If Jaime Blomquist has a mantra for her Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based design business, it goes something like this:
Be prepared. Put in the work.
Although Jaime Blomquist Interiors has the word “indoors” in its name, much of her focus has been outside since her business got its start more than 20 years ago.
“One of my bigger projects was a mega-yacht marina, the residential design side of it, and if you live in South Florida, the outside is just as important as the inside,” she says. “Outdoor living is very important about where we design.”
Blomquist says that exterior space is a continuation of the interior space and, if designed well, can serve several purposes, from making the home feel as though it is larger and adding to the space in which the resident can entertain guests, which was especially important during Covid.
“In South Florida, for entertaining, the space is phenomenal,” she says. “Open the sliding glass doors and it is one gigantic living space.”
The biggest challenge is the heat, which means that designers need to plan on having adequate airflow with fans, along with roll-down screens to keep the bugs out during certain months of the year. Being comfortable is critical, because some are moving TVs and other audiovisuals outside, which essentially means they’ve moved the living room outside.
Blomquist says that interior designers deciding to take it outside has increased greatly because of Covid.
“People really couldn’t go anywhere, so they just built an extension onto the house for outside living space, and teenagers wanted to have somewhere to go but the parents still wanted them to be in view,” she says. “It’s a little getaway but you are still there.”
Blomquist says the biggest needs she has from manufacturers are AutoCAD templates so that you can drop products into computerized drawings and get feedback to educate designers on their products.
Manufacturers do well by designers when they take the time to educate the designers — and make them feel that they are part of the design team.
“It makes our lives easier to teach us things,” says Blomquist. “We get some of that feedback that it is not working, or the design details are working, or they won’t work here because there is salt and it will eat anything.
Good designers go the extra mile to learn about outdoor products and materials.
“I have to make the time,” she says. “By us asking them to be proactive, you have to be the same. We go every year to High Point — you have to go there to be on top of your game. You have got to know the latest and the greatest. You go on the internet and yes, I know what that product is, and yes, I know where to get it. We even go to builder shows; that’s where we find more of the product. Anyone can pick furniture, the more you know, the bigger asset you become to the team and to your client.”
Any advice for designers who are only now starting to take on more exterior design?
“Do your homework and be proactive,” she says. “You can sit on the internet all day long, but when the general contractor comes to you and asks ‘How do you build that?’ you have gotta know how to build this stuff. When it is wrong, someone is going to own it and not the client. You have to be the professional with the experience and the knowledge and the willingness to continue your education.
“That’s how I have built this business. You have to put in the work. This is my profession; I am a licensed interior designer and I am a professional. And it’s fun that someone pays me to design.”
