a common design style can be quite a challenge. Luckily, that’s where we shine. Our job is to create a space that equally represents both parties so that each feel that their aesthetic vision and functional needs have been realized. For Alivia and Zach, Portland Oregon-based newlywed clients, finding common ground with the interior design of their home was proving to be quite a challenge until they brought our team on board to help. Alivia’s style is light, airy, and organic (top image) while Zach’s is dark, industrial and moody (bottom image). They hoped we could create a space for them that blended their two individual styles to become one. 

To start we had a look at both Alivia and Zach’s pinterest boards so we could pull some inspiration from their dream spaces.

When we are blending two unique design styles together, we first look for the common elements between each style. For Alivia and Zach, we know that they both care about the environment and hoped to source as sustainably as possible. They also both really love neutrals. You’ll see a lot of earth-inspired hues in both of their Pinterest boards. Alivia leans more toward warm neutrals while Zach enjoys weaving in blues and greens. This actually works really well together and provides a nice framework for the color concept. Both Alivia and Zach also lean toward rich textures that are clearly inspired by nature, so we incorporated woven fabrics and warm woods. Each also has a love for travel and for their hometown of Portland, Oregon, so we were able to weave those ideas into the accessories. So for a couple who couldn’t visualize their design styles coming together, we actually had quite a bit to work with!

We wanted both parties to be represented not only in the color palette for the space but the furnishings and fixtures. We want them to get excited about the teaser for their design and for them to be able to visualize these products in their Portland Oregon apartment. Here’s the teaser for the initial design concept for their space:

Created By: Mackenzie Collier Interiors for our Scheme Service

Old Town Scottsdale Office Space Reveal

Leather Sofa

Photo by Roehner + Ryan

To reveal our latest design, we asked our Senior Interior Designer, Aleah Carr to answer some questions about her design process for this project. Here are her thoughts on the design challenges, inspiration and how to create a “resimercial” space for our client within a church that was built in the 1950’s!

What was the inspiration behind the design?

Inspiration for this space came directly from the state of Arizona. Our Tel-Aviv based client specifically asked for a space that had a residential vibe and felt like home. They wanted to create an environment so nice it would inspire their employees to not only respect the space but, ultimately, get them excited to come to work. We layered a lot of natural materials wood, rattan, and marble then amplified the impact with bold hues and unusual textiles throughout. We also aimed to make a big impact with found objects, vintage mid-century pieces, organic textures and design features created by local artists.

Vintage Sofa

Photo by Roehner + Ryan

What was your favorite space and why?

My favorite space definitely has to be the entry. The rope feature created by the very talented local textile artist, Taylor Crockett, makes such a huge impact before you even get the chance to see the rest of the space. The idea here was to separate the spaces in an unconventional way without obstructing the view. The bold patterns and hues of the rope feature immediately catch your eye and get you excited for what’s to come on the other side. In addition to the rope feature, we created small seating areas within the entry that truly give you a residential vibe which was the exact direction we were heading. I’m dying to have that leather chair in my own home now!

Taylor Creative

Photo by Roehner + Ryan

Leather Chair

Photo by Roehner + Ryan

What was the greatest design challenge?

The biggest challenge at hand was definitely the mixing of commercial and residential design. How do we create a space that has a residential aesthetic without sacrificing the quality and durability necessary for a successful commercial setting? We found a perfect balance between the two by finding some pieces that were commercially rated but had a residential look. We also opted for more durable fabrics like leather and performance velvet rather than going with textiles that wouldn’t stand the test of time. It was definitely difficult to curate, but I think we were successful.

Mural

Photo by Roehner + Ryan

Tete-A-Tete

Photo by Roehner + Ryan

Why did you choose to incorporate vintage pieces into this workspace?

Have you ever seen a piece of furniture and just knew it was the one? Well that’s how I feel about MOST vintage furniture and we were lucky that our client totally agreed. Not only is it a unique way to incorporate sustainability (reduce-reuse-recycle), but the quality of vintage furniture is so much better than that of newer items making it last so much longer so you can share it with the world for a long time. I hold a very special place in my heart for vintage pieces, especially after having learned so much about them in college.

Photo by Roehner + Ryan

What does the term “resimercial“ mean?

Resimercial is a totally new term in the design world. It means to blend two opposite design appoaches— commercial and residential. In my mind, resimercial design is where the two worlds meet to create workspaces that are homey and cozy but still functional and professional. It’s a more casual way to work that also increases productivity and, in the long run, gets people excited to come to work. You do spend more time at work than at home, so why not make it a space that you are thrilled to be in?

Photo by Agnes Art and Photo