Pandora de Balthazar believes the bedroom is the most important room in the home. “It’s where life starts and ends; it’s where life is created. It’s why you fell in love,” she says.
Even so, as we all know, when it comes to significant design projects, the client’s bedroom is often last on the list. A lamentable state of affairs to be sure, considering we’re learning more and more everyday about how the quality of our sleep has the greatest impact on the quality of our lives.
“The best thing a designer can do for her business, and for her clients, is to reward her clients everyday with her work,” says de Balthazar, a woman who has spent the past 16 years of her life redefining the concept of the modern-day bedroom. Along the way she has captured the attention of both interior designers in the know, and a following of avid collectors who covet her swoon-worthy, sleep-inducing, heirloom-quality bedding and exquisite antique textiles.
Also, as tempting as they may appear, even the most exhausted should resist the urge to fling themselves on one of the fairy-tale beds she will have on display, piled high as they are with premiere down products and luxurious linens. Instead, stay wide awake and pay attention. For Pandora de Balthazar espouses a doctrine that dresses beds from the inside out, one that teaches texture first, rather than thread count. And adopting her philosophy has been known to change designers’ businesses, as well as the lives of their clients.
“The first thing any designer should do is get to know her clients intimately enough to know what really makes them happy, because the client will be grateful for every day you give them a good night’s sleep,” de Balthazar counsels. “Better yet, all of her friends will say, ‘Oh my goodness! How good you look! What have you done? Most people look haggard when they finish a house and you look absolutely fabulous!’ That’s because when you learn how to do a bed from the inside out and deliver it to your clients, you give her the gift of peaceful sleep and the type of rejuvenation that will likely take years off of her face, as well as that of her husband’s! When you help clients discover, perhaps for the first time ever, the restorative power of sleep, how it feels to actually be alert all day and to wake up truly refreshed and renewed in a luxurious haven created especially for them, you create customers for life.”
For de Balthazar, the key to providing that kind of life-changing beauty sleep lays in listening to clients, whether they are designers, end-users or collectors. “I find out what you like to sleep in, what kind of textures you like next to your body, and whether or not your body temperature wakes you in the middle of the night for example,” she says. “I know what distractions wake you and I do everything in my power to eliminate those distractions and surround you with all the luxury and comfort you can handle. Then, every morning when you awaken from long, uninterrupted sleep, you say, ‘Thank you, Pandora.’ ”
And here’s a little nugget of information that in challenging economic times will make everyone sleep more soundly: Fine antique textiles such as the bedding, window treatments, samples, bolts of untouched antique linen, tablecloths and tapestries that Pandora purveys, actually increase in value over time.
“Never under-estimate the value of an antique textile, or several antique textiles, in the overall thought process of a project,” de Balthazar relates, “because antique textiles are less fragile, longer lasting and more economically feasible than anything else you can put your money into as a client.”
That said, while she may be best known for her unparalleled collection of beautiful, one-of-a-kind artworks and the stories behind them, de Balthazar emphasizes that beautiful does not always mean expensive. “Like any designer, I am accustomed to working with budgets,” she sums. “If you say to me, ‘This is all I can spend on this project, but I want the best that I can get for my money, then my job is to find it for you.”
To that end, de Balthazar promises that there will be something for everyone with a penchant for beautiful things and gracious living here in High Point, from the entry-level to the museum quality, as well as her exclusive line of handmade lavender products. Until she arrives, we can only dream.
Blog Post Written By Kimberley Wray.
Photos courtesy of Pandora de Balthazar
Blog Post Written By Kimberley Wray.
Photos courtesy of Pandora de Balthazar
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