Palm Springs - Blackbird Interiors

When a home in the Coachella Valley gets snatched up for over $6 million, there’s a strong chance that Blackbird Interiors designed it.

Bob Call and Kathy Blackbird are a team in business and in life. Their marriage of more than two decades harmonizes with their collaborative interior design approach, which allows them to overlap their strengths, brainstorm creatively together, and conjure up large-scale concepts and custom pieces to surpass their clients’ wildest dreams.

For 25-plus years, Blackbird Interiors has blazed a trail of fast-selling spec homes. These homes combine with a range of eyebrow-raising estates for high profile clients. This includes Bighorn Golf Club chairman and managing director R.D. Hubbard and his wife, whose 10,000-square-foot Bighorn residence accommodates hundreds of guests for gatherings, yet exudes inviting warmth with just a note of the spirited West.

We spend time with each client to have the final result reflect a comfortable lifestyle they will love," says Blackbird. "Our homes provide a distinctively warm and earthy experience, one that’s both soothing and energizing." At left, their recent work at Bighorn.

Unconventional home theaters with flexible seating areas, avantgarde spins on classic wine rooms, bountifully layered custom wall treatments, unexpected ambient lighting, and continuous innovation with natural materials are among the team’s trademarks.

"I think people are very connected to earth elements," Blackbird says. "And those elements are very sophisticated when used in the right ways throughout a home." Quartz, stone, and wood find dramatic incarnations in this firm’s projects. As a finishing touch, the duo’s relationships with new artists and celebrated galleries alike assure environments that sing with soul. Their accumulation of industry awards is well-deserved — including yet another in 2015 for "Best Interior Design — Custom Homes" for a home in Bighorn from the Building Industry Association of San Diego.

Apart from their keen sense of what discriminating homeowners want to see now — which often includes contemporary design schemes and free-flowing floor plans infused with an organic tranquility — Blackbird and Call are known for genuine interactions. Their instinctive ability to relate to homeowners of all ages, sensibilities, and tastes rounds out the full Blackbird Interiors package.

How does your design approach as a husband and wife team set you apart?

BC: Kathy is hugely talented in the finish materials package and, of course, wonderfully innovative in our furniture design. [Meanwhile, his own extensive experience as a builder brings a unique mix of talents, technical skills, and point-of-view synergy to the table.]

How do we know a Blackbird-designed home when we see one?

BC: Desert contemporary connected to nature with elegance. Nature is our most significant inspiration right now, along with new creative artwork. We have our eyes open for new artists who are up-and-coming. When we see something that clicks with us, we try to give them an opportunity and wow our clients with something they haven’t seen before.

What defines the style inside your own home?

BC: Perhaps transitional warehouse! Pieces tend to come in and go out as needed. It creates a comfortable but interesting environment that is always in flux.

What’s your wish for the Coachella Valley?

BC: To continue in what we see as aggressiveness in innovative design.

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Photo Courtesy Palm Springs CVB

Bob Call and Kathy Blackbird of Blackbird Interiors Share Their Wish List

Bob says:

1 A trip to the beautiful Amalfi Coast. We’ve been a couple of times and it’s one of the most unbelievable places in the world.

2 A midday nap on a sandy beach would be really nice.

3 Having been to it the past three years, we’re already looking forward to the 2016 Stagecoach Country Music Festival next spring. For 2015, I was most excited about seeing Tim McGraw.