Discover how CI Design + Build creates innovative homes that prioritize personal wellbeing  

When transforming a house into a home, it’s the little details that truly matter – the things that make you feel at peace as you leave the hustle and bustle of the outside world at the door. The concept of wellness and ‘dopamine décor’ is trending now more than ever, with many people craving a slice of heaven within their own homes, whether that’s the feeling of luxury spa treatment, a corner to host and entertain, or even those adjustments that make life just a bit easier. That’s why Chicago-based CI Design + Build (CI Design) is committed to turning those fantasies into reality. 

Building a home with CI Design is a truly turnkey experience. Its company ethos advocates for wellness and self-care, emphasizing that no place is more important for your wellbeing than your own home. CI Design doesn’t just design homes; it builds sanctuaries, a home that lives and breathes your lifestyle from every corner, from sunrise to sunset. Pioneering this holistic approach is company Principal Michael Miller, who followed his passions to found CI Design in 2009. With personal wellness being more important than ever before, Modern Home Builders recently sat down with Michael to learn more about how the company creates individualistic homes centered around balance, calmness and, most importantly, its clients. Michael begins our conversation with some insight into his background within the industry and what inspired the inception of CI Design. 

“I’ve been in the industry for almost 30 years now. I went to school to study mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering, but I knew I had more of a passion for design as a whole,” he reveals. “When I branched out into the industry itself, I moved into doing general contracting because I understood the infrastructure and design elements. Soon after, I was able to do a lot of three-dimensional design work and grew more interested in the residential side. I really enjoyed the more personal nature of being able to work on somebody’s home – something that had their personality, passion and heart. I really wanted to build holistic turnkey solutions for our client, so they’ll be dealing with one company that manages everything from concept to completion, controlling the cost, the schedule, the quality, and, in turn, deliver a much better product.” 

Building better lives 

Whilst modern home design tends to be a collaborative process, CI Design goes one step further to truly understand not merely the clients’ vision, but who they are as people. By truly understanding clients’ needs, passions, and requirements, the company creates truly personalized homes that translate a client’s desires into a design that fits perfectly with their preferences and lifestyle.  

“When it comes to working with a client, we want to make sure that there’s a good, mutual fit between their needs and who we are,” Michael says. “We want them to buy into our process so that we can take them through this journey. We give each new client a ‘client discovery profile’ to help us to understand what their expectations are and who they are as an individual. We want to understand what our clients do at home on a day-to-day basis to assess how our design can improve their lives. That’s one of our main brand pillars – to build better lives for our clients.” 

Creating your forever home is a huge investment, one that can generate a great deal of stress, but CI Design’s comprehensive breadth of capabilities keeps the process simple and exciting. Its expansive portfolio of wellbeing options features all the luxurious elements that you’d dream about when visiting a spa or a resort, all available to build into your own home. From the comfiest bed to innovative lighting, audio, visual and HVAC integrations to home gyms and even saunas, Michael and his team believe strongly in the power of comfort in being your best self. 

“Lighting is a huge part of our approach. We use a lot of circadian rhythm and ambient lighting. We’re working on a project right now where we’ve utilized a smart home automation system; in the morning, the lighting is a little more vibrant to provide energy and emulate the sun to avoid the winter blues, and then at night, our lighting and temperature controls change gradually to prep the clients for a good night’s sleep,” Michael explains. “We also do a lot of work with air and water purification, filtration, ionization, etc. The quality of air in your home and control of temperature and humidity is very important, not just for our bodies but for maintaining our furniture and artwork. We’re working with an amazing couple at the moment who have a young family and a home in the Gold Coast of Chicago, and we’ve designing a whole wellness center downstairs. We’re creating a beautiful integrated infrared sauna with built-in glass lighting, cool ambience, aromatherapy, and a rain shower. It’s probably one of my favorite projects going on right now. I want people to invest in themselves to live a better life. 

Invest in wellness 

“The most important thing is visualization, and we use technology within our company to provide a better design experience. By using 3D walkthroughs and renders, our clients can see how all the elements and materials come together and what the architecture will really look like in their home. We also fit a lot of smart home technology: automated shades, heated flooring, HVAC and humidity control, built in TVs and speakers. I love that we can personalize these solutions for our clients. The better the home functions, the better our bodies feel. We take a very holistic approach and it’s what makes us unique.” 

Looking ahead to the future, CI Design will continue to champion the unique, turnkey approach that has differentiated it from its competitors in the market for over 15 years. With lots more projects on the horizon, the company is excited to extend its passion and expertise to improve the lives of even more clients as they move into their dream homes. 

“We want to be known in the market for being the go-to firm in Chicago where people are coming to us because they value their own personal wellness and quality of life, and because they want to invest in themselves,” Michael concludes. “We want it to be known that our visions align with those values.”  

www.cidesignbuild.com