Here's what our clients have to say....

Debra Shannon of Symmetry Designs helped us materialize our

vision for a new kitchen. She was knowledgeable not just in her

area of expertise (interior design), but also in the fundamentals

of construction. She and Universal Developing worked closely

together to renovate our kitchen and update our floors/walls. 

 

We had a unique situation because we wanted to leverage as much

of our existing cabinets and appliances as possible, while still

updating the overall look/feel. We wanted to match new cabinets

with old cabinets, put in new counters, and change up the

whole color scheme. This was not a start-from-scratch project,

so we had to be creative given the constraints - and Debra's

guidance and intuition proved invaluable. For example, she came

up with the idea of turning our small and awkwardly shaped island

into a much more functional peninsula - something my husband

and I would never have thought of. In the end we have a kitchen

that we love, new hardwood floors, and beautiful freshly

painted walls.

 

We couldn't be happier with the results!

Frances and Vy - Mt View

Debra Shannon of Symmetry Designs in Menlo Park was the outstanding designer and overall coordinator of our remodel. Guy Harper of Universal Developing in San Carlos was the general contractor who planned the project and coordinated all the subcontractors to keep the project on schedule and on budget.
Debra and Guy worked as a team to complete our project on time, on budget with outstanding quality. It was such a pleasure working with them. Debra knows what today's buyer wants and Guy can make it happen. We created something beautiful while enjoying our time together. The house sold in 15 days at nearly full price. What a pleasure! I would be pleased to recommend them to anyone. 
Donna and Bob T. - Portola Valley

Debra is fantastic to work with! She was very professional, worked within our budget and responded promptly to any questions or concerns we had. Her knowledge and expertise was exactly what we needed for our remodel. 

Julie and Kirk T. - Los Altos

 

We used Debra Shannon from Symmetry Designs along with one of her construction partners Guy Harper from Universal Developing to design and build our home remodel. We are EXTREMELY pleased with the results. 


We closed escrow on our house in early December 2012 and did a complete remodel of the original 1962 house - floor to ceiling and every room including the kitchen and two bathrooms. 

Debra and Guy met with us before we closed escrow to get rough ideas of our project scope and budget, then met with us several times in December to refine the scope, recommend ideas and materials and place initial orders on critical path items such as cabinetry and appliances. Construction started on January 2nd, and we moved in on March 28th. Completely remodeled home in just under 3 months! 

We remodeled the kitchen, bathrooms, and laundry room, refinished the existing hardwood floors in the living/dining room and extended the hardwood into the kitchen and entryway (with a perfect pattern match to the original wood floors), replaced all of the windows and sliding glass doors (went from single pane aluminum to double pane Milgard windows and Andersen french doors), replaced all of the interior doors, added several recessed lights, upgraded the electrical outlets and light switches, and installed all new trim, crown molding and baseboards. The interior and exterior were repainted, and the carpets were all replaced in the bedrooms... all before we moved in. 

Guy and Debra worked very well together to keep us up to date on progress, make suggestions for project improvements to us that created an overall much more positive end result and saved overall costs based on discounts Debra was able to pass on to us from her suppliers for materials and cost efficiencies of doing the entire house at once. 

Debra selected all of our hardware, fixtures, appliances, granite, tile, carpet, and paint colors and more. She would typically give us 3-5 options based on what we told her we were looking for and then she would narrow down the choices from there until we selected each final piece and color, and she also used a mix of local suppliers and ecommerce merchants to give us the best selection, service and price based on her discounts and available selection. Debra selected and had window coverings installed for us in all of the rooms as well. 

We truly are happy. From buying an original 1962 home that was behind on routine maintenance, completely out of date, and had become quite an eyesore to turning it into a very modern, efficient, and comfortable home for our family, this was a compressed, cost-effective project with a very positive outcome. The only thing we didn't do was replace the roof, garage door and driveway.... we're saving that for phase two when we hope to one day add a second story. 

We couldn't thank Debra, Guy and the whole Universal Developing team enough. We both work full time, travel, and have a blended step-family of 4 children. We are just too darn busy to manage a remodel, and Debra and Guy ran the entire project for us and completed it in 3 months.

