When it comes to designing your home, a space that reflects your personality and your life is always in style. If you’re looking for your space to feel like the open, timeless, and luxurious homes you flip through in magazines and see on your dream home listings, its designers like Romina Hilbert from Form and Flow design that make it happen.
Romina is a Chula Vista resident who spends her time designing spaces for homeowners throughout San Diego with her signature Form and Flow method. If you’re about to launch a home remodel or are designing a house of your own from the ground up, she’s the person you want to call.
In Romina’s signature method, “Form” reflects the more structural parts of the process. Things like measurements and proportions, what materials to use, acoustics, and building constraints. The “Flow” represents the softer stuff, like designing how you will be using the space, how it feels emotionally, and how you hope to move through your home. In order to do this part well, Romina spends time in conversation with her clients in order to really understand them. How do they live? What do they love? “I need to get to actually know [my clients] before making any design decisions, so I can make the whole process more manageable and less overwhelming for them. So I can make a space that really feels like them.”
Romina’s Form and Flow approach is rooted in connection and authenticity, taking into account a holistic perspective on what it means to design a home. In person, Romina radiates the same authentic love, care, and a deep appreciation for the way a space impacts people’s everyday lives. Her creative yet detailed personality shines through in her approach, making sure every decision serves a purpose, every choice reflects her client’s individual style, and every design culminates in a space that works beautifully for their everyday lives.
Values That Make a Difference
Romina’s Form and Flow method stems from a set of five values that are infused into every client conversation she has.
The first is Refinement. “Refinement means it’s my job to pay attention to the details that I learn from my client. Those details really help elevate a space without making it feel over designed. My goal is for everything to feel natural.”
Next, Connection. “When we’re talking about connection, it means designing spaces around the people who live there. Every decision should support how they gather, how they relax, how they work, how they live in general, and how people connect with each other.”
Honesty - “It's very important to me that my clients feel like they have someone they can rely on. I live in the design world every day, but of course, there's people that don't understand construction or how to get all of the pieces in the puzzle together. My goal is to help them understand that they can trust the process. I create a relationship of transparent communication and make sure I am not just following trends, but creating a space that reflects their true essence.”
The fourth value is Fluidity. “Fluidity it's all about adaptation. Life is always changing, and I believe homes should adapt to those changes. I believe in designing spaces that are flexible and effortless, that feel natural as well as unique. The space should serve the client and be a means for them to express themselves.”
And finally, Creativity. “This one is my favorite. To me, creativity is about finding unique solutions that balance the beauty that we want to see daily with functionality and practicality. Being able to bring those two together, it's really what makes us great.”
What Does a Home Designer Do?
From the materials chosen, to the color and stain options, to the dimensions of a space and communication with the building contractors—designers help craft the entire picture of a home, inch by inch.
The process is less about designing a home that feels untouchable, and more about crafting a home that feels beautiful and stylish, yet fits and flows with your life. Some questions you may explore are things like, where do you spend the most time in your home? The kitchen? Den? Backyard? What do you want your home to feel like? If you aren't quite sure yet, that's where Romina works her magic. When working through a home design process, Romina brings clarity to your swirling or muddled ideas and then brings life to them with the practical steps needed to make it happen.
Romina fell in love with interior design specifically through this pairing of creativity and practicality. After growing up in three different countries, she never quite had the opportunity to make her space feel fully like her own until she was much older. Once she finally could, she fell in love with it. Now she finds her joy in designing beautiful spaces for others, too. For her, it’s the perfect match of meticulous details and deep creativity that feed her, "the perfect mix of architecture and art,” she describes.
When we asked Romina where she gets her inspiration from, she gleamed: “I draw inspiration from traveling, I love to travel. I also draw inspiration from architecture, fashion, and especially from nature. I believe humans are meant to be outdoors — the birds, the trees — there is so much there. I am also inspired by Architectural Digest magazine (AD), and of course, my son. Everything I do is for him.”
The one thing Romina wants people to know when it comes to her work, is that it’s not worth waiting until you are overwhelmed to bring in a designer. Do it from the beginning or your home build or remodel. It will make your whole process more seamless and you will save money, time, and most significantly, stress.
At the end of the day, Romina says that good design is not about creating a picture perfect home, though that is often one of her goals. “What it’s really about is your home supporting your everyday life and feeling both beautiful and functional.”
“I believe that if I've done my job well, my client’s finished space won't just look good, it will make their daily life easier, their home more comfortable, and their life more enjoyable.”
"I believe that if I've done my job well, my client’s finished space won't just look good, it will make their daily life easier, their home more comfortable, and their life more enjoyable.”