KTJ Design Co - Stockton, California

Leah Kasavan

We were long overdue for 3 bathrooms and adjoining laundry room remodel. Knowing our limitations and the time involved in completing research and lining up the work, we turned to the professional design team at KTJ Co. This decision brought great clarity, as Kathleen and her team were careful listeners, detailed in their design plans and execution, and our project was completed earlier than our defined time frame.
Our family of 3 adults and 2 pets made a decision to move out during this project; and the KTJ team put a lock box in place, checked work progress, and insured that all work spaces were kept clean. Each Friday afternoon we received an email work update.
Thank you Kathleen, Sandra, and your team of professionals.
We confidently and highly recommend your services.
Jeff and Leah Kasavan
Woodbridge

Michelle Hausauer

Kathleen and her staff were wonderful during the Remodel Clarity Session. We discussed various ideas for the space we would like to work on. My husband and I appreciate the sketches, suggestions, budget guide, and time to look through Kathleen’s books to get ideas for furniture, rugs, etc.

Christina Lee

I worked with Kathleen and Sandra for over a year on what started as a kitchen remodel and (of course) ended as a full home remodel. I can't say enough great things about both of them. Everyone in my family happened to be remodeling their homes at the same time (4 houses in total) so I was able to compare my experience to that of 3 other remodels, and all I can say is I am very glad to be me.

Design:
I have, without a doubt, eclectic tastes that skew towards bright colors, quirky touches, and bold contrast, but Sandra and Kathleen were eager to work with my unique style and didn't try to force me in directions that aren't right for me (i.e. anything brown or beige ☠️). My home includes both a life size papier mache zebra and a deer wearing a Hawaiian t-shirt in the dining room, so they had their work cut out for them, but they managed to help me keep my fun loving style and layer it with a bit of refined balance to make the space beautiful and irreverent all at once. And on top of that, it is SO FUNCTIONAL. Everything has a place, and its so easy to keep clean! This is definitely not something I thought about, that was all their doing.

Accountability:
In any construction project, things will go wrong, it's a guarantee. One of the largest differences between my experience and those of my family members was that when things went wrong, the KTJ team was proactively on top of them. They almost always caught errors before I did, thoroughly checking every tiny detail of each installation after someone had been at my house and calling subs back in to fix any work that wasn't up to snuff. I kid you not: when workers installed the bolts in my staircase at a slight angle instead of driving them straight down, KTJ had someone fix it (I was both appreciative of this and greatly amused by it ?). Multiple times when there was an unforeseen issue I was worried about I'd check my email and see that KTJ had already sent me a message saying they'd reordered the part/eaten the cost of fixing the problem without me ever asking them to. Meanwhile my family members were coming home to shoddy workmanship that hadn't been inspected by the designers and then having to fight over who would pay to fix the issues that weren't their fault to begin with. Yikes!

Communication:
KTJ is meticulous about communication. You always know what is happening and when. I always received texts about who would be at my house and when they would be arriving, and had weekly emails about the progress of my project and the schedule for the upcoming week. They are always prompt and proactive about communication and if anything got changed or delayed, I received an update on it in my weekly email.

Subcons:
If you choose to use KTJ's sister company Jenco for the actual construction, they contract with the most delightful people. I really loved my experience with Anthony and the team at MA (who did the GC work) as well as the electrician, plumber, and tile contractors, all of whom were unfailing polite and treated my house respectfully. The plumber and electrician even helped investigate and fix issues elsewhere in my house while they were working on the remodel, which was such a blessing because I was having trouble getting anyone out.

Overall I just can't say enough good things about my experience with KTJ. The year I've worked with them has happened to be one of the toughest of my life and threw me many unexpected curveballs, including some financial ones (not good during a remodel!!!), and I had no spare time or emotional bandwidth to think about this remodel. But luckily I didn't have to! They kept the project moving along at all times and I barely had to lift a finger the entire process other than deciding on designs and wiring money. They handled every detail, from permits to ordering and warehousing items, to QA and scheduling. And even though I was off thinking about a million other things and not paying attention to this remodel at all, it turned out perfectly: bright, colorful, quirky, and functional. I love my house!

