Our Approach
A clear process. A result that feels like yours.
Personal design should not mean an uncertain process. We guide every project through defined stages, and we leave room inside them for the conversation and discovery that make a home individual. You always know which stage you are in, what we need from you, and what arrives at the end of it.
The Process, in two Minutes
Doaa and Mohammad on how a Tohfa project moves from the first conversation to handover, and what to expect at each step.
Discover
01. Discovery conversation. We begin by listening: your needs, your taste, what feels missing, and what you want the space to become. We would rather spend an hour on how your family uses a Friday than on which marble you like.
02. Design brief. We turn everything we learn into a clear design brief: your priorities, preferences, lifestyle and practical needs. You read it back and correct us. Nothing is drawn until that brief is right, because everything after it inherits whatever we got wrong.
Define
03. Tailored proposal. A proposal shaped around your project, where the scope becomes clear and the next steps become organised. It says what is included, what is not, what it costs and how long it takes.
04. Concept direction. We define the design identity: layout, moodboard, colours, textures and feeling, studying movement, comfort, privacy, lighting, storage and flow. This is the stage where the home stops being a plan and starts having a character.
Develop
05. Visual design development. Clear 3D renders let you see the lighting, materials, proportion, furniture and detail. We refine together until the direction feels right. You should never be surprised by your own house.
06. Contractor guidance. If we are not building it, we help you choose the right contractor, review the options and support you step by step. If we are building it, this is where the programme and the priced scope of works are agreed.
07. Material and finishing selection. We select the materials, fabrics, colours, furniture and finishes, each guided by the design direction and the quality we want. You see and touch the things that matter, rather than approving them from a screen.
Support and Handover
08. Implementation support. During execution we support the project through supervision, protecting the spirit of the design through to handover. Decisions get made on site every day, and someone who understands the design should be making them.
09. Styling and handover. We complete the space with styling, accessories and final touches: personal, and ready to be lived with love.
What we need from you
Three things, and they matter more than any of them sound. Honesty about how you actually live rather than how you would like to be seen living. Decisions at the points where we ask for them, because a design waits where it is until it has one. And the truth about budget at the beginning, so we design something that can be built.
Questions
How involved do I need to be? Heavily in Discover and Define, lightly in Develop, and only at the agreed approvals after that.
Can we change our minds? Yes, and the earlier the cheaper. A change in Concept costs a conversation. The same change after joinery is in production costs real money, and we will tell you which one you are making.
What do we own at the end? The design documents for your home are yours.