Nafasi by Teri Clar

Teri is incredibly creative, and she was able to channel our aesthetic into a concrete design image. She is particularly talented at personalizing the design into a beautiful end product that is highly functional. Teri was willing to work with me on areas that I needed to improve function, finding options at different price points. Perhaps most importantly, Teri is a pleasure to work with despite a somewhat stressful process of designing a home. Highly recommend!

Teri was so wonderful to work with! After our initial meeting, it was clear that I didn’t entirely know what I was looking for in terms of design for my home, but she asked really targeted questions and had a really well-thought through process to evaluate my style and the type of feeling I wanted to have from the different spaces of my home. The design she presented back following the initial consultation was spot on and within my budget scope. From there on, Teri’s project management skills to implement the design was flawless – from managing the budget, the construction of certain furniture items and sourcing unique products to make the design come alive. She managed everything, so I didn’t have to think about what was going on in the backend and was super communicative throughout the process sharing progress updates, coming back to me with new ideas for the design and flagging any timeline changes. In the end, the project came to completion on time, with everything delivered perfectly. After project completion, Teri went the extra mile to ensure I was comfortable with everything and didn’t need anything tweaked or relooked at. What I enjoyed the most about working with Teri was her energy and passion she brought to the table – it’s clear she loves her job. Bottom-line -- Teri would be my go-to person for my next design project and I would highly recommend her!

Teri did a fantastic job e-designing my living room and master bath renovation. She listened to my vision and then put it into action with ease. Would definitely recommend and look forward to working with her when my next project arises.

Teri was amazing. She took so much time to understand our likes, dislikes and hope for our space. I never thought that my husband and I would be able to find a common ground on design style but she somehow managed to find it. I'd recommend her over and over and would happily myself use her again.

Beautiful job with our basement pub. I can’t tell you how many times people say they feel like they are in a REAL PUB! Everything you chose works so well together, we had a TON of fun virtually working with you and we can’t wait to tell everyone about what a great job you did! The list could go on and on, but the main attractions so far are the wallpaper (never thought I would like wallpaper! Thank you for changing my mind!) the wine fridges, and the stools! We are really happy, thank you again!!

Teri was very professional and had great tips and insights to guide us in our kitchen renovation. The online consultation was just what I needed to gain confidence and move forward in the renovation.

Teri really does a fantastic job of internalizing the client’s design aesthetic while bringing brilliant and truly creative ideas to the table. She is also just genuinely fun to work with and has such a positive attitude. She doesn’t do anything halfway, she goes the extra mile to deliver results. In addition to making our space more beautiful, I feel confident that her work added significant financial value to my house.

Teri was such a pleasure to work with -- she came over and did a really thorough assessment of our tastes, likes and dislikes and pet peeves. She analyzed and determined our style and then gave us creative and solid recommendations for each area of the house. We were really impressed with her recommendations.

Working with Teri was easy and fun! She made the design process very approachable for me and my mom, which is no easy feat as we both have very different styles. But she was able to capture both - and even surprised us with new and different ideas that were perfect and all within our budget. She can take an idea or even feeling and run with it, then bring it back to you with concrete ideas/suggestions on furniture, colors, and decor that make it feel entirely your own. Next time I move, I definitely plan on using her again and highly recommend her, you won't be disappointed!!

Working with Teri was awesome and I'm extremely satisfied with the results. It was actually a lot of fun, and I loved how much she listened to my vision and what I wanted, and then was able to take that and make a cohesive, beautiful design for my kitchen and bathroom. Highly recommended!

We hired Teri to help us develop a vision for our rental house in Kigali, Rwanda. My husband and I struggle to dream big, even though we have strong ideas of things we like and don't like. Meeting with Teri gave us the words to describe what we want and inspiration to make it happen. After we reviewed our space and the areas we most wanted to improve, Teri had us look through a portfolio of photos she curated from our pre-meeting "homework" assignment. She nailed our style, followed up with an action plan, and helped us envision a budget, including the possibility of working with her further. I appreciated her warm demeanor, listening skills, and follow-up after the meeting. We would love to work with her on more projects in the future.

Teri helped me decorate and furnish a new addition and renovation that included a kitchen, Family Room, Dining Room, and Master Bedroom. The final product looks quite nice. However, the premium of turn-key service was not worth the aggravation, nor the costs I was expected to eat. A client relies on a designer to fulfill both stylistic and functional needs. Teri recommended a dining table that looked good in photos, but failed miserably in its basic need to seat 6 comfortably. The legs of the table were oversized so that diners at the ends would need to use the leg cross-bars as footrests, while chairs on the sides would only fit between the immovable legs when the table was fully-extended to 9 ft. Without the leaf in place, the table could only seat 4, with the end chair diners still uncomfortable unless their legs did not touch the floor. The ability to seat 8 for a holiday dinner (as specified) would be a complete failure. My architect even commented at the table's basic failures. When this was brought to Teri's attention, I was told I could return the table, but would have to eat the 20% markup, The hourly design rate had already been charged for selecting the table. I did not request a refund of that cost, only that Nafasi not retain its markup profit for an ill-advised piece. Teri repeatedly refused to acknowledge her error and attempted to justify the markup by saying her hourly rates had increased since I had signed my contract and during its execution...as if honoring her contractual rate was justification. She had also since moved out the country, which left me to conduct the legwork to coordinate any return. I had originally overlooked disappointing professional decisions, such as painting the Master Bedroom raised ceiling in two different tones (which cost me additional paint and labor to fix), Nafasi's delivery acceptance of Living Room chairs with scratched legs (which Teri chalked up as typical shipping and delivery damage, although that is usually why shippers insist on receiver inspection and immediate refusal), and acceptance of a scratched bed frame (tried to brush off as "distressed" and had manufacturer's stain sent to me to fix myself). Given that Nafasi refused to take any measure of professional responsibility for its errors, I would choose a different designer in the future and would recommend others do the same, especially since the principal's relocation outside the US would seem more likely to encourage more poor hands-on service.