31 True Tales of Remodeling Gone Wild

If you meet a home design professional at a dinner party, don’t walk away. Stay put and you may hear some of the strangest, most entertaining stories you’ve ever heard. Like the one about an interior designer’s client who secretly fed him marijuana brownies. Or the client who wanted an underground tunnel just to drive his Hummer in. Or the client who wanted two toilets facing each other so he could share everything with his dating partners.

Indeed, in a realm where money (sometimes limitless) and dreams (sometimes surreal) do the tango, the subject matter will inevitably include sex, drugs, food, toilets and much, much more. We asked interior designers, architects, builders and other home professionals to share the strangest client request they’d ever had and, well, you’ve got to hear them to believe them. After all, while it’s true that clients are always right, that doesn’t mean they’re always right in the head.

Excess

As we mentioned, when you mix bottomless wealth with one-of-a-kind dreams, you’re bound to get shocking results.

Megafunctional closet. Interior designer Leo Dowell has many stories of excess, from his time designing spaces for tobacco executives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. “The biggest closet I have designed (seen here) over my 50-some years in the business included two commercial dry cleaner carousels,” he says. “My client’s clothes were organized by seasons of the year. Suits, ties, shirts, shoes, cufflinks, socks. All combinations coordinated by a fashion professional. Guess what? My client was a bachelor.”

Closet collections. Larry Nordseth of Capitol Closet Design has seen his fair share of excess while building closets for the rich and famous in Washington, D.C. “We have requests from people who collect things,” he says. “I have built display cases in our closets for 800 pairs of sunglasses, hundreds of expensive watches and, of course, ladies’ shoes, sometimes in the thousands.”

Carpet bagger. For one client interior designer Patrick J. Baglino, Jr., commissioned handmade wall-to-wall carpeting made of wool, silk and mohair from France that took six months to make and cost $11,000 plus tax and air-freight shipping. All this for just two medium-size bedrooms. “The cost was exceptionally expensive,” he says. “After the gorgeous carpeting was installed, the client called me in tears, explaining that he could see his footprints on the carpet. He insisted that the carpet was defective and instructed me to rip it out and put down exceptionally inexpensive Olefin carpeting instead. The wool and silk carpeting made its way to a Dumpster.”

Hummer tunnel. Jeffrey Knezevich of Amazing Design got a request from a client to build a backyard tunnel big enough for him to drive his Hummer through. “We installed a 160-foot tunnel, complete with fluorescent paint and black lights,” Knezevich says.

Cold tanning. And the word “excessive” had to have come to mind when Henry Norris was asked to design an outdoor deck with air conditioning vents under it to cool his client’s wife while she sunbathed.

Drugs

If you stay in the design biz long enough, someone will eventually request a room to grow marijuana in.

Totally wired. Such was true for Gary Bute of Clear Lighting and Electrical Design. In 1985, in a small town in Nebraska, a client inquired about some dedicated circuit outlets on the ceiling in his basement. “He said his intentions were to grow pot under lights,” Bute says. “I instructed my crew to proceed with the installation. The crew installed four duplex outlets, each on a dedicated 120-volt, 20-amp circuit breaker. We added the cost to his invoice and were paid in full. Never heard from him again.”

Baked goods. Dowell, who we mentioned earlier, had a different experience with cannabis. After working with a client all day, she asked him if he would stay and have a brownie before he hit the road.

“My client was in her 70s, very sophisticated and working on a multimillion-dollar house,” Dowell says. “After a couple of brownies, I looked over and saw my client giving some brownies to her dogs. All of a sudden, my mind told me she had made the brownies out of dog food. ‘She is feeding me dog food,’ I thought. Then I realized I was paranoid. I asked her what was in the brownies, and she replied, ‘The best pot I could find.’ Stuff on TV was hilarious. I was starving. Time was delayed. I drove home two hours away, but it felt like it took three days.”


Surprise

Some requests can render you speechless, or at least leave you either shaking your head or scratching it in wonderment.

Ooh la la. Like the time Gretchen Knoblock of of New Leaf Interiors met one of her favorite clients for the first time. “While she was interviewing me for the job, she told me she had 27 different personalities, and I had to satisfy all of them if I wanted the job, and that the main style she was going for was ‘early French brothel,’” Knoblock says. “The project was great, and she was delightful to work with. We became friends.”

The photo seen here shows Knoblock’s response to her client’s request for early French brothel.

Clothing optional. These days, though, few things surprise Kathy Bradway of Periwinkle Designs. “I’ve been doing this for 30 years,” she says. “There was the time my wallpaper guy completely wallpapered the wrong house. Or when I was greeted at an appointment by a naked octogenarian.”

Close encounters. But imagine the surprise on the face of Brian Wood of Peninsula Design and Remodeling when his client asked him to accompany him to the Playboy mansion to see how they built the waterfall there. “We went there the next day,” Wood says. “Best day ever.”

Hair apparent. One architect, who wishes to remain anonymous, was puzzled when a client asked him to design a specific-size cubby in the closet to fit multiple mannequin heads. He found out that “the heads were to hold four weeks of toupees that he changed every day and then would go back to the first one in line, which was shorter, so people would think he was getting haircuts,” he says.


Art attack. Clients asked designer-builder Michael Menn to incorporate a favorite painting of theirs into his design. The shock came when Menn saw what the painting was. “I was flabbergasted by the fact that the painting was an original Picasso,” he says [seen here].

Sex

What do people in love do in the still of the night? Or heck, on the kitchen counter at noon? Many of the surprising requests that professionals have received center around the topic of sex.

Mirror, mirror. That was the case for Genevieve Flasch of Vincent Flasch Interior Design. Her clients, a young couple, wanted mirrors installed above the bed, shower and bathtub. (Is it hot in here?) “They were very young and very much in love, and were actually groping each other under the table at one of our meetings,” Flasch says. “They both got embarrassed, and the rest of the meeting was agonizing. Ah, young, lusty love.”

Swingers. Mark Downing of CornerStone Homes received a cheekier request. His customer asked him to provide additional backing in the ceiling of their master bedroom. “We of course said yes and asked, ‘How much weight does it need to support?’” Downing says. “He replied, ‘Around 140 pounds, but it could be over 300 pounds.’ Turns out it was a swing he and his wife used for recreation.”

Lights, camera, action. The passion didn’t spare David Marciniak of Revolutionary Gardens either. He was asked to design a rain-curtain water feature between a spa and a pool so his clients could make their “home movies hotter,” he says. “I blush when someone says my name. I must have been scarlet.”

Dance revolution. Interior designer Anthony Michael recalled a strange encounter with a client who requested a stripper pole in his master bedroom. Michael says his client was a man in his 60s who had a mail-order bride in her 20s. “They were by far the strangest couple I ever encountered,” he says. “They were also extremely obsessed with bath plumbing products. I had delivered 30 different toilet seats for her perusal and selection. She carefully analyzed and examined every seat and found flaws with nearly every selection. Couldn’t care less about the design scheme of the residence.”

A house divided. Meanwhile, Dale Peek of Peek Design Group had his own uncomfortable encounter. “A happily married older couple requested that we design them a house with two master bedrooms,” Peek says. “In discussing their very different sleeping habits and need for separate bedrooms, the husband expounded, ‘There are only two things we do in the same bed.’ Noticing his wife’s reddening face, I cut him off and let them know that was just a little more information than we needed.”


Food

Face it: We’re a foodie culture. And some people want to celebrate what they eat more than others. That’s when they call in a designer for help.

Gone fishing. Clients aren’t the only ones dishing up surprises. It was designer Dowell who surprised his client by recommending a glass floor in his living room that opens with the push of a button so the client could sit in his favorite chair and fish in the stream below the house (seen here).

The client agreed and now enjoys trout fishing right from his living room. Fresh fish for dinner, anyone? “The guy had a strange sense of humor,” Dowell says.

Jell-O countertops. Interior designer Adelene Keeler Smith had two food-related requests. First, a sentimental client requested that her master bathroom vanity countertops replicate her grandmother’s lime Jell-O salad, with bits of pineapple, walnuts and marshmallows, that she enjoyed as a child. “I found a fabricator, and it turned out delicious,” Smith says.

