2014 has been a year of edits. As my team and I looked over the past to note what we did best at Couture Chateau, it came clearly into focus.
We design rooms to entire estates that are under the ownership of private trusts or families and owners who handle and manage multiple properties as part of their portfolio.
We do so entirely online.
From idea to implementation, from management of installation, coordination of staff, storage, delivery to training of household staff on execution and maintenance of a finished look within a room or entire estate, my fabulous team at Couture Chateau and I had developed a system that worked.
Our guests (old school clients) love the flexibility, the 24/7 access, the follow up and the understanding of how life is really lived in 2014.
They also love the privacy, the lack of assumption in intimate space, our now non-existent travel expenses, the management portal for their private design, the access to trusted advisers et al.
If the world goes down, so be it. The kitchen garden at the estate is still in tact or is at least being constructed. Chef can make something from nothing and our guests are nothing if not resourceful. We both have no doubts of their survival if for some reason the internet vanishes post match. I might be stuck with a warehouse of fabric, our guests will be fine. That said, as long as Jesus tarries, we will be designing, managing, implementing and following up with you online.
This is Ann McDonald, Founder of Couture Chateau LLC. Welcome to our site re-design, mid 2014.
What was a company idea in my youthful heart during the late 1980’s became a reality somewhere between 1989 – 1991. The name has changed, the address has changed, but the commitment to excellence and custom design has not. In 2008 I formally put an LLC at the end of the company name to make some administrative types happy.
Have a read. If you’d like some portfolio information, you’ll need to send your email and let us know you are interested. You can use ann@couturechateau.com. Once you are on our list, we promise not to hound you.
We send out emails to our list once, maybe twice a week if it’s terribly important. You know, like when the linen slipcovers should have been put on but were stained in storage…..that sort of thing.We will also send a tip or video link so you can have someone remove the stains and store them properly next fall. If you need another custom bolt of linen, we can help with that too. The slipcovers? Of course. And yes, always lined with your custom lining. Let us know if the monogram has changed, or if we are going without this time.
We have a private By Invitation Only Monthly Newsletter, Couture Chateau’s “Chat” reserved for our guests (remember, guest is our favored term for clients, it reminds us we are in service and honored to be so). Yes, the Chat arrives old school, by mail. Honestly? This is one of the most delightful things we do. Of course we make it available on line, but really…..one must have some sense of anticipation. If you are sincerely interested in receiving Chat, but not a guest of Couture Chateau, there is a small monthly fee of $100. Email us and let us know. We don’t do monthly subscriptions, it’s by year only. Either that, or become a guest of Couture Chateau. We really are a fun and nice bunch. Ask John.
Couture Chateau’s trusted advisers get to have fun in this platform. Once a month, they banter on about all sorts of useful things like what your seasonal budgeting for drapery for the home in Argentina should cost including shipping, steaming and installation to whether it’s prudent to close up house or retain skeleton staff while away on mission or humanitarian work on or off continent and why. They also discuss events, seminars, associations and gatherings. I mostly oversee. I know when to step back and let the experts have their way. They also chat accessories, like the hand turned wooden plates below. I kept them btw. A guest inquired, I still cannot part.
So you understand, for our guests absolutely NO job is too small. We have designed and constructed custom cat poles. Neither, too big. We have…well, suffice it to say, we design and manufacture custom lining for every project of scale. Our last run was 1,500 yards. We tend to line everything with a custom fingerprint. Interline if possible. We think things just feel better and last longer that way. Our guests do also.
Peruse our intentionally small site. We do care deeply about our guests, serve with the absolute best we can and design spaces that work for those we serve. We understand when a special aunt has to have a beautiful copy of the painting dans le musée in the upper bedroom at the cabin in Wyoming for her stay next summer.
We also understand when a design or decorating budget is set by a board or family trust and we meet it, without fail.
I believe passionately that design matters. That how we live is a reflection of the holiness we ascribe to life and that luxury is not frivolous. Luxury is not defined by money spent, Lord, do we all know that. Luxury begins in the heart. Luxury is an understanding of the beauty of the smile, the thank you aptly spoken, the gentlemen who stands when mother walks in.
May your life be filled with love, understanding and luxury.
Fondly,
Ann McDonald, IIDA, NAPO
