​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.

​Be it a cottage, a nest, a classic or a mansion, one’s home is a personal and intimate place.  Homes are reflections and projections of their owners and occupants.  Most homes are desired havens from the external contrasts where individuals work, visit and take care of life’s other necessities.
 
When the interior design of someone’s home is entrusted to a professional team, it is an extraordinary privilege.  In order to achieve and deliver the personal vision of a residential client, design professionals must actually intrude upon that client’s tastes, dreams and comfort-zones.  Your designer must learn not only what you want for your home, but also how you feel about that environment.

​Commercial Interior Design has many disciplines to consider!  That’s one big reason why preliminary brainstorming and conferencing with a business client is very important.  Once the paper work is wrapped up, the planning process begins and needs to be thorough.
 
There are several aspects to any small business operation.  There are, of course, the central and primary services or products that the business offers to its community market.  Those entail appropriate space planning and development as well as coordination of all the finishes, equipment, furnishings, etc., necessary for the specific circumstances.  And, because Interior business space integrity is an essential part of the business marketing plan (or should be), the Interior design must comprehensively synchronize with the desired business image.

​Isn’t it interesting how we often describe colors and lighting in terms of our sense of touch?  Lights are soft; that color feels cold, and so on.  It’s because the concepts of color and light are deeply integrated with texture, particularly in design considerations.
 
There are significant differences between painting a wall “flat,” and, texturing it first, then painting.  Applied color changes because of the highs and lows of a texture; light will play capriciously as textures vary.
 
Your designer must consider all textures carefully when choosing lighting, and color. That is one of the junctures where all three elements must be simultaneously managed.  It is important to remember that changing one of these factors affects all three.

​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.

​The simple fact remains:  there is always a first time; and that goes for design concepts as well.
 
When a professional shares experience, a portfolio, a website or a physical site tour, there is a good chance that you may not see an installation “exactly similar” to what you have in mind!   And, while that is kind of an oxymoron, it is a comment made often by prospects:  Well, that’s similar...but not exactly!
 
Probably the reason you don’t see your envisioned project in the designer’s review is because it hasn’t been designed – yet!  When you think about it, you will probably be pleased at that insight; it means that your project will be unique.

​In dreaming then planning for your Interior Design project, almost the main driver of the Vision is Color.   Yes, of course function, site, finances, and other basics are of prime importance!   But that image you have in mind takes shape in one’s imagination and projections, and you definitely see it in living color!
 
The pragmatic disciplines of knowing how color interacts with other colors, light and textures is in the hands of your Interior design expert team.   However, you, the client, know the theme color category you have in mind.   The color category you communicate to your Interior design team starts a consideration chain reaction concerning all the other relevant elements that will be serious players in accurately delivering your Interior design project.

​There are many reasons why a large project might have to be approached incrementally.   The most obvious, of course, may be funding.  However, while arranging the financing for a design project can be time-consuming, frustrating and require many compromises, other considerations also contribute to the wisdom of dividing a project into two or three manageable phases with breathing space between.
 
Your designer will help you assess the complexities of the design vision you have in mind.  Often a client feels they must abandon the vision they want or make undesirable compromises, because they cannot afford the time or money to do it all at once.   Accomplishing that vision in reasonably spaced phases is one solution.
 
While some rationales are similar for both residential and commercial projects, each has very specific challenges that are characteristic of their category.
 
There is the important consideration of whether or not a home or business will be occupied while the design project is taking place.  For financial pacing as well as periods of relief from disruption, timed phases are a smart consideration.

​You are excited about your project and you are ready to get started!  All the important decisions have been made and you have decided to work with a Professional Designer.
 
It’s now time to focus on that relationship, clarify your financial intentions, define the scope, translate those understandings into the appropriate paper work, get it under signature, and begin.
 
What is the “appropriate paper work” for a design project?  What does the operational package look like that will help your project move efficiently, stay on track, adhere to budgeting projections, guard against misunderstandings, avoid mistakes, and insure a good working relationship?
 
To begin, it is necessary to avoid verbal commitments, directives, and decisions.  In the brainstorming function, anything goes!  Talk about possibilities, pros and cons, and “druthers”; but the serious action plan must be agreed upon in writing.

​Once the decision to hire a professional interior designer is behind you, with the contract signed and in the drawer, it is time to refine and reprioritize your goals, organize your personal resources and just begin.
 
First, let’s look the dragon in the face.  Regardless of our financial means, there never seems to be enough money. It can help reduce stress around funding if we consider “budget” a verb, and keep that budgeting in mind every step and decision of the way.  Remember that some of the elements that can negatively impact the budgeting process are “hurry-up,” untested short cuts, bargains that aren’t a bargain in the long run, and the wrong kind of help – no matter how well meaning it is.  So, take a deep breath and decide that your adventure will be great.

​You are putting your Interior Design team together, and are ready to begin your Interior design project.   Perhaps it’s a long-anticipated residential remodel or the build-out for a new home on that beautiful lot you purchased!   Or, your project may be commercial space for a new retail business, professional services facility or a corporate complex.  
 
Whatever your project, think of it as a series of layered accomplishments!  Anyone knows how a new construction happens – kids like to line up and watch everything from the sub-excavation right up to the roofing.  From foundation to rooftop Solar panels, layer-by-layer, it happens!
 
When it comes to the Interior design aspect, there is more in the strategies than might immediately be apparent.  Your Interior designer works with a very specialized team – each player is key to the integrity of a specific layer of application.   Remember the school days jingle about the head bone being connected to the neck bone, and down the whole skeleton?  Same principle here!

​It is important to build a team that best fits the project needs.  Your professional designer will look at the project needs from several angles when selecting the specialists who will be bringing the job in, on time and as you envisioned it.
 
Of course, skill levels and experience are highest on the list of qualifications.  However, those features alone will not insure a place on a team.   That’s the key word: team.
 
When your Certified Interior Designer is also your Project Coordinator, he or she will be screening the future participants on your project for many other qualities and aspects of experience aside from their specific skill focus.  Individual characteristics, habits and reputation will be very important considerations.

​Just as each project is unique, each project‘s principals develop unique relationships, from concept through completion.  The experience of journeying with a client through all the stages of a design project is an experience that might never be repeated.
 
This special communicative relationship develops its “personality” through many stages of focused interaction.

​Factors naturally encountered on the interior design project path include, and delve deeply into, personal taste and preferences, color and light dynamics, past exposure to comfort and discomfort, bad impressions, good hopes and many other elements.
 
An astute design professional is skilled to listen, hear and translate the information behind a client’s expressions, reactions, speculations and questions.  Through the investigative stage of the creative design concept process, a unique relationship begins to form.

​It’s exciting to know that the groundwork, homework and good agreements have been completed, and you and your designer are ready to get your project underway.
 
With your record-keeping tools in place, with a solid mutual commitment to conscientious communication and documentation, and with your end vision always in mind, the fun part can now begin! 
 
A good place to start, if your project involves existing construction, is the “before” photos.  Not only will you enjoy comparing them to the “after” photos at a future date, but you will have a critical record of the pre-existing conditions. 
 
You and your designer should collaborate in the photo shoot activity because his or her experience in capturing specific and relevant details is valuable.  The before photos will also be useful in briefing sub-contractors about the challenges that exist in their aspect of your project.  The pictures are one part of the total map of the work at hand.
 
Usually, your designer will either secure pre-existing construction and/or architectural plans, or will develop for you any necessary plans the project requires.  If you are not familiar with reading architectural plans, your designer will help you learn how to read them comprehensively.