Wendy Valliere grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia, where her grandmother instilled in her a love and appreciation for delicate, beautiful things—silver, china, linens and English gardens. By the time she was fifteen, she was working in the high-end Olympic-level horse business as a trainer. She traveled to Europe, Latin America and across the United States, seeing the best of everything. She took on design as a hobby and excelled at it immediately.
When she moved to Nantucket in the 1980s, she opened a home décor store and passersby found her displays so alluring that soon they were commissioning her to redo a sofa in their homes, then a room, then an entire house.
For her clients and for herself, Wendy practices the belief that everything is in the details—in design as well as in customer service. This dedication has opened doors. Twenty years in the industry has taken her across the United States and throughout Europe, designing yachts, such as the world-famous Endeavor; old-world apartments in New York and Paris; a castle in the English countryside; Newport mansions; seaside escapes in New England and the Hamptons; and magnificent ski chalets in Colorado and Vermont.
Her worldwide experience has illuminated her design sense and given her the knowledge and sophistication to cover all aspects of the design process—from vision to palate to architectural and historical detail. She enters a project in the beginning and oversees all details until a successful and thrilling conclusion, including candles, flowers and linens all in perfect place.
Her company, Seldom Scene Interiors, formed in 1999 collaborates with the best in the industry. The company devotes itself to clients’ needs while retaining a signature style of comfortable elegance that is harmonious and never staid. The end result, says her many clients’ testimonies, feels perfectly curated and absolutely appropriate—perfect places to live, entertain, and treasure.