Process

The wellness interior design process, phase by phase

A wellness interior design project with Nataly Karavay moves through five phases: programming, concept design, 3D visualization, construction documentation, and construction support. Each phase ends with a named deliverable in your hands, so you always know what has been decided, what it will look like, and what happens next. Nataly leads every project herself, drawing in the studio’s network of specialists — and coordinating with your architect, engineers, and contractor — as the work requires.

Programming

The space measured, your practice understood, and the plan tested before anything is committed.

Dimensioned 2D floor plan of a studio apartment with furniture laid out: seating, bed, kitchen run, and bathroom.
White-mode 3D cutaway of the same studio apartment viewed from above at an angle, walls and furniture as a grey working model.
Deliverable — the 2D floor plan, tested through furniture arrangements, then the white-mode 3D floor plan that prototypes the space · Studio apartment, residential project

Programming is where every project begins: with what is actually there — the space, measured precisely, and your practice, understood in depth. The space is surveyed by the studio or a trusted survey firm producing as-built drawings, and you are interviewed about your treatments, your operations, and how a guest or patient should move through a visit. Requirements, site analysis, and code research happen here. Then the plan is tested: a 2D floor plan worked through multiple furniture and equipment arrangements, followed by a white-mode 3D floor plan that acts as a prototype of the space, exposing weak points in flow and volume before anything is committed. A flow problem caught here costs a revision; the same problem caught after framing costs a change order.

What you receive

  • As-built measurements and drawings of your space
  • A written program: requirements, site analysis, and code research
  • A 2D floor plan, tested through multiple arrangements
  • A white-mode 3D floor plan — a working prototype of the space

Who else is at the table

You and your team are the primary voices in this phase — the interviews about treatments and operations shape everything downstream. A survey firm may produce the as-built drawings. If you have not committed to a space yet, this is the moment to bring the studio in to assess whether a location will suit your program: plumbing for wet zones, ceiling heights, structural constraints, code implications. There is no less expensive point in the whole project to find a dealbreaker. Nataly owns the measurement, the interviews, the code research, and the plan.

Concept design

The atmosphere, palette, and material language fixed before detailed work begins.

Mood board of interior references: pale plaster walls, steel-framed glazed partitions, oak furniture, linen upholstery, and soft daylight.
Deliverable — mood board fixing the atmosphere, palette, and material language · Studio mood board, residential project

Concept design fixes the creative direction before detailed work begins: the atmosphere, the palette, and the material language of the space. This is where the feeling of the finished environment is decided — how the light will sit, how materials will read to the hand and the bare foot, how the mood shifts as a guest moves deeper inside. Mood boards and style references make that direction concrete enough to agree on, so the phases that follow are execution rather than reinvention. This phase moves at the pace of decisions, which means your responsiveness is part of the schedule.

What you receive

  • Mood boards fixing the atmosphere, palette, and material language
  • Style references that anchor the direction for every phase that follows

Who else is at the table

This phase is largely a conversation between you and Nataly. The studio is a network of independent specialists — designers, architects, and advisers — who join when the project calls for it, but the creative and strategic vision here is Nataly’s, and the decisions are yours.

3D visualization

You approve the space before it exists.

White working 3D model of a living room with a pitched timber-beam ceiling and floor-to-ceiling glazing, before materials and lighting.
The same living room as a photorealistic rendering: pale boucle sofa, black suspended stove, oak floor, and a view over the bay.
Deliverable — the same room as a white working model, then as a photorealistic rendering · Acacia Retreat House, Tiburon

The concept becomes photorealistic renderings: the space built at true scale in software, with real textures, accurate proportions, and lighting that behaves as it will in life. Renderings exist so you can catch a decision you would regret while it is still cheap to change — a room that reads colder than intended, a sightline that exposes what should be private, a material that photographs well but sits wrong in the light. You approve the space before it exists.

What you receive

  • Photorealistic 3D renderings of the designed space, at true scale and in true light

Who else is at the table

Visualization draws on the studio’s CGI specialist. Nataly owns the design intent behind every frame; your role is to look hard, ask questions, and approve — this is the last inexpensive moment to change your mind.

Construction documentation

The drawing set a contractor prices and builds from — in Los Angeles or well beyond it.

