Interior decorator Lani Leuthner can make lemons into lemonade, whether in her own life or transforming drab homes into showcases.
Undaunted at losing a job as a field engineer in the poor economy of 2001, the Garrison resident called on her education and interior design experience to launch her own business.
“You dream the possibilities and I”™ll bring them to life,” she tells prospective clients.
The poor economy has actually enhanced the decorating business, she said. “Some people are in bad straits. They can”™t sell their homes, so make do with additions and renovations.
“Many old houses have poorly designed kitchens. I get calls from people who consulted a kitchen design service,” saying that she takes a more personal view. A common kitchen design flaw, she notes, is a lack of workspace.
She recalls designing for a man in a wheelchair and his wife. Leuthner lowered a part of the counter and eliminated the cabinets allowing the man to slide his wheelchair under.
Citing a fact that “there is a lot of wasted space in older homes,” she enjoys creating needed storage space, often under a staircase or in corners.
Moving to aesthetics in other rooms, she is cool toward sets of furniture with everything matching. Also on her “no-no” list is oversized furniture in a small room.
Picture placement comes into play, with Leuthner explaining to homeowners, “The way you hang a picture is to look straight ahead, and where your eye is, that”™s where the center of the picture belongs.”
She notes that people are gravitating toward paint instead of wallpaper.
“Wallpaper is expensive, but it can be used as an accent in small areas.”
Leuthner has found that tact is an important quality for an interior decorator.
“I try to make clients happy and not insult their ideas. Instead, I listen and then say, ”˜What do you think of this idea?”™ They usually like my ideas and say that they never thought about that before.”
Raised in Manhattan, Leuthner attended the High School of Music and Arts and the High School of Performing Arts before the family moved to Mount Vernon, where she graduated from A. B. Davis High School. Returning to Manhattan, “I got married at age 18 and enrolled in the New York School of Interior Design.”
Later divorced, she moved to Garrison in l978 with three sons. “The judge decreed the maximum distance I could move from their father was 50 miles, so Garrison was a perfect fit. I met John Leuthner on a blind date. He has one son. Neither of us was interested in marrying again, but we did not want to offend the friends who arranged our meeting. When I first saw him, he was so handsome that I thought, ”˜Hmm, maybe this is a possibility.”™”
Her decorating career started doing window displays with a friend and working with an architect on interior decorating. Later employed by a civil engineer, she learned more about drafting. “I then worked for 17 years for James H. Tanner, a Rockland County architect, and learned so much.” Feeling it was time to utilize more of her background, she accepted the field engineer position, serving until her employer had to cut back.
The Leuthners reside in a home that Lani bought upon moving to Garrison. After a fire, she restored it as a colonial structure. Before their marriage, John had lived at the Helen Hayes Hospital in West Haverstraw, where he was a teacher to disabled children and taught driving to severely handicapped adults.
Challenging Careers focuses on the exciting and unusual business lives of Hudson Valley residents. Comments or suggestions may be e-mailed to Catherine Portman-Laux at cplaux@optonline.net.       Â
