​Interior Design, including trends and fads, is usually driven by artistic, circumstantial and authentic design factors – and it’s good to know that there are elements of close control involved.  And, it is nice to have choices and input, industry by industry, concerning what will drive the next trends in style, color, cultural emphasis and other nuance.
 
But, greater external circumstances can turn choice on its head and force us (to some degree) to follow rather than lead.  When pragmatism following disaster, drives change and choices, creativity is challenged; and innovation must often develop within somewhat more confining parameters.

​Remember when you were a kid watching your Mom making your favorite cake or cookies?   Remember how sometimes you could hardly stand still until it came out of the oven smelling wonderful – and you STILL had to wait until they cooled off?
 
If you are thinking about an Interior Design project, are getting close to selecting your team, are impatient to get all the “ingredients” lined up and want the finished product NOW ... Well it is not greatly unlike watching your Mom plan, shop, assemble the ingredients, find the time, get started and then deal with your impatience for the delectable finished product!
 
If you wonder (even for a minute) what kinds of things could drive your design team off the rails and stark-raving-crazy, your impatience with “the time it takes” would be at the top of the list!
 
However, the close second, the next choice for driving your team over the edge?   You, making snap judgments before the whole plan and all elements are pulled together in final form and coordinated into appropriate harmony and balance!  
 
(Don’t know about you, but if my brother or I tried to get a finger-full of cookie dough before Mom was done mixing, we took the chance of getting our knuckles rapped!   But, if we were patient, we would get the spoon and bowl to lick when she was done! ) 

Whatever the circumstances, or the scope of your Interior Design project, managing the costs factor is mandatory, challenging and a mutual responsibility!
 
At the front end of your relationship with your Interior designer, the project is discussed, defined, and conceptualized.  You, the Client, convey your ideas, your wishes and preferences, i.e., your vision, to the Interior design expert.   Whether your Interior design project is a small bath and kitchen remodel, or a full Interior environment (business, professional or residential), it will involve a host of “aspects” and an amazing number of “details.”  Each of those factors will be made up of many, many choices and decisions.  And each of those factors, plus your Interior Design team’s time, will represent expenditures.  Easy to speculate; but demanding of careful consideration of overall costs!
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It’s an art.  Some say a skill; some, a talent.   Nevertheless, your Interior designer or team needs to be able to show you when less is more and when enough is enough in Interior design decision-making!  Nothing can splash cold water on a hot Interior design concept faster than not knowing that critical point where going further can be a spoiler.
 
In a past article, “When Enough Is Enough And Less Is More!” I discussed critical points concerning the quantification factor when making choices for an Interior design.  We considered “how much” and “how many” of a good thing was appropriate for a given situation, location and environment.  We looked at all factors such as the over-use of a favorite color or accessory components.  For instance, a very small area can be made into a cozy, inviting place; however, taken too far, it can become just a crowded, uninviting area.  Quantity matters!

​There’s a very long list of awful Interior Design “surprises” you wouldn’t like – but let’s explore just a few!
 
One of my favorites (that I have experienced several times with equally surprised clients) happens when a client wants to refurbish – or restore – an old building.  It could be residential or commercial –but it’s true for both: the older the building the more the surprises and more expensive!    You can almost bet that behind those walls amazing features may be discovered.  In one situation, we discovered that two major support beams must have been “in the way” for some resident years ago; they just sawed them off, top and bottom, for a better furniture arrangement in their living room.  Luck must have been in their favor and that of subsequent residents.  The upper floors started to sag a little, but fortunately hadn’t yet collapsed.   Advice?  If you are interested in fixing up an old property, get your General Contractor to do a thorough inspection before you make changes!
 

The marriage of light and materials needs to be a good match!  You want your Interior Vision to match the reality! ​

​Like a table with a missing leg, a project without the appropriate collaborative team just won’t stand up to its responsibilities.   It’s an invitation for confusion, mistakes, delays and collapse.
 
It is a rare project that can find its way to satisfactory conclusion without an integrated team and a commitment to teamwork.  Even the smallest project has parts that depend on other parts, skills and talents that come from several sources.   And there may be complex aspects that require special expertise.
 
Your design team is an orchestrated collaboration of the resources that your professional designer has determined essential from your plan guidelines.  It is important to know who needs to provide what, at what point in the process and in conjunction with which other procedures!    Coordinating the players, timing their interface, having what each needs when they need it, is the overriding design within the master design plan.
 
When your interior designer comes on board to your project, there may already be an architect deeply invested in master plans and construction drawings.  Most architects have a network of affiliations with specific commercial and residential interior designers.  They ordinarily invite the appropriate “match” to participate in their contracted project.

​Sometimes it’s a hard sell, because putting the whole team together at the front end of your project may seem premature and cumbersome.  Some professionals may agree with that caution.  However, bringing all aspects into focus in the initial planning process has many advantages that outweigh the resistance to do so. 
 
Envisioning the full scope of a design project as early as possible can eliminate both misconceptions and serious conflicts further down the line.
 
Organizing your team leadership participators in brainstorming and troubleshooting eliminates unrealistic perceptions that may exist concerning factors of cost, feasibility and possibility!
 
