Wendy Jo Hosford is a senior lead designer for Closets To Go in Tigard, Oregon (closetstogo.com).

Hosford joined the closet industry as a design team member with the firm in 1992. Her love for design, creativity, and learning piqued her curiosity when she read an employment ad and wondered: “What is a Closets To Go?”

Thirty-two years later, with thousands of storage designs and many creative opportunities, Hosford remains a vital team member and also the director of Professional Services.

1: What is your go-to source of inspiration right now?
I think my main source of inspiration that is speaking loudly to me at this time and is a guiding influence on my current designs would be the clear trend of the “Mid-Century Modern style.”  Flat panel fronts with elements of glass are the most popular...along with trending black metal hardware and/or honey bronze and mixed metal features and finish options on the lighter color tone side right now, with a lot of customers or interior designers requesting a “white rift oak” look or mixed finish options with white. All of those choices are trending high right now.

I am also including a lot more lighting packages than ever before with customers, interior designers, and professionals, as lighting can really add the “cherry on the top of the cake” to your final design.

2: If you could change one thing about the interior design industry today, what would it be and why?
I love all of my interior designers and what they bring to the table with experience, fresh ideas, and excited clients.  If I could change one thing, I guess it would be to provide your closet professionals with more detailed closet design measurements with listed dimensions and notes on closet obstacles that might not show on the shared plans.  Sometimes, a closet plan will come by email without a lot of detail, or it is received “not to scale” with missing notes regarding new changes that will be made to an existing closet, or for new construction plans, limited detail is shown such as window dimensions, or crawl and attic accesses not shown, etc.  More detailed information would be a great time saver and get us off to a great preliminary design and a more timely start!

3: Can you describe a recent project where you had to overcome a significant obstacle? What did you learn from the experience?
Recently, with lighting. There are many changes to work with that will go into a final design.  I had a client with a closet that had cabinets running to the floor and wanted toe-kick lighting all around.  The closet had a large crawl space that needed access when needed, and of course, there was a cabinet designed to go on top of that crawl space location.  Meeting with my lighting tech, we created a removable bottom shelf that would allow the toe-kick lighting to work and also provide a solution to remove the bottom shelf with good access into the crawl space when needed.
What I learned from this experience is to embrace the challenges we sometimes think we may not be able to meet and come up with perhaps some new solutions that we can learn from and that will allow us to add some new tools to our toolbox!  

4: What emerging trend or technology in interior design are you most excited about, and how do you see it shaping the future of the field?
Definitely, the advances in lighting technology! It is constantly evolving into a whole different, exciting market.  It is also very rewarding, as a designer, to add that extra finished touch of lighting to a closet plan.  We love it, our clients love it, and the positive response has been really overwhelming for us and our clients here at Closets To Go!

5: Beyond aesthetics, what is the most crucial element of a successful interior design project?
The entire process of communication with your client(s), from the initial beginnings to the final end result, is what I feel is most crucial to a successful project. I want to gain the best understanding of my client’s needs, their design vision, their wardrobe inventory, budget concerns, and what may not have provided them with the best storage options in the past.  To me, all communication is crucial to a successful project and happy and fulfilled clients, and company team members, too.