Marilyn Looker starts each redesign with a client “wish list.”
“What can they not live without, how will the space be used, what appliances are they dreaming of – we start there,” says Looker, a cabinetry and kitchen designer with Zuern Building Products & Design Center. “Our clients work with one designer closely through the whole process.”
Looker describes one of the most crucial parts of her job as “space planning.” While the aesthetic is important, making sure the kitchen is functional, flows well and that the appliances are well placed takes an expert eye. Using a space-designing software program, Looker and the Zuern team propose a layout for the room. After that, she turns to the design touches – finishes, door styles, color, etc. With five spacious showrooms, she has a wide lineup of styles and finishes to show clients.
“Right now people are leaning toward more simplified design and more contemporary clean lines,” Looker says. “Mixed finishes, combining natural wood with painted cabinets and mixing metal finishes is popular now. But we really encourage people not to just follow trends. It’s more about finding what you love and what fits the home. What’s important is that your home makes you happy.”
DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT
As a kid, Marilyn Looker helped her parents remodel fixer-uppers. She loved the process, but when she started her career, she took a different path – into banking. She and her husband continued the family tradition of rehabbing old homes on the side, and eventually, Looker decided she wanted to get into the industry full time. A fortuitous trip to Zuern in 2010 for new windows led her to discover a job opening. She quickly applied, and she’s worked as a designer there ever since.
