by Melissa LaScaleia
Eric Richards is a man with a vision and a passion for making that vision happen. When I caught up with him last, he was at home preparing a taco salad.
“Do you mind if I cook while we talk?” he asked. Then proceeded to expound enthusiastically on the ingredients he had selected for his dish— avocado, black beans, corn, tomatoes, and the dressing he was whipping up to accompany it all— as well as accompanying Martini.
For Eric, in life and in his work as owner of his interior design company, ER Home, there are no problems, only solutions. And all is approached with passion, drive, and full engagement. This is not a philosophy that is difficult for him to achieve, as he has always had a true gift for interior design, and a true penchant for positivity.
“In college, my teachers were blown away by my proficiency in design and I was too,” he says. “It just came naturally. How I got this gift, I don’t know, but I’m grateful I have it and I don’t take it for granted. I meet the most amazing people and I’m able to help them and most of the time, change their lives.”
To Eric, interior design is not as much about decorating as it is about form and function.
“It’s about configuring a space and best utilizing a space to suit people’s lifestyle needs,” he says. “But to get to that point, a lot of work has to be done in terms of architectural construction and the installation of things. That’s work that I love doing.”
To help him do it, Eric acquired every skill set involved in design, including: painting, wallpapering, flooring, tile work, custom furniture design and building, refurbishment, carpentry, kitchen remodeling, electrical, plumbing, and decorating. Today, ER Home is a one-stop-shop for all your home refurbishment needs. Eric even draws upon his studies with feng shui.
“We as humans think we see with our direct eye, but we actually see more with our peripheral vision,” he explains. “When we’re in nature, there’s a natural flow to it— that’s why you feel soothed. I try to replicate that flow in the home. My studies in feng shui gave me a confident understanding of the choices I was making. They allowed me to elaborate my visions and give my clients things they didn’t even know they wanted. It’s nothing I question now, it’s just second nature in how I design a space.”