Construction drawing sheet titled Elevations — Entry and Staircase: interior elevations with dimensions, area callouts, and material notes.
Deliverable — construction drawing sheet: interior elevations, entry and staircase · Acacia Retreat House, Tiburon

Construction documentation is the phase that separates a concept from a space that can be built. The studio produces the complete drawing set, specifications, and buying lists a contractor prices and builds from — with building codes, fire safety, accessibility, and coordination with MEP engineers handled inside the work rather than left to chance. In clinical and wet environments these are not paperwork; they shape the plan. The documents are made complete enough that a local contractor can build without improvising, which is what makes it possible for the studio to work well beyond Los Angeles.

What you receive

  • The complete construction drawing set
  • Specifications and buying lists a contractor can price and order from
  • Code, fire safety, and accessibility compliance built into the documents
  • Coordination with MEP engineers

Who else is at the table

Your architect, if the project touches the building itself — an architect resolves the structure, envelope, and shell; Nataly resolves everything a guest experiences inside it, documented to construction level and coordinated with the architect and the MEP engineers. Many spa and clinic projects in existing buildings are led by the interior designer. Nataly owns the drawing set and the coordination.

Construction support

The space you approved in the renderings is the space that opens.

Reception of the Mind Sanctuary clinic: two cream columns, a curved desk, warm timber shelving, and a sheer curtain.
Waiting lounge of the Mind Sanctuary clinic: two brown velvet armchairs before a folding timber screen, with a floor lamp and sheer curtains.
Deliverable — the opened space: reception and waiting lounge · Mind Sanctuary, psychiatry & wellness clinic, California

In construction support, the designer stays alongside the project through build-out and installation, resolving the questions every construction site produces, so the finished space matches the drawings. Site meetings run in person, remotely, or both — distance does not compromise oversight of the details. Construction runs on the contractor’s calendar, with the studio supporting rather than controlling it; the studio’s job in this phase is fidelity, making sure the space you approved in the renderings is the space that opens.

What you receive

  • Ongoing design support through construction and installation
  • Site meetings — in person, remotely, or both
  • Resolution of the questions the job site produces, kept true to the drawings

Who else is at the table

Your general contractor leads the build and owns the construction schedule. Nataly owns the design’s integrity — answering the contractor’s questions, reviewing the work against the documents, and staying involved until installation is complete.

Nataly Karavay.

After opening

The relationship does not end at the ribbon. From the beginning, and at every stage, the studio works with clients in a collaborative partnership — and supports them after completion. A wellness space is a living thing: operations evolve, treatments are added, rooms are repurposed. Clients come back to the studio because the person who designed the space is still the person who understands it.

The same five phases carry a med spa or wellness clinic, a day spa or bathhouse, a boutique hotel, or a wellness residence from first survey to opening day. And if you are still comparing designers, the studio’s guide to choosing a spa interior designer explains how to evaluate any designer’s process — this page is the studio’s answer.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Does an interior designer replace the architect?
No. An architect resolves the building — structure, envelope, and shell. Nataly resolves everything a guest experiences inside it: the plan, the sequence of rooms, lighting, acoustics, materials, and furnishings, documented to construction level and coordinated with your architect and MEP engineers. Many spa and clinic projects in existing buildings are led by the interior designer; where a project needs architectural depth, the studio’s own network includes it.
Do you work with our contractor?
Yes. The construction documents are made complete enough that a local contractor can build from them without improvising, and the studio stays involved through construction support — site meetings in person or remotely, and answers to the questions every job site produces — so the finished space matches the drawings.
How long does the spa design process take?
It depends on the scope, the space, and the phase — a single treatment suite and a full clinic build-out sit on very different schedules, and no honest designer will quote a duration before understanding all three. What you can expect is structure: clear phases with defined deliverables and milestones, and a proposed schedule set early, so you know what happens at each stage. Programming rewards patience, concept moves at the pace of your decisions, documentation takes the time the building demands, and construction runs on the contractor’s calendar.
Can we start mid-project?
Often, yes — where the work begins depends on what already exists. Phased engagement is a legitimate way to manage risk: concept and renderings first, documentation when you are ready to build. If you already hold plans, a lease, or a contractor, those become inputs to programming rather than reasons to start over. And if you have not signed a lease yet, say so — the cheapest moment in the entire project to find a problem is before you commit to a space.

Start with a conversation

A relaxed call about your space and your goals — no cost, no pressure.

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