John Dalbis, an interior designer for 36 years, showed me pictures of a commercial job from his portfolio and asked me to guess what kind of business it was. Above a fireplace hung a Jackson Pollack-style painting in purples and red; upholstered furniture in warm colors formed a conversation area under skylights; ivory colored columns flanked a series of doors. Neo-classical and contemporary, I guessed it was a financial institution.

“A funeral home,” said Dalbis. “Just because everyone is sad at the death of a loved one, doesn’t mean it has to be gloomy.” Dalbis said when the funeral home held a grand opening, the dean of the mortuary school walked in and said, “To die for.”

Dalbis focuses most of his energy now on residential projects. Ten years ago he became a Wood-Mode dealer and opened Showcase Kitchens and Design in the Fox Valley. “The kitchen is the gathering place in the home,” said Dalbis. “There should be furniture there, not just cabinets on the wall.”

It takes a lot of skill to produce fine cabinetry, said Dalbis, walking around his showroom and educating me on some of the finer points of construction and finishes. Wood-Mode’s latest finish, a beautiful burnished cherry wood called Esquire, requires 32 steps to make.

Wood-Mode also produces a middle of the road line named Brookhaven, which runs about 30 percent less. To make budgets work, Dalbis can use the two product lines together. He showed me a stained maple vanity that looked like cherry wood, but cost substantially less.

Interior design requires not only skill but talent, said Dalbis, who began his working life as an accountant. While he liked accounting courses in college, he didn’t like working in accounting. Laid off in a merger from his next job in sales, his sales manager told him he should be doing something in a creative field. Friends complimented him so often on his ideas for their home decor, Dalbis decided to take some courses in interior design and got in to the business.

“A designer brings all the components together into a thing of beauty. Like a conductor brings out the best in his orchestra. You have to have some raw talent, to love it and live it. We can all play baseball, but we can’t all be Sammy Sosa.”

source news : suburbanchicagonews.com