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.

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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Few situations are more challenging for your design team than a war among the client principals!   When there is an on-going duel concerning concepts, preferences and decisions, your design team inherits an assortment of untenable choices!
 
The primary role of your professional team is to take your concept vision, develop it into a workable design that you can approve, then guide and assist you through the detailed process of production.  This is very difficult to execute in a war zone peopled with partners, spouses or corporate associates from an organizational chart, who want it their way or no way.

​Many projects present their design teams with some ugly situations!  It can range from a client’s passionate desire to “preserve” some unmanageable features in an old, tired building, to unchangeable architectural limitations such as odd angles, extra-high ceilings and impossibly narrow aspects.
 
Designers like the challenge of such situations.  In pursuit of solutions, we tap into our ingenuity, skills, talent and knowledge of everything available thru construction modification to innovative use of materials, supplies and “FFE’ – furniture, fixtures and equipment.

​Understanding the foibles of old buildings (and the surprises that can be just one wall-covering-layer away!) comes from both experience and research.   Your design team must dig into the history of the specific building, and often discovers that original construction plans and information may be long lost.  Community libraries and museums may have historic photos where that old building appears (in its youth); and, a plea to the local population might produce some pictures as well. 
 
When old buildings have been used and re-used over many years in a variety of ways, it is sometimes difficult to determine the original contours, facades and finishes.

​They always seem like a good idea, short cuts, but more often than not, there is a price to pay.   Sometimes that price is dear; and, concerning the complexity of detail management for an Interior Design project, some short cuts are just plain bad news.
 
Let’s take a look at where a project can be seriously delayed, prolonged, compromised or sabotaged by the lure of short cuts that seem smart, but just aren’t.   Who hasn’t been in a hurry at the super market, changed check-out lanes because the one “over there” seemed to be moving faster, and wound up where the register tape ran out?   That simple, mundane lure to save a few minutes doesn’t have many ripple affects, and the ones it does have only affect you and your impatience!