“Together” has taken on entirely new meanings for many of us.  The pandemic which we all share – often not too equally – has demanded that we look at many aspects of our daily life and make creative adjustments on all levels.
 
In previous articles in this COVID19 series, we have taken a hard look at how the pandemic has impacted our Interior spaces – both domestic and workplace.  We have long since accepted eclipse!  Where feasible, our business, career and/or workplace environments have experienced closer proximity than we might choose – if our communities and our country were not under attack by a persistent intruder. 
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Like it or not, we have made changes intrusive to our previous patterns and choices.  We have quickly remodeled our Interior living space, as best we could, to seek the implied safety of distancing, modified isolation and very limited contact outside our immediate, essential connections.

​That’s about as smart as shooting yourself in the foot!  How we deal with limitations largely depends on the point of view!  As with other stuff that comes our way unbidden, we each have our very own ways of coping.  I guess I was just born an incurable optimist, because, to me, this whole new list of limitations feels more like dangling a carrot in front of a horse to get it to giddy up!  It’s kind of a soft-sell dare.   As soon as the first wave of: WHAT? wore off, I started looking at everything with new, seriously critical eyes!  And, guess what?  There was a lot that could stand some tweaking!

Traditions are interesting factors in our lives.  Even families or businesses that might claim to not have and implement bona fide ”traditions,” probably actually do have some – possibly even many.  They might simply be masquerading as habits and procedures!
 
Whatever the preferred nomenclature, for all of us, traditions, habits and procedures are deeply implanted in our daily lives, and have been severely challenged by (first) the Pandemic; and, (second) the resulting economic impacts.
 
What happens when ingrained habit patterns (and the assumptions that go with them) become disrupted?  We get disrupted!  The little stuff is fairly easy to handle, but it’s those large, dependable patterns and practices that we don’t like to mess with – especially if all has been functioning smooth as silk.
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We can make Lemonade or we can just pucker up and stay sour!  I prefer the former – and it is getting easier and easier to adapt to doing business from one’s residential address.  Little or no commute -- from the breakfast table, down the hall to the home office hardly qualifies!  And more little benefits just keep popping up.
 
I can name a few – like being comfortable in casual clothes, gas savings, and so forth.  But the biggest benefit that I have noticed, in my own situation and in that of my clients, is the benefit of the opportunity to get to domestic interior projects that have been repeatedly put off.  Sometimes it is an improvement factor that might only take 3-4 hours, but after work, after a commute and after a nice sit-down to dinner, well, who wants to start even a 3-hour project...    So...Take a look around, and think about some things you could accomplish in all that saved time! 

​Just when it seems business has made enough reasonable adjustments, something comes to mind that needs revision in order to produce the desired results!   Workplace hospitality has taken a big hit.
 
Regardless of the venue, most businesses have at least one aspect that qualifies as simple hospitality.  It could be the waiting area at a pharmacy or your auto repair shop; it could be the conferencing area of a law firm or the reception and waiting areas at medical or dental facilities.  It could be the gathering of friends and associates for celebration.  If your business has any accommodation for customers or clients waiting for an appointment, a service, a product or a party, there is a huge need for some revisionist thinking.
 
In the once normal course of service or product transactions, simple provisions to make people comfortable (and reinforce the virtue of patience) are or used to be taken for granted.  Well, all that has changed! 
 
Using all reasonable space for maximizing seating in a waiting room, for instance, is no longer a goal that tests your Interior designer’s skill!  That skill is now redirected to calculating how much accommodation can be achieved and still respect social distancing!   There are serious ripple affects that come with such downward quantification.  Scheduling, for instance, is hugely influenced by how many individuals can be safely located in a holding pattern, in limited space, in a given period of time.  

​Finding our way through new and unfamiliar circumstances has all of us rethinking old assumptions, and considering how to revamp.  This new situation demands that we go back to the drawing board.  We may not yet know exactly how extensively we will have to modify our Interior space use, traffic patterns and procedures, but we definitely know it’s a must-do that will test our flexibility.
 
Interior design projects have very clear-cut situations that mandate or inspire change.  There’s the “wanna” factor and then there’s the must do circumstance!
 
Today’s new happenings are pretty much a combo of those two rationales – with a few more thrown in!  To begin with, we often surprise ourselves when forced to make sudden changes to our entrenched “norms!”   Often we discover – by default – better or more efficient ways to handle some things.

​Forward.  That word has a nice ring to it!  Whether we are ready to move forward with an exciting Interior Design project, or looking forward to this terrible Pandemic finally receding, forward thinking is where we should focus our positivity!
 
We are all on the same page when it comes to revising the way we are doing business (for the duration), and many of us are finding that some of our Pandemic related innovations might just stay in our strategies when it’s all over.  (Nothing wrong with looking for some benefits out of all the hassle!)
 
Communication innovation is in the forefront!   For one thing, it has presented the interesting twist of speaking with clients, friends and family from the relaxed environments of homes!  “Good Morning!  Just got back from walking the dog! Your timing is perfect.... about that purchase order...” 

​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

Space use planning is one of the several constant considerations of Interior Design teams.  That particular skill is most important when the Interior environment in question is odd, possibly confined, long and narrow, including off angles and with no clearly designated function.  Sometimes, such anomalies can be tackled with some limited re-construction, but in most situations, it’s just there – and the client wants us to: “do the best you can” with it!
 
