The Golden Triangle: Real Estate Agent & Interior Designer Guy Clark Is Making His Mark

Guy Clark was the realtor on the recent sale of a condominium at the La Clara, a 26-story building on S. Flagler Drive across from the Everglades Country Club in West Palm Beach.

While most real estate agents’ work is done after the deal closes, he also did the interior design for the unit on one of the building’s top floors.

“Now I’m decorating it for my clients,” Clark, a sales associate at Douglas Elliman in Palm Beach, said. “I bought the furniture, removed walls, painted and then installed custom wallpapers all before my clients ever saw the place. They have an amazing 320-degree view. You can see down to Manalapan and up to Singer Island. There’s nothing to block their views, so I made sure that the views were the primary focus.”

In the world of high-end real estate, after the real estate agent or broker finishes, an interior decorator sometimes steps in. One finds the property, while the other helps furnish and finish it.

When one person brings both real estate sales and design skill, the result can be a seamless process.

Clark, an agent and designer on a wide range of properties in and near Palm Beach, brings a background in real estate as well as decades of interior design. As an American Society of Interior Designers accredited interior designer for 20 years, he brings design expertise to his track record of real estate sales.

“My real estate buyers appreciate my depth of interior design knowledge that helps them visualize what their new home can look like,” Clark said.

An interior design background also comes in handy with staging, where proper furnishings and layout can help boost sales prices.

“I’m able to help my real estate sellers stage their homes in order to create the correct environment to get their homes sold,” he said.

WHAT IS THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE?

While two sets of skills can help, Clark also brings geographical expertise as well. And in an area with residents who have multiple residences, this geographic reach is becoming a big plus for some.

Clark works and specializes in the Hamptons, Manhattan and Palm Beach, or what he calls the “Golden Triangle.”

He just sold a Park Avenue apartment and has one on Fifth Avenue about the close, is currently working on a big deal in the Hamptons, and recently did interior design for an apartment on S. Ocean Boulevard in Palm Beach.

“It’s hotter than most markets,” he said of Palm Beach. “It’s such an attractive market for so many reasons.”

In less than five years in Palm Beach, an area where taxes, weather and amenities create the perfect sunny day, he has sold 84 properties, some as high as many millions of dollars.

“During the pandemic, I sold so much … it was like fishing with a net. I was selling a home or an apartment almost every other week,” he said of Palm Beach. “A lot of my friends and clients were moving down from New York. They all wanted to come to Palm Beach. After all, it is America’s version of Monte Carlo. It is a beautiful playground for adults with means.”

PORTRAIT OF A DESIGNER

Real estate agents often have previous careers, although in Clark’s case, he remains an interior designer and real estate agent.

After graduating from Syracuse University with a degree in Quantitative Analysis and Business Marketing, he worked at Cartier in New York selling important jewels.

After that job ran its course, he wanted a totally new career, so he made a list of jobs he could do and a list of those jobs he would like to do. Interior designer was on both of those lists.

So with his impressive list of high-end jewelry clients, he began doing interior design work for their homes and apartments, starting Guy Clark Interiors in 1999 in Manhattan.

Clark quickly found himself doing design work in New York City, around the nation and the world, from Manhattan to Los Angeles, and from Spain to Sweden.

His work has appeared in many publications, and he did seven interior design segments for the hit NBC show Open House New York.

“Open House was very good to have in my portfolio,” he said. “That’s a nationally viewed program, and everyone loves it. Some of my YouTube episodes for NBC have been viewed 70,000 times, so the exposure is amazing.”

Clark and his husband, Harrison Morgan, moved part time to Palm Beach in 2015, after wintering in Vero Beach since Clark was a child.

“Once we moved to Palm Beach, I was bored, so I decided to start buying apartments, renovating them, and then selling them for a profit,” he said. “Then I decided I should get my real estate license too. My first listing was a home in the Estate Section that I spruced up and staged. All of the other agents told me that it was a tear-down, but I sold it in two months at full price for $5 million. That showed them that I wasn’t just a flash in the pan, and that I meant business”

Some people, he said, want to sell their properties “off market” without publicly listing them to avoid publicity.

“There are very private people. I know of a house on the water that’s 10,000 square feet. Nobody knows it’s for sale,” Clark continued. “But when you have something off market, it can be much harder to find the right somebody for it. You need a good Rolodex.”

THE PRICE IS RIGHT

Clark says he generally takes interior design commissions of $500,000 or more, typically for homes 5,000 square feet or more, and apartments 3,000 square feet or more.

“I generally do everything: construction oversight, architectural review, decorating and sometimes property management,” he said. “I often continue to manage the properties for them when they’re not here. I can sell it to them, design it, decorate and manage it.”

Often one job for a client will turn into other jobs, as well. He handled the interior design on Park Avenue for a British family and ended up doing designs for their home in Majorca, and for their yacht.

“Just by using my laptop I can help the clients to visualize in a three-dimensional way what a future interior is going to look like,” Clark said. “It is so easy these days, but when I started out, I had to hand paint vignettes to help people to visualize the end products. Those drawings were very time consuming. Technology sure has made my life much easier!”

THE DEAL OF THE ART

Clark also can get involved in selecting art for apartments or houses.

“I go to most of the shows, local ones as well as in other places like New York and Miami,” he said. “I have a file on my computer of artists whom I like and who I think are appropriate for my interior design style.”

He usually commissions custom-made furniture using a company in the Bronx to implement his own designs.

“I’ve been working with them for the 25 years I’ve been in business,” Clark said. “They will make anything I can dream up.”

He recently had another specialty shop in New York make a huge chandelier out of grape vines by running wires inside the vines.

“I’m more than a designer, decorator or realtor — I’m a full-service business with many facets,” he said. “Most design firms have a lot of minions doing the work, but it’s only me doing everything, even going every day to the job sites. I love being in control of the entire process.”

RETURN VISITS

Clark also does work for clients long after they move in, helping them redo wallpaper, paint and upholstery to keep his designs looking fresh.

“Every seven or eight years, you have to start redoing things,” he said. “You’re never really done with a client until they say you’re done.”

He sometimes also gets involved in other aspects of clients’ lives, if they need the help.

Clark recently hired a cleaning service for one client and a personal trainer for another client. It is all part of his “one-stop service,” he said.

“I’m more than interior design and real estate,” Clark added. “I try to do everything possible to make my clients’ lives easier and better. My clients expect full service from me, and I am always happy to provide just that.”

Visit decoratorguy.com for more about Guy Clark Interiors, or find him at elliman.com.

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