Dear Melissa:

I want to tell you just how much I have enjoyed working with you over the past few years and look forward to continuing the relationship moving forward. With your patience, the decorating journey will continue on with you. You have brought a refreshing outlook to designing a distinct style and feel for our home. You happen to have a unique talent for understanding what it is we desire for the final outcome of a space and offer various creative avenues to reach the goal, keeping every small detail in mind.

It’s always a pleasure to get emails or photos in the mail from you of a piece that you think may work for a specific place in the house. Most of all I’ve loved partnering with you because of your spirited and honest approach coupled with your efficiency and broad base of experience. It has been so much more than simply picking fabrics and making educated choices for the spaces in our home, it has been an exciting and inspiring process which has led to a home that is remarkably designed yet comfortable, one that we are proud to be in and, thanks to you, for which we have received many compliments.

You are welcome to use us as a reference any time.

Thank you,

Maureen and Thad Palmer
Weston

I lived in my apartment for 18 years, wishing that it was decorated differently. I wanted to move my kitchen to the other side of my apartment, reduce the size, as well as moving and downsizing my laundry room and second bathroom. If you’ve ever lived in an apartment building with vertical plumbing and sprinklers, you know that any architect or contractor would just say; “IMPOSSIBLE!”

Melissa had done a few things for me in my 15th, 16th and 17th years in this apartment. New window treatments, new carpeting, a beautiful wall unit that she designed, and new dining room chairs. I wanted contemporary (my apartment bordered on that but not quite!) so with a few new things, it was looking better.

I was going to retire from my job in 2008 and be at home during the week as well as the weekends, so in 2007 Melissa and I began discussing what to do and how to start making my apartment my dream contemporary home. The wall unit (the entire wall: 20 feet!) could stay, as it included a built in desk, drawers, cabinets and an entertainment system, but the rest of the apartment had to go.

Melissa went above and beyond what I believe most decorators do with their clients. She helped me interview contractors, she found an architect, and she designed another wall unit. I picked a porcelain floor for most of the apartment other than the bedroom and she designed the layout. All of the contractors thought it was crazy and impossible to move the plumbing in a high rise building but she convinced the contractor I chose that it could be done. She found an architect to draw up the final plans after she had designed the space. She also worked with the contractor who had very different ideas on how to get it done.

She also helped me furnish this new space (I got rid of my 20 year old stuff) so the result is my dream; a contemporary, minimalist, whitish apartment. I spend a lot of time at home now that I retired, and I love my home! It’s exactly what I wanted.

I’ve seen some other projects that Melissa’s been involved in and “contemporary” isn’t her only talent. That’s why she’s great; she can design any style but she can read her clients and figure out what they want. In other words, she doesn’t force her style on her client.

Amy

Boston, MA

Working with Melissa Gulley has been one of the most wonderful and rewarding experiences. We started with a completely stark white house, virtually no furniture, definitely no window treatments, and almost no concept of what we liked and what our tastes in decorating were. Because of this, the thought of decorating our house and making it a “home” was daunting and depressing. But, then, a friend of ours suggested we talk to Melissa. We went to a house she was in the process of decorating and we really loved what we saw and this encouraged us to make that first scary phone call. From the very moment Melissa walked in our house for our initial meeting we both fell head over heels in love with her. She was simply great. She laid out a plan, first helping us to learn more about our own tastes and what we wanted our home to look and feel like. Then, she guided us through a process of envisioning our home, helping us with colors, fabric, window treatments (as much as we insisted that our house was different and didn’t need window treatments, Melissa showed us the way to understanding that window treatments are the pivotal part of decorating, now we can’t help but notice the window treatments everywhere we go!), furniture and, most importantly, making our house a home for our family. The results of our work with Melissa are evident – our home is warm and welcoming with the all important beautiful window treatments, simple yet elegant furniture, fantastic colors, rugs and wall treatments that make everything come together, and, most importantly, our home is lived in and very much appreciated.

Melissa is the most energetic and exciting person we have had the pleasure of spending time with. She makes everything relaxed and easy going. She listens to your concerns and cares intently about everything you express. Melissa understands and respects your budget, she is extremely open and forthcoming about costs and comes up with creative ways to work within your budget. She has the most intuitive sense of colors, fabrics and style, mixing and matching things that you never thought could come together and making them look fantastic.

Every single day our entire family loves and appreciates how beautiful and comfortable our home looks. There is never a day that goes by that we don’t think about the gorgeous red carpet on our stairs, our welcoming and comfortable kitchen, our funky dining room, our more formal, yet still homey living room and our very exciting family room. We love it all and attribute every morsel of it to Melissa. We’ve known Melissa for over 7 years and we’ve grown to have a warm and wonderful relationship with her, both professionally and personally. She is a joy to be with, her creativity and decorating ability is just awesome and she is the most honest, trustworthy, reliable, considerate person – the total package!! Come see our house and get a first hand view of what we’re talking about! We feel very lucky to know Melissa – she is certainly our decorating go to girl!!

Margaret and Jason Zorfas

Newton, MA

As Melissa Gulley’s very first client, I like to believe I am responsible for launching her fabulous career. But, it was not my referrals or testimonial which made her a style genius. Melissa Gulley is a great success because she has impeccable taste, an uncanny ability to draw out the personality of each client, relationships with top tradesmen, amazing work ethic and, as simple as it may be, she is a joy to be around. I only kid myself when I take credit for launching Melissa Gulley’s career, because everyone I know who has worked with Melissa, has also referred her to their friends and so on.

Over the past ten years, Melissa Gulley has provided design services for me in two homes, on projects of varied scale and budget. The scope of her services ranged from fully transforming and decorating my master bedroom, baby’s room and living room to assisting in the design specifications of a three story construction project. Through her questions and time spent with me and my husband, Rick, she was able to bring fabrics and ideas which suited our taste, needs and personalities. She worked out the differences between my need to be funky and my husband’s need to be true to his Boston subdued persona.

Throughout the design process, Melissa Gulley helped restore our 1920’s colonial, bringing in millwork, incredible molding and creative space planning. Melissa worked cooperatively with the builder as well as the architect, to develop a functional and beautiful floor plan. Prior to Melissa’s involvement, we did not maximize lighting, built in units, and window/ceiling placement. The hard working, spirited, and beautiful design genius worked her magic with all of the contractors and I am certain each and every one would be willing to also submit a testimonial supporting her incredible value to our large scale construction project.

The icing on the cake with Melissa Gulley is her ability to not only bring together great floor design, furniture, window treatments, and rugs, but as a former stylist, she has an eye for the smallest of detail and will take the time to find items of character and value to each home she decorates. Shopping for knickknacks, coffee table books, crystal, artifacts, even great art seems to be sport for Melissa. Always remaining within a set budget, Melissa has guided me through the purchase of great art from local artists – who show their work through local Open Studios. She also has employed local artists to paint original pieces for my home. My favorite time of year is when she pulls a few incredible finds from the Brimfield Antique Show.

So, as anyone can deduce from my testimonial, I was not responsible for launching Melissa’s design career. Her work, her ability to keep clients over a decade, and the fact that everyone feels comfortable referring her services to their friends and family speak to why Melissa Gulley is a design genius.

Lana

Wellesley, MA