Stephanie & Jesse - Menlo Park

  

I loved working with Debra.  She has exquisite design skills, understands construction issues (a must for a designer), communicates well and timely across a variety of platforms, and partners with the client in an flexible, admirable manner.  By passing on her discounts to us, I trusted her recommendations in a way that I couldn't imagine doing with other designers.

Lynn M. - Sunnyvale

 

 From start to finish, a seamless operation.  Efficiency, care, quality, consideration.  This wasn't merely having someone suggest decorating ideas.  This was soup to nuts.  And Debra consistently went out of her way to assure that my home was progressing along just as it should.  In fact, she was consistently going out of her way in every manner.  And the finished product puts a smile on my face everyday.
Dr Tom P. - San Francisco

Debra, We are very pleased with our new living room and dining room remodel.  Your suggestions for the new flooring and trey-ceiling made all the difference in the final outcome.  You took our original ideas for the project, expanded and refined them, and the result is beautiful. 

We were very impressed with your design suggestions, the excellent sub contractors that you recommended, and your respect  for our budget.  We will be consulting you again when we start our next project.  Thank you for helping us bring our 1954 rancher into the 21st Century.

Carolyn and Vern W. - Belmont, CA

"I highly recommend Debra Shannon to anyone thinking of doing remodeling work. She worked within the parameters set for our kitchen/bathroom remodel. Made suggestions that enhanced the final appearance of the rooms and was timely and within budget. There is no way our project would have been as successful without her guidance."

Cathy L. - Foster City, CA

 

"Debra, I just wanted you to know I am so pleased with your services and I will recommend you in a heartbeat to my friends and neighbors".

Denise S. - Menlo Park

 

"The best advise that our contractor, Universal Developing, gave me was to recommend that I work with you in renovating my bathroom. I can't thank you enough for helping me with the many decisions that are involved in completing a project like this. Your professional demeanor and expertise were greatly appreciated. I am very happy with the finished bathroom remodel and want to thank you for your additional advise about colors and art work for the room".

Kathleen B. - San Mateo

 

“Debra helped us with the finishing designs for our home remodel from end to end. She did outstanding work. She is very creative, and has an amazing eye for design, color, materials and finishes. She works well with general contractors and all of the various vendors and suppliers. I highly recommend her. She is incredibly good.”

May and John H. - Palo Alto, CA

 

"We couldn't have done this without you! Thanks for helping us keep our sanity in the face of so many decisions. The house is beautiful".

Jodi and Mark D. - Mt View

 

“Debra has outstanding vision for how to enhance living spaces. She listens to her clients, brings cutting edge design principles to bear on even the most challenging projects, and pushes the entire contractor team to deliver excellent results.”

Lillian and Tom O. - Sunnyvale, CA

 

"I recommend Debra very highly indeed. When I began work on a significant extension to my home, I didn't really have a clear idea of just how many decisions would need to be taken, on the path to making it beautiful, logical, and appropriate for resale. So it's really fortunate that I was able to engage Debra's services. She is highly expert in her field, and has the gift of being able to anticipate all the issues, and have potential solutions ready.

She always gives you the most expert advice on all aspects of style,
and on the type/quality of materials that are available. Almost inevitably, I chose to be strongly guided by her suggestions - and I'm so glad! For example, visitors to my home constantly praise the color scheme in the extension. And rightly so! But it's a result of Debra's inspiration, not mine!

 

I can't recommend Debra highly enough. Without her, there is no way my project would have been nearly as successful. She's extremely fun to work with, and very expert in her field. And I hope I have the opportunity to hire her again sometime.”

Tony H. - Palo Alto, CA

 

“Debra provides design solutions which work well for her clients within the context of their lifestyle requirements, style preferences, and price/value point. She listens to the client and does not impose her own style preferences. She has deep knowledge of materials & a vast vendor network. Our house construction project was immeasurably improved by her input and direction, and she continues to serve as a resource to us.”

Judith and Joe W. - Portola Valley, CA