Sandy huber

Kathleen and Sandra,
It has been such a pleasure to work with KTJ. Thank you for saying “yes” to this project.

To begin: Thank you so much for the beautifully written description of the lobby, focused on our goals for design and impact. Your articulation is spot on, and demonstrate how carefully you listened to our ideas, and developed your thoughtful and attractive implementation.
Beyond a beautiful and functional space, KTJ shined with creative solutions to design challenges: shared tenant space requiring improved Way Finding Signage, voluminous ceilings with multiple, unchangeable surfaces, lighting deficits, thoughtful reuse of room dividers and finally intentionally bringing the healing and beautiful nature of the outdoors into an institutionally designed lobby.
The images are beautiful. Thank you. These images can be a strong messaging for The Reynolds Building…..a picture tells a thousands words

Denise Aitken

We hired KTJ Design to remodel our kitchen and then our ensuite bathroom. Our kitchen was small, dark and not well-suited for entertaining. The narrow width of the room made for some design challenges. Kathleen and Sandra used their creativity to transform it into a large bright kitchen, making the best use of the limited space available. When we didn’t love some of their initial suggestions, they listened to us and came back with new ideas we were very happy with.

When the kitchen was done, we hired them again to upgrade the bathroom. Again, we went back and forth on some of the details. But when I walked into the completed project, my first thought was “wow, it’s so pretty!”

We appreciate that they are a full-service company, taking care of everything from design, plans, permits, inspections, hiring and supervising all the sub-contractors, etc. Every inspection passed the first time. And equally important is that they are honest business people and we felt comfortable with them as well as their sub-contractors in our home when we weren’t there.

Bob Schaeneman

My wife and I own a 100+ year old home. We love the character and beautiful woodwork of our home, but we wanted to "lighten" and modernize it without losing those qualities. For literally years, we had tried to simply select flooring, but time after time we failed.
When my wife found KTJ Designs, we were both skeptical, but having exhausted our own ideas, we decided to contact them. Our skepticism was completely unfounded. The design process at KTJ Designs is absolutely flawless. Our initial design meeting allowed them to clearly understand our desires, wants and needs, which they painstakingly did. With just a couple of subsequent design meetings, they laid out a design which exceeded our expectations.
During the execution process, like all projects (especially in older homes), there were a number of unexpected situations and events. KTJ had the ideas and the craftsmen to power through those obstacles with just a few quick decisions from us.
Thanks to KTJ Designs, our home is again beautiful, designed beyond our expectations. They managed our project from beginning to end with amazingly little time from us.
We cannot thank you enough Kathleen and Sandra.
Bob & Mary Lou Schaeneman

Bruce Robinson

To whom it may concern,

Making the decision to remodel can be intimidating, stressful and exciting all at the same time. Knowing where to start, what design, materials and current trends can be overwhelming.

Everyone wants the latest and greatest look in their remodel. Trying to research all the options available and the many decisions to be made can make even the most well intentioned abandon the project altogether.

From the initial consultation with you and your team many of the concerns we had about starting a remodel were laid to rest. Your professionalism in listening to our wishes and making suggestions we never even considered were critical reasons we decided to choose KTJ Design to make our dreams a reality.

Your team was there daily (any many times late into the evening) making sure we kept as close to the project schedule as possible and you were always available by phone days and weekends should we have a question.

Best of all the finished project came out better than we ever envisioned and the envy from our friends and family is evident every time we have a gathering.

I highly recommend KTJ Design no matter the size and scope of your remodel, you won’t be disappointed.

Bruce

Heather Day

Kathleen and Sandra brought a completely new vision to our home and our remodel turned out better than we ever imagined! They were beside us every step of the way and chose a design that both my husband and I agreed on. We never imagined we could have a space this beautiful. We highly recommend their services!