If you are an old hand at design projects involving all modes from completely new build-outs to remodeling and refreshing, you will probably see the wisdom in addressing as much as possible, up front.  On the other hand, if you are new at the game, it is worth your while to take a breath and slow down a bit.   Jumping right in with a chosen first priority, then winging it as you move along -- continually searching for the next-needed expert – is a recipe for trouble.

We can all probably agree that it’s the accents, the focus elements and the unique twists that get our attention ‑ at first!   Color combinations you might not have guessed would go perfectly together, or the way a vintage component fits right in with a complementary contemporary design are signs of the professional touch: knowing how to accent without over-kill!
 
“Eye candy” is great when it does the job of introducing, accenting, balancing or coordinating appropriate Interior design that successfully represents the client’s vision.  In fact, those interesting accents are often the subtle glue that ties other elements together.  Tastefully selected and conservatively implemented, a special element, material or color can provide connection between various areas of a facility, home or professional practice.
 
Trouble happens with just too much of a good thing!  When it may get out of hand, and the eye candy becomes a distraction to the overall Interior design goals, rather than a subtle connector, it can be as much of a flop as good music played too loud or too much sugar spoiling a perfect cup of coffee.   You have to know when enough is enough!
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​It would be difficult to overemphasize the importance of timing and the many ways in which other patterns and problems can compromise essential timing rhythms.
 
When a prospective client first speculates about really doing the project they have long been considering, they then want to accomplish it as soon as possible.  Although it may have been months or even years since they first thought seriously about it, once a decision has been made to move ahead, it seems from that point on impatience sets in!

Some impatience is just the very real and congenial excitement and anticipation of actually seeing their vision take substance. On the other hand, some impatience is about not quite understanding the inter-locking, carefully timed moves and actions it takes to bring the project along smoothly to satisfactory completion.

​When English is the client’s second language, communication can run into snags, and misunderstandings can innocently develop.
 
Many of us speak more than one language.  As our developing world has expanded and transportation has shortened the distances among differing cultures, our communities have become more diverse – and more interesting.
 
While there are many advantages in being able to speak more than one language, and understand translation of its words, we think in our original and first language.  Literal translation, unfortunately, does not deliver all the goods! 
 
There are simple expressions typical of each language, there is “slang,” there are variations in the usage of the same word and many other subtleties that provide the perfect set of circumstances for misunderstanding.  Add in the factor of accents and pronunciation, and the odds increase for simple comprehension problems.

​Just as we all have individual personalities, preferences, wishes, dreams and idiosyncrasies –kitchens are special, individualistic Interior space!  (...or they should be!)
 
The outfitting of a kitchen should agree with the importance of a kitchen to the individual most likely to use it.  Your professional Interior design team knows that getting it right with your kitchen design is a top priority for a functional, balanced home.   Matching a kitchen design to its projected use and user is just good old common sense!
 
Home kitchens have evolved amazingly in recent decades.   The very early paradigm of kitchen as the family gathering place (often the only heated room in the house) has evolved and transitioned with many, many variations.   All reflect the residents’ lifestyle.

​For those familiar with flow charts and critical path planning in their everyday work, the meaning will jump right out! 
 
However, not everyone is involved with very close and precisely timed junctures in their ordinary work patterns.
 
Achieving your desired project completion date hinges on a series of activities, availabilities, choices, decisions and actions that must converge appropriately.   They are the functional elements that exist within each phase and aspect of your project, and are strategized by your design team at the front end of the project.  Also built into the plan are allowances for flexibility in situations not entirely predictable at the start.

​It can be a real challenge to meet the holiday seasons with good taste that enhances – not harms --your year-round environment.   Whether you are planning for residential or business celebrations, take the time to think it through-- for good presentation and good use of funds.
 
Regarding Holiday Decorations, you will want to put enthusiasm and holiday spirit into all your efforts, but not compromise your basic decor, color scheming or furnishings.   Many of the things available for holiday ambiance come with some risk.  Some even present subtle forms of wear and tear to existing finishes and flooring.

​ Some can drive your design team stark raving nutz!
 
The serious side of this problem is no laughing matter, and nutz or not, time is money and that invoice in the mail is the bottom line clincher.  It is vital to know all the facts about how it got to that number.
 
We all like to think we are efficient – and prudent.  But, too often, little stuff adds up and disputes that assumption.
 
How efficient is it, for instance, to take four five- minute phone calls with your designer waiting each time (on the clock) to continue your meeting?  Do you think your professional should “give you” that quarter hour?   Or, when your designer arrives on time for your appointment and you keep them waiting thirty minutes – do you think they should clock off?  (You would not want your designer taking phone calls or texting while you were paying them to be focused on you!)

​Transform:  to change completely or essentially in composition or structure; to change the outward form or appearance of;  (Webster/Chambers/Oxford).
 
Professional Interior Design is a professional service that an expert drives and a client navigates.  The success or shortfall depends almost entirely on communication!   The “where to begin” and the “arrival at desired outcome” depend heavily on one component – client – imprinting another component – Interior designer or team – with the desired vision.  Easy?  Well, not always!
 
In “transformative” Interior design, the challenge antes-up considerably, and the journey is quite different when compared with Interior design that springs from existing patterns and tastes, refreshment Interior design that maintains and corrects, or remodeling Interior design that grows an environment with upgrades but preserves the known and obvious preferences.