​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.

​When considering your Interior Design Vision, you probably initially consider how you want it to look!  Next in line follow the important considerations of feel, function, purpose and support.  Those are the other sides of your design vision for which your professional designer takes responsibility on your behalf.  
 
Not everyone with a picture in their mind automatically sees the best ways to connect their visual preferences to those critical “other aspects” that will result in a successfully performing finished project.
 
Wanting your investment in your environment to be beautiful, to be in line with current style trends and to be attractive to the relevant market is predictably typical.  That desire (and goal), while credible and doable, does not – in itself – cover all the essential bases.
 
A commercial environment must meet many criteria to qualify as a successful installation.  Its overall design integrity, its specific configurations, the detail applications and its responsibility to appropriate functionality are high on the list of essentials.  A beautiful appearance with few or poor functional components that address the purpose of the environment, just will not work successfully, over time.

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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​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.

 We all know that prevention and preparation is the better route, but we also know that the temptation is there to opt for trends, fads and other versions of the popular style of the moment!  Unfortunately, those impulses may be fun and exciting at first, but often they up the risks concerning durability, good and doable maintenance and repeated costs.
 
In order to indulge both concerns – getting an exciting look and feel for our Interior environments and taking the “oops!” factor into consideration, it is very important that you and your Interior Design team thoroughly and realistically investigate your Interior environments’ end use.

​It happens.   Sometimes a client will essentially decide to switch horses in the middle of the stream, and want to take their Interior Design project in an entirely different direction!   That could mean anything from a thematic shift, all the way to a change to an entirely different business venue or residence style!
 
As long as everyone involved understands the financial and timeline criticality of radically changing course, well, it can be worked through!   But many other basic factors come into play!  If you have hired an Interior design team that is limited to a very specialized design focus, you may be facing radical changes in the team composition. 

​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.