Shop Talk | In Depth with Tumalo Home & Design Partner Website

Listen to our Spotify podcast about this article:

ADMIT IT, YOU HAVE AN INQUIRING MIND, AND YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE TEAM DESIGNING YOUR DREAM HOME. WE UNDERSTAND THE INCLINATION. SO WE DECIDED TO BRING YOU SHOP TALK CONVERSATIONS WITH LOCAL BEND PROFESSIONALS.

TUMALO HOME & DESIGN

DAHLI BRANT, INTERIOR DESIGNER,
HOME FURNISHINGS & GALLERY OWNER/CURATOR

Tumalo Home & Design is a hands-on, brick and mortar business bringing beautiful, artful furnishings, both new and antique, to the Bend and Tumalo community. They offer assistance in designing custom made goods, and also provide design services for large and small construction projects.

We offer a wide range of services from a little design advice like paint colors, stone selection, a bath or kitchen remodel, or a few new pieces of furniture to a much larger project, like helping design a house from the ground up, complete with furnishings. We specialize in incorporating simple, comfortable items with handmade or old pieces of cabinetry and hand forged ironwork, soft, woven fabrics to create a warm, textural environment with soul, all with a lasting look that is current and classic at the same time. Each project is unique and personal because we work closely with the client to identify what they respond to visually, and make their home function with ease for their family and lifestyle.

I attended UCLA and initially majored in English because I love literature and writing, but switched to environmental arts and art history, the recommended path for a career in architecture and design. My art history classes inspired me to be involved in a career that includes architecture, art, gardens, and because the professor incorporated interiors in the subject matter, that sealed the deal I knew I wanted to be a designer. Since then, I have developed a passion for contemporary art with color and energy, very old antiques for soul, and fresh flowers and trees for bringing nature indoors.

I am inspired by architects and designers who transform an old historical home or church or barn into a wonderful living space that is current and modern, yet also leaves telltale elements of what was there before…my shop features many inspirational books that I recommend to my clients as they collect ideas and seek direction on their projects. Some of my favorites are The Nature of Home by Jeffery Dungan, Bobby McAlpine’s Poetry of Place, and From the Land, featuring the architecture of Backen, Gilliam & Kroger.

I’m currently working on a home I designed for a family almost 20 years ago. We built it from the ground up, using high end materials and cabinetry. We wanted it to reflect a Mediterranean Tuscan style, but they now want to completely change the feeling to be more light, bright, comfortable, and simple more casual overall. I love the house and the clients, and already know what it should look like we are in the beginning now, but I can’t wait to see it as we turn the dark woods light and change the granite to quartz and lime stone. The glass bowl sinks will be replaced with stone basins and the paint color scheme will feel less like a villa and more like a spa. And of course, the furniture will be revived, replaced, or shuffled around for a fresh look. I can’t wait for it to be finished! It will be a great “before and after” study.

“I truly cannot imagine being in any other field. I’m so lucky to work with artists, architects, builders, and great craftspeople.”

– DAHLI BRANT

The process that I have found works best is to really study the client’s plans and needs, as early on in the project as possible. I like to have some time to meet with the others on the team the architect, the builder, the family members to get everyone’s input and priorities. Then I make suggestions and show them ideas and solidify the plans and design direction. From there, it is a series of progress meetings on the home’s layout, focal points such as ceiling details and fireplaces, window walls, entryways, stairways…then kitchen plans, bath plans, and furniture plans. We strive to have every detail designed before breaking ground…or at least never to hold up the builder! That is forbidden. The furniture and light fixtures must be ready for installation the moment the home is ready for them.

I’ve always loved beautiful things. From fabrics used for coats and leather to staircases in a European hotel or villa, fashion, flowers, art, jewelry…don’t get me started! Design is the best career for people who swoon over anything wonderful…a piece of driftwood or a perfectly smooth river rock, a beautiful door or chandelier, fine linen napkins and hand blown glassware; it’s all about natural beauty, texture, materials, and how they are mixed to create a whole.

That said, I love my alpacas, they never fail to make me smile…they have the sweetest faces and the silliest yet graceful forms all wrapped up in the most amazing, soft, fluffy, and luxurious fiber there is. I try to use a throw or a fabric made from alpaca in my projects…if it makes sense.

I’d love to own a Cy Twombly painting or a Picasso from his blue period.

I love piano and acoustical guitar music, and almost anything from the 60’s and 70’s era. I listen to a lot of James Taylor, Carly Simon, Eric Clapton unplugged, but also Chris Stapleton, among others.

Spring is my favorite season; I love the bright chartreuse green grass and leaves, followed by the flowers. Fall is a close second with the colors and the fire-place weather.

A perfect getaway involves water the beach or a river. Or a city with great museums, restaurants, and shops.

I truly cannot imagine being in any other field. I’m so lucky to work with artists, architects, builders, and great craftspeople. And I’ve been beyond blessed to work with the best clients as part of a team effort and collaboration. It’s the best and never, ever boring.

whj SHOP TALK