Preferred Designer Program - Colordrunk Designs

We’re thrilled to introduce our first ever Worlds Away Preferred Designer, Jenna Buck Gross. Jenna established Colordrunk Designs in 2013 after transitioning out of the fashion industry into interior design. With a pop of color here or a fun pattern there, Jenna ensures every space she designs reflects the client’s needs and personality. As a mother of two, she feels right home designing for families, particularly those with young children. Her work has been featured in Better Homes and Gardens, HGTV Magazine and Atlanta Magazine.

Now sit back and enjoy our chat with the newest addition to the Worlds Away Preferred Designer family. Welcome Jenna!

A Conversation with Jenna Buck Gross…

You graduated from UGA with a fashion degree. When and how did you decide to take the leap into design?

My education and love of fashion certainly plays a role in my interior design work. My studies introduced me to color theory and allowed me to really learn fabric and textiles, and I was able to spend some time after graduation working in production for Marc Jacobs in New York, which really opened me up creatively. However, I never had any plans to pursue interior design. As far as my career, it really happened kind of by accident. With our second child on the way, my husband and I decided to build a house. I had a very specific vision for our home, so I became the defacto designer for the project. Soon after finishing our house, a friend approached me to help her with her new home, and a career was born!

Where do you draw your inspiration? Do your children or your southern roots play a role?

On any given project, I try to take my inspiration from the client. It is their space, and they will be living with it, and in it, long after I am gone. While there are certain hallmarks of my design style—a playful use of bold colors and patterns, and a focus on spaces that are functional and livable—I try to determine what the client wants and needs in their space and follow that muse throughout the project. Beyond that, I take my inspiration from a lifelong love of art, and my years working in the fashion industry.

That said, my designs certainly can have both a “child-like” and southern aesthetic. I love Atlanta’s design scene because it’s all over the place. Atlanta is so cosmopolitan, but still very southern at its’ core, so I love the mix of Traditional, Modern, and Urban design that permeates the city, and my designs working out of this city. Because Atlanta is a melting pot, I feel the traditional, southern aesthetic of “old” Atlanta, now serves as the base upon which design styles and influence from literally all over the world can be added to create something unique.

My girls (6 and 8) certainly help keep me and my designs playful, and I always love designing kid’s rooms!

We adore your love of color. What influences your designs and aesthetics?

Obviously, color is the backbone of most of my designs and is at the core of my design philosophy. Color brings so much life to a space, and I really believe that color affects the way people feel. I use color to introduce personality into my spaces. I often ask clients to think back to a favorite memory or piece of clothing for color inspiration, and I will then use that color or that palette throughout a space to invoke those memories. Maybe it is a blue from your Caribbean honeymoon or the yellow from your grandmother’s kitchen growing up. Color can completely transform a room by invoking those sense memories.

What’s been your favorite project to date?

Oh goodness. I love so many of my clients so this is a hard one. Large scale projects usually become very intimate relationships- so the clients are a big part of what makes me love my job. There are two that really stick out. The first is Diana, who owns the Red Dress Boutique. She is the first person who ever took a chance on me. She loves color as much as I do, and she realizes the importance of her surroundings. She is a busy lady so we have been working on her project over the last six years. It is going to be amazing when we are finished. Taking our time and layering as we go.

The second is one I am still working on. We started the renovation and have been working from the ground up- It is so much fun to see the project from beginning to end- picking tile, cabinet styles- you know all the important foundational stuff. She also loves color and so does her husband. We painted the trim in their dining room a beautiful bright red. We have used so many bright wallpapers and its just going to be such a fun home when we finish.

What words of wisdom would you give to someone just getting started in the design field?

I’d give new designers the same advice I give my own clients as we start a project together: Don’t worry about what’s “in.” It doesn’t matter. You need to worry about what your client loves/needs/wants and what they want to live with every day. Do not decorate “on trend.” Your clients will just be unhappy with it when the next trend comes along.

Also, connect with your fellow designers and your local design community. This means fellow designers, tradespeople and artists, and showroom staff. There are tons of us in the trade in the metro Atlanta area, but this is such a creative and vibrant city, I feel like there is no shortage of clients for all of us, and each designer I know personally, or whose work I admire from afar, has his or her own unique approach and design aesthetic. It really is a wonderful place to work, and I learn so much from every one of my colleagues in the industry.

What do you feel is the most important aspect when designing a space?

I always encourage clients to invest in the piece(s) they love the most. I try to be a stickler about coming in under budget, but if a client has a piece (or a fabric or a wallpaper) that breaks the budget, but that they can’t seem to let go of, and we can’t seem to find an alternative that feels the same to them (or me), I will always encourage them to allow me to design around that piece. That way, they can save for it and we can install it at a later date, and the install will be seamless. A quality statement piece or piece of art can be the key to making an entire design work.

What’s on the horizon for Colordrunk Designs?

I am continuing to take projects where I can be involved from the ground up—custom new builds or substantial renovations—which is so much fun for me. I love seeing a design go from drawings and mood boards to real life! I feel like I have finally gotten to a place where people are hiring me for my unique aesthetic because it is what they want- My default has always been trying to scale down the color and pattern to make clients more comfortable, and my clients now are telling me they want more! I would love to design a boutique hotel or a beach house so let me know if you know anyone looking for a fun designer :)

Jenna Buck Gross - @colordrunk_designs