Start With the Right Design Partner

In honor of Interior Design Month, Tenhulzen Construction is celebrating one of our most valued partnerships — with Melinda Slater and her team at Well-Designed Home. For homeowners considering a renovation, choosing the right interior designer isn’t just about aesthetics. It’s about finding someone who can hold a vision through the chaos of a real remodel: the surprises behind walls, the logistics of sequencing trades, and the decisions that have to be made in real time, on site, with no blueprint for what was just uncovered.

That’s exactly the kind of designer Melinda is — and it’s exactly why we keep partnering with her.

A Partnership Built on Trust and Shared Standards

Tenhulzen Construction has collaborated with Well-Designed Home across multiple projects and shared clients. What makes the relationship work isn’t just complementary expertise — it’s a shared commitment to the client experience.

Well-Designed Home operates as the client’s advocate throughout the entire construction process. Melinda’s team conducts regular site visits and checks in at critical junctures — after demolition, before and after electrical and plumbing work, during countertop templating — to make sure the design intent survives contact with real-world conditions. That kind of presence matters. A lot can change between a design drawing and what’s actually inside a wall.

From Tenhulzen’s side, we bring the execution discipline and problem-solving mindset that lets Melinda’s design vision survive the unexpected. The result is a process where the client isn’t left holding the gap between design and construction — we close it together.

The Mill Creek Project: Where Design Met Real-World Complexity

One of the best examples of this partnership in action is the Mill Creek remodel — a full kitchen and master bath transformation for a couple who loves to entertain and needed their home to work as hard as they do.

The home presented some genuine architectural challenges from the start. The original dining area was literally half an octagon, with no 90-degree angles. Furnishing it was awkward. Moving through it was awkward. The kitchen had its own issues: the refrigerator was positioned directly beside a doorway, creating a bottleneck every time someone reached for a drink.

But challenges like these are exactly where the value of a great design-build partnership shows up. Melinda reoriented the entire kitchen layout, squared up the breakfast nook into a comfortable, spacious rectangle, and reframed the relationship between the kitchen, family room, and outdoor deck. What was once a series of disconnected rooms with friction at every turn became a single, flowing space designed for how the family actually lives.

“The flow between the kitchen and our family room was also important, and in the process of the design, we were able to accomplish that, too. We opened up the spaces, creating a much larger aisle that allows people to easily move between the formal dining, family room, and out to the deck.”

When the Unexpected Happens — And It Always Does

Every remodel carries hidden variables. It’s not a question of whether surprises will appear behind the walls — it’s a question of who’s ready to solve them when they do.

In the Mill Creek project, one of those surprises came when the faucet selected for the new freestanding tub turned out to be too long for the installation. It’s the kind of detail that can derail a project — or, with the right team, barely slow it down. Melinda worked directly with the manufacturer and quickly found a solution that fit the design intent without compromising the finished look.

That kind of adaptability is what separates a functional design-build partnership from a frustrating one. When Tenhulzen encounters something unexpected during demolition or rough-in — a structural element that wasn’t on any drawing, plumbing that’s not where the plans said it would be — we need a designer who can problem-solve in real time, not one who disappears until the space is ready for finishes. Melinda is always in the loop, always reachable, and always focused on the outcome that matters: delivering the client’s vision, even when the path to it shifts.

Melinda’s Design Philosophy: Spaces That Support How You Actually Live

Melinda Slater has been an interior designer for 19 years and founded her firm — originally Slater Interiors, now Well-Designed Home — 14 years ago. What sets her apart isn’t just an impressive award record (though it is impressive: NKBA Puget Sound 2nd Place – Large Kitchen, Chrysalis Award Regional Kitchen, Interior Design Society 1st Runner Up – Whole Home, among others). It’s her underlying approach to what design is actually for.

Melinda’s previous career as a massage therapist taught her how environments affect the body and mind. That perspective — that good design isn’t decorative, it’s functional in the deepest sense — comes through in everything she does. She starts every project by listening: to how a client actually lives, what frustrates them, what they’ve always wanted but couldn’t quite name. Only then does she start specifying materials and colors.

On the Mill Creek project, that approach showed up in small but meaningful moments. When the homeowners disagreed on design direction, Melinda helped them find common ground without losing the thread of either person’s vision. When the husband wanted a strong focal point in the kitchen, she identified the mosaic tile behind the range as the perfect statement — especially given the lower ceilings in that space. What could have been a compromise became a signature.

“They made us think a little more outside the box and ultimately get to a better process and product.”

What This Partnership Means for You

If you’re planning a remodel, one of the most valuable decisions you can make is choosing the right interior designer before construction begins — not after. The earlier a designer is integrated into the process, the more effectively the design can be built around the reality of your home, your budget, and what the construction process will actually reveal.

Tenhulzen Construction works with several talented interior designers across the Pacific Northwest, and we’re proud to count Melinda Slater and Well-Designed Home among our closest collaborators. Whether you already have a designer in mind or need help finding the right fit for your project and vision, we can help connect you with someone whose expertise and personality align with what you’re trying to create.

The right design-build partnership doesn’t just make a remodel look better. It makes the process smoother, the decisions more confident, and the final result something that genuinely reflects the way you want to live.

Contact Tenhulzen Construction today for a free consultation. Read the full Mill Creek Remodel project story here: Mill Creek Remodel: From Awkward Angles to Functional Flow