Portfolio | Publications | Design Awards
LuxeSpecs.com by Sherry Hauser Designs is a reference site for construction options that commonly occur during remodeling or building a new home. Some knowledge of the categories listed is necessary by homeowners, contractors and interior designers in order to communicate. Because of Sherry’s wide background in education as well as design, she has an extraordinary ability to communicate with homeowners and professionals alike. Her love of design and her pleasure in the knowledge of products has made the LuxeSpecs site a success.
How did this happen?
The design journey for Sherry Hauser Designs began surrounded by nature in northern Indiana’s Amish country. Green fields, accented with beautiful flower beds, golden bales and handmade quilts. Sassafras roots, mushrooms growing in our own woods along with vegetable gardens, fruit and nut trees made for an organic beginning. Family members created beautiful handwork and a live-in engineering student uncle progressing to design cars for first Studebaker and then Ford Motor Company was early exposure to creative design. Chicago was two hours away – an interesting juxtaposition of influences. Sherry’s leadership roles in high school laid the groundwork for a lifetime of involvement.
Sherry Hauser started as an educator, first in Kokomo, Indiana (after undergraduate and graduate degrees at Ball State University). After her first undergraduate class, she changed her major with the intent to be involved in the interior design business! Moving to Phoenix, with its extended junior college system made the transition to interior design education easy. Sherry started at Paradise Valley High School and then Maricopa County Community Colleges Teaching other teachers the “I’m OK, You’re OK” method of conflict resolution led to an early basis for fair treatment. She taught at two of the junior colleges and attended three more adding courses as the colleges’ design programs developed.
This led to floor display work at a furniture store she used for students’ field trips. Transitioning a commercial building from an open patio entry to an enclosed area with furniture and art for the grand opening was her first major job. Word-of-mouth referrals led to design projects for homes in Paradise Valley, Desert Highlands, Litchfield Park, Desert Mountain, Finistere, Echo Canyon, upper east and west Manhattan, Rancho Palos Verdes Estates, San Francisco, Santa Monica, and many other areas. Model homes for Del Webb and Robb & Stuckey along with American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) showhouses blended new learning experiences with each project.
Community involvement in Litchfield Park where Sherry lived for thirty years was a given. The library was funded by the residents. Many subscription dinners, Phoenix Symphony events, and the Country Fair, all helped with library expenses. West Valley Fine Arts added needed cultural influences and still exists for the enrichment of the West Valley. Sherry is the past president of the Litchfield Park Library Guild and a past board member of West Valley Fine Arts. She also served on the board at Phoenix College after teaching there and completing an AA in Interior Design.
Sherry’s involvement in ASID provided design coursework (yearly CEUs are required), additional leadership training, and showhouse participation opportunities. Sherry has served on many committees including chairing Tour de Noel and is past president of Arizona North chapter. Passing the NCIDQ was a milestone. (This test is used for licensing in states that require it.)
Being involved with ASID events and seeing the quality of design work spurred Sherry on to achieve a high quality of work. One of our greatest creative projects occurred during the ’08 recession as everyone wanted just to continue working. Our details were added to the last re-draw by the structural engineers. The project included: custom lighting, home theater detailing, an orchid growing environment in the atrium, an interior pizza oven, custom beam details in the living room, cabinetry mixing reclaimed wood with new, custom vent covers combined with electric shades, and back-lit onyx wall separating the shower and tub.
Sherry Hauser has won design awards in every category she has entered and has been published in local and national design and lifestyle magazines. Design awards for kitchens (An accomplished cook and hostess can bring that perspective to the design!), an entire home, a singular space office, a billiard room, and even outdoor spaces The local chapter awarded Sherry Designer of Distinction honors based on her involvement with the chapter and community.
After building her first home, remodeling her second, and then doing all the design for her newly built home, architectural detailing and project management became secondary skills. A more complicated design was filtering down to more people. Homeowners continue to be exposed to higher-quality interiors. With this background, LuxeSpecs.com was started as a database of knowledge for Hauser Design clients as well as anyone else who can benefit from the information.
Architects have their favorite vendors and may specify them, but they may not be used unless they specify no substitutions. Contractors that have good reputations use suppliers and subs in accordance with their quality level. It is up to the homeowner to engage an architect and participate in decisions. Contractors are now doing more design-build projects. Involving architects and designers is more time-consuming but the outcome should reflect the additional expense and time.
The popularity of interior design programming on television along with access to product information on the Internet has created entirely new options for homeowners. LuxeSpecs now does more consultations to ensure that the outcome of the project is as interesting and innovative as the homeowner wants. In other cases, the homeowner just wants to control costs by making selections based on pricing. Designers typically have a vision for the space that is more encompassing and that drives their decision-making. That being said, just as with architects, everyone hiring an interior designer needs to look at their website to determine a compatibility between the designer’s work and the homeowner’s vision.
Translating a pleasing look with proportion, scale, and other elements of design from a photo to your home is not always easy. Finding compatibility between pieces of the project may be more important as projects can take years from inception to completion. Some designers have “a look” and others do not. Every design is affected by the knowledge and choices of the group working on a given project.
LuxeSpecs.com gives an introduction to the category with coordinating pictures on Pinterest. The Pinterest boards have grown to over 35,000 viewers/month in the past year!
We are open to your comments or recommendations about the content and products. Our goal is for your space to be the best that it can be aesthetically and functionally with effective use of materials and resources.
Sherry is currently involved with charities benefiting women in transition and their living spaces. She will post for donations to these groups as specific items are needed.
Additional charity work includes Susan G. Komen 60 Mile walks, the Sojourner Center, Habitat for Humanity, Arizona Residential Architects Holiday Fundraisers benefiting the Children First Academy, and Holiday Trees for Phoenix Children’s Hospital. She was on the Architectural Review board of her Biltmore community for three years.
She is currently on Architectural Review for her HOA.
Sherry is married to Douglas Hauser, DVM. Their son and his family live in the area. Her granddaughters are already accomplished in aspects of design!
Enjoy the site!
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