If you are looking for the style you’ve always wanted created exclusively for you, your search is over. Highland Group is a full-service home design firm that specializes in the unique. “Everything I design is one-of-a-kind,” says Tim Furner, founder and principal. “I look at every project with fresh eyes. I take great pride in not having a style; everything is custom designed. No two families or homeowners are ever the same.”
Tim Furner and Tim Wyatt (known as Tim & Tim) started Highland Group in 1986. Four years ago, Tim Wyatt passed away. Wyatt’s son Robert, along with the entire staff, works hard to fill the void. “We designed so many homes together that I often feel him still here with me,” says Furner.
Furner strives for enduring design. “The world is getting more modern,” says Furner. “But using natural materials and organizing elements that relate to the environment help keep it as timeless as possible.” Each project begins with a design/build team that includes a general contractor, interior designer and the owner—all collaborating together. “We do onsite visits from concept through build to refine the design and to make our clients’ home all they have dreamt of,” he says.
When you’re ready to design your dream home, bring a wish list and hopeful budget and let Furner and his team take it from there.
4471 S. Highland Drive, Salt Lake City
801-277-4433
Instagram @highland.group
“I still do all my conceptual designs by hand. My brain doesn’t work unless I have a pencil in my hand. Once I finish the design, I’ll hand it off to my staff and we’ll build a full walk-through 3D model, but it all starts by hand. It’s a dying art.”
– Tim Furner, Founder/Principal
Ask the Expert
What are common mistakes homeowners often make?
Not spending adequate time or money on the original design of the house. Rather than getting it right, they settle with “it’ll do.” They’ll slowly realize that if the design had been better thought out from the get-go, it would have been more functional.
What’s a key piece of design advice?
Don’t design the home for today’s needs only. You might be an empty nester soon or your kids might move back with grandkids. Try to think ahead to what spaces you may need in the future.
What new innovations excite you?
Alternative energy-saving building construction methods and natural exterior materials that are either no- or low-maintenance. The window and door industry continues to create better and better products with bigger expanses of glass and smaller frames to maximize views.
Browse the rest of this season’s Stylemakers here.