Dueling kitchens. Another one of Smith’s clients, a couple, wanted two large, fully functional gourmet kitchens to eliminate any potential cross-contamination. “She was a dedicated vegan, and her husband loved meats of all types,” she says. “The clients invited our team — myself, the architect and the builder — for a celebratory dinner after the completion of their new residence. We were served the most wonderful meal featuring prime rib of roast, bacon-wrapped shrimp and turnip casserole and hazelnut-stuffed mushrooms. Truly, the best of both worlds,” Smith says.

Pie-covered walls. Becky Peters of Harris Home Interiors also got a food-related request. “I was asked to match the interior wall color to the color of my client’s coconut cream pie filling,” Peters says. “She actually brought in a piece of the pie, and we selected the paint color for all interior walls off of that. Beautiful color, by the way.”

Toilets

Next to the sex category, toilets seem to be the topic that comes up the most.

Flush friends. Interior designer Lori Dennis was shocked with her clients’ initial request: “to try out toilets with them. WTF?” she says. “I try to give my clients what they ask for, even if it’s challenging or difficult. But when a client asks me to test out toilets with them, I draw the line.”

Lid leverage. A stranger request came from a client of an Orange Country, California, architect who wishes to remain anonymous. “I had a custom residential client awhile ago ask that his master bathroom be equipped with his-and-her toilets,” the architect says. “No problem. But then he said, ‘Be sure they’re in the same enclosure, facing each other.’ I asked why, and he explained that he wanted to share everything with his dating partners and that if they were creeped out by sharing their bodily functions, then he would know they weren’t the right one with whom to establish a long term relationship.”

Bidet, mate. It wasn’t a toilet that did it for Allen Irvin at a.l. design, but a bidet. His client wanted a 4-foot by 6-foot platform 8 inches off the ground in the middle of his master bathroom entirely reserved for a bidet. “It was just one more thing in a weird house,” Irvin says. “It turned out he had a wife and a mistress, each with kids. I would have a meeting with him and one woman, then he wanted me to act like that meeting didn’t happen when meeting with him and the other woman. We would cover the same items like it was the first time. I couldn’t morally do that and politely pulled out. I actually ran.”


Recreation

Homes are often places of rest, relaxation and repose. Sometimes, though, clients want their homes to provide more action.

More swingers. David Rasmussen had the pleasure of installing custom lights (seen here) that his clients can actually swing from as they go down a hallway.

Home workout. Interior designer Brenda Tucker of Center Stage Interiors had a less pleasant experience with one of her clients’ recreational requests. “I was asked to turn a formal living room into a home gym,” she says. “It was the first room seen upon entering the house, so I suggested placing the gym in another area. They didn’t like that idea, so I didn’t take the job. I’m sure they found someone to do it, but I didn’t want my name on it.”

Pets

People go to great lengths to please their pets and make them feel like part of the family.

Preferred pooch. Home designer Sam Allen had a customer who really liked his dogs. “So much so that we designed a dog-only powder room,” Allen says. “It could be accessed from outside through a dog door and also from inside through the door inside the home. He explained that his dogs preferred to drink from the toilet more than from any other source, so we left the seat off the unit, and his dogs actually learned to flush the toilet to be sure to get the freshest possible drinking water.”

Equine dining. Dogs aren’t the only animals that get treated like family members. Heather Alton of New England Design Elementsworked with a client to create an equestrian farm. “And she requested that a window be placed low and wide over the kitchen sink so she could feed her horses out of the farm sink from their paddock outside,” Alton says. “It was hysterical watching them stick their heads in for treats.”

Horsing around. Horses were the center of attention for one of Camille Jobe’s clients too. They wanted a way to actually get the horses inside their house. “And a floor drain system to help with the effects of having horses in the house,” she says.

Rodent run. Less common pets get the royal treatment as well. Bradway was asked to design a floor plan with a running track for her client’s guinea pigs. “I just did the floor plan and sold them the furniture,” she says. “They had to wait until spring to move in so they could exhume all the guinea pigs in their backyard. They bought almost a whole house of furniture from me, so I can put up with a little crazy.”

Lies

What’s the most elaborate lie you’ve come up with to get out of a family engagement? It probably doesn’t top this.

Holiday hang-up. Builder Brian Drewicke wondered why his client kept casually finding more jobs for him to do, which kept extending the finish date on the remodel. He explains: “They told me they wanted it finished after Christmas so that their relatives would stop asking to have the holidays at their house.”

Your turn: Share your story in the Comments!

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