Such Interior space challenges can be diamonds in the rough, just waiting for the right touch.  “Long and narrow” is one of the toughest, yet one of the best creative opportunities.  The primary solution lies in designing to take the emphasis off the oddity and onto the transformative purpose. Especially in vintage buildings, odd space configurations crop up.  They are often a reflection of times with fewer conveniences than we presently enjoy.  An example would be wider hallways (but not too wide) that accommodated the service function of sending and receiving necessities by dumb waiters installed in wall channels between floors.  Another example is buildings where the original use and the conversion use are radically different, and where adaptation requires a lot of ingenuity!

​You’ve hired your Interior Design team, you have signed all the paper work, paid your retainer and are ready to embark on the project – at last!  After a lot of careful consideration, you made the decision to stay put and not vacate your home or business site while the design project gets underway, then all the way to completion.  You have planned to accommodate the various crews, area by area, by “moving over, exercising patience, trying to stay out of the way – and offering your help wherever it might save time or money.”
 
Oh, boy...   Sometimes what looks like a white flag of truce and peace can turn into a big red flag signaling confusion and trouble ahead!  So, let’s take a look at options.
 
In some cases, it’s not a matter of moving out when a project begins, but delaying moving in.  Circumstances, funds, and timing do not always play out in harmony; often there may not be a choice.   The project may have to go forward with everyone present and accounted for.
 
Assuming that best case is not possible, and the less desirable choice must be tolerated, it’s good to remember it can be managed!   While not the most desirable of circumstances, it is possible to successfully conduct an interior design project while the business or family remains on site.

The client is always “in charge!”  That’s why the game sometimes changes without warning from their side of the table. 
 
Your design team manages a large pool of resources – all of which have operational scenarios of their own.  That’s why the game sometimes changes without warning from their side of the table!
 
Your professional design team is familiar with these negative possibilities.   It can be disruptive, but circumstances do sometimes unexpectedly alter cases.
 
There is, of course, the very human menu of reasons:  illness, unexpected financial reversals, a rift among principals, legal and compliance changes and similar situations.  But, sometimes the reason seems to turn on a whim or a communication glitch.  Suddenly there is a significant change in the project’s complex; it can shake the project’s foundation as well as the relationships.
 
Management of a game change requires a commitment to solutions from all concerned.   Clear communication, revised documentation and sincere efforts toward understanding cause and effects are vital for re-stabilizing the project.   
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​It’s not quite the same bag as buying a used car, but it comes darn close!   Transforming an interior environment that includes a challenging set of “givens” – some that can’t be changed  but maybe a few that can be modified – is sometimes enough to make you lose your hair...
 
“As is” comes in many forms, shapes, sizes and complexities.  Often a new client puts it right up front:  No structural changes, no major modifications of existing configurations...just do what you can!   And, oh yes; the orange ceiling color stays.   Oh, boy.
 
Like most Interior Designers (and Architects) I welcome challenges!   Most of them make you stop short at first, then the wheels get turning and the Interior design team accepts that this one will be different.  It simply means that the planning, strategies and prospective Interior design concepts will have to develop from the old exposed pipes, the mystery box in the far corner of the (orange) ceiling, and the sloping concrete floor.   The client’s clear message of limitations rings in your ears.
 
All of such challenges are not quite as radical as the example above, but almost any fixed situation – be it color, structural anomalies, or immovable objects – immediately force the team to “react.”     Creative design is usually reactive primarily at the front end – listening to the concept the client has in mind, learning the negative stipulations and/or limitations (including financial) and learning their Vision.  Then, the Interior designer moves into “active” mode, creating the client’s vision from their talent, knowledge of resources and understanding of the problems and possibilities.

​When your design project vision is clear and you have selected the professional team that you will be working with, the last thing you want is for third parties to throw a wrench in the works.
 
The next-to-last thing you want is to be paying your design team for damage control, after the fact, because of trouble directly caused by neither you nor your team.
 
But, it does happen.  Because there are myriad details and many participants, sometimes trouble can develop in aspects of the project path where you or your team cannot have seen it coming.
 
The small stuff (it can feel big in the moment!) may be annoying, but can usually be resolved quickly.  Larger “wrenches’ that shut down the whole machine are quite a different matter.

There is no lack of examples – some that could curl your hair – and most of them could have been prevented.  Many of the mistakes, oversights, miscommunications or accidents can be traced directly back to poor quality controls.

Many projects present added complexity when the client requests that “secondary” or special use environments be designed into their primary use vision. 
 
With the clear trend to focus more and more activities on one primary site, the opportunity arises for creative design challenges.  One of the simplest is the dedication of part of the residence to business activities: the home office.  With the advancements of more efficient electronic capability, many individuals telecommute for a company as employees of a business located elsewhere.  Independent contractors (owner operators, the self-employed, etc.) are no longer limited to renting an external office.  The stigma of “working out of one’s home” simply no longer exists.
 
Interior space planning and design professionals have met this challenge.  Designing secondary environments within or adjacent to a primary residence requires unique management strategies for both designer and client.  The needs and patterns of family life must be weighed in consideration of the sound, concentration and privacy factors essential to an appropriate workplace.
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​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.