​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.

​Many businesses – maybe most – couldn’t sail the ship without their Employees.  Aside from their specific functional responsibilities, they are your basic, everyday, from-the-inside-out, fully informed Marketing team!  You can bet your bottom dollar, whatever the climate and culture of your business operation is, it’s being revealed and marketed by those (on the inside) who know.
 
Considering your staff of employees, independent contractors and other “internally focused” professional resources (your Team) as your frontline promoters, is serious business.  It stands to reason that enhancing their daily experience in your business operation’s environment should be a priority.  
 
Your expectations of your Team, of course, begins with making sure those expectations match up with what you provide in order for them to meet those expectations!  The appropriate tools and equipment for each expected function need to be enhanced with other basics.  How is your work environment; actually?

Whatever the circumstances, or the scope of your Interior Design project, managing the costs factor is mandatory, challenging and a mutual responsibility!
 
At the front end of your relationship with your Interior designer, the project is discussed, defined, and conceptualized.  You, the Client, convey your ideas, your wishes and preferences, i.e., your vision, to the Interior design expert.   Whether your Interior design project is a small bath and kitchen remodel, or a full Interior environment (business, professional or residential), it will involve a host of “aspects” and an amazing number of “details.”  Each of those factors will be made up of many, many choices and decisions.  And each of those factors, plus your Interior Design team’s time, will represent expenditures.  Easy to speculate; but demanding of careful consideration of overall costs!
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​Where’s the middle ground?  How does your design expert make the selections for you to choose from?  One thing is certain, it is not from guesswork!
 
From initial contact, through documentation and all the subsequent steps and stages that