​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! ) 

​New building construction rarely presents the Interior designer with mysterious, very small areas with no obvious intended use.  Usually, driven by budgeting and efficiency strategies, every inch of planned space has to justify its expense by purposeful use, compatible with its contiguous space elements.
 
However, “older” buildings (residential or commercial) often have odd little spots that can be baffling!   They may be little left-overs from a remodeling focus that simply forgot what was on the other side of the wall, or part of an alternate intention that just didn’t happen!   In any case, such situations crop up all the time; and, over time, your experienced (sometimes frustrated) Interior design team just digs into their bag of “micro solutions” and handles it.

​Turning very small niches into useful and or aesthetic gems makes the difference between dead space and good use.  Sometimes, such spaces occur along traffic patterns in the larger environment.  We have all experienced them, although we may not have noticed them.  And that’s one reason why your Interior team actually likes such spots when they occur, and creatively transforms them

​There are three very basic “elements” that form the “cohesion” for any Interior Design project:  The Client’s Vision; The Design’s Integrity and The End-User’s Satisfaction.
 
When a prospective client makes their decision to materialize an Interior design project Vision, they begin a process with very specifically delineated disciplines.  Their very first challenge is that of refining that Vision clearly enough to be able to translate it and communicate it accurately to an Interior design professional.  
 
Some prospective clients have very, very specific ideas (and their details) in mind, and may have been considering their prospective project for some time.  Others, not so specific, have a “vision,” but it is often a bit vague, is comprised of fragments from various sources and will depend heavily on an expert who can pull those fragments together!  Still others may have had previous experiences with previous projects and want to modify or completely revise what already exists.

​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! ​

Partnership is one of the most versatile terms in our language!  It can indicate anything from a formally documented legal business structure, all the way to quaint observations of Wolves and Whooping Cranes in nature that “partner” for life!  In our Interior Design context, there are all kinds of partnerships that occur just because of the nature of the work.
 
The first and most obvious, of course, starts with yourself and the Interior design expert you select to make your project vision come true.  Whatever you want to call your formal agreement – a Contract, a Memo of Clarification, a Job Order, etc.  – you will be working as informal partners in all stages of the plan.  Every aspect of your project that requires specific skill, specific materials, certifiable services, professional services, appropriate equipment manufacturers plus other necessities such as dependable communication, documentation and transportation, all amount to “secondary partnerships” for getting the job done.
 
However, as anyone who has ever been in any kind of a “partnership” knows – it can get tricky!    ​

It doesn’t seem to be the details themselves that bothers us; it’s how they are managed in a given situation.  When you place your design project in the hands of your design team, you buy into that team’s overall ”style,” and that of each of your project specialists.
 
Let’s face it.   Some styles can be annoying – particularly when they require accountability that may not line up with our own personal patterns.   Keeping all the balls in the air is very important.  There are many ways to manage the myriad details in projects of all sizes.  Flexibility and an open mind concerning perceived differences in how to handle the details is a benefit – not a handicap.

The simple, clean lines of a finished project do not reveal the hundreds of details that brought it all together.
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​That’s when your design team may be flattered, but at the same time, knows that part of the job will be helping the client to develop their own vision.  There are situations where a prospect makes it clear that they want a great environment, but don’t have a specific theme in mind, seem to have no materials preferences, color focus or the faintest idea where to begin!
 
Almost everyone has preferences!  Often the assertion:  “I really don’t care – I trust your judgment!” actually has to do with transposition.   For instance, you may know exactly what you want when you choose your clothing or select an automobile make, model and color, and a range of other situations where you make selections based on clear preferences.  But, envisioning how to pull a complex commercial or residential environment into balance and harmony seems monumental and unfocused.
 
It can be difficult to envision a favorite color, for instance, on the full expanse of a wall – though you love it in a necktie or sweater.  Picturing patterns on upholstery, paneling or flooring for a space sixty feet by eighty, for instance, is very different than for a vehicle.

​More often than not, a project in either a business or residential category leads to another project in the client’s other aspect.
 
When your design team has become immersed in the details of your commercial design project for business, professional practice or institution, they probably have gained extensive insights to the personal tastes that would also drive your residential environment design.
 
In the process of studying everything from function, color, lighting and sound preferences to ambiance and accessorizing, design experts are able to re-translate those insights from one site aspect to second or third site applications.  The huge advantage lies in the fact that the hours and dollars that have been invested in learning about the client’s tastes and budgeting disciplines have already been covered, in depth.  Very little of the basic groundwork must be re-visited.

​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.

​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.

​Sometimes it seems as though the easiest and most economical way to approach your design project would be to purchase some consultation time from an expert, then move right into action on your own; no problem!
 
Well...  It would be great if it were that simple, and if steaming ahead on consultation input alone would cover the bases.  But, “consultation alone” has some pitfalls – and some disciplines.
 
Most of us have either observed or experienced the difference between knowing how and actually knowing how!   The former is intellectual; the latter is about implementation.

​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.

There is never a shortage of grief when disaster sweeps through a region, leaving normalcy in the dust.    Disasters – man made or natural – seize temporary control of lives and circumstances.  Whatever the plans might have been, they have involuntarily been changed.  At the very least, they have been drastically delayed.
 
In situations where complete loss of property exists, the impacts of such loss are great; and, all of the fail-safes that businesses and homeowners have previously set in place must come into play. 
 
For some, however, such preparation may not have been an economic option.  Many have been set on a disastrous path of great loss with bleak prospects for regaining stability, any time soon, without the benefits of insurance and other protections.
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​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.

​Knowing what you don’t know is about as important as knowing what you do know!  Not knowing the difference can definitely be a troublesome trap.
 
Certainly one of the biggest misconceptions, when considering a do it yourself project, is that of assuming that “do-it-yourself” is automatically going to be cheaper, more efficient, and a lot of fun!  Okay.  Let’s take a good look at that.
 
Some do-it-yourselfers are quite skilled in many areas required for their project at hand.  The retired or side-jobbing builder, carpenter, plumber or other specifically knowledgeable individual, of course, is not the candidate we are discussing here.  Those individuals know quite well when it is time to reach outside their expertise and ask for what they need.
 
It is the excited and motivated hobbyist or generally creative, smart enthusiast we are bringing into this spotlight.  They would be the persons who truly believe they can handle it all, learn, research and discover everything they need, by themselves, to get the job done.    (Some can, will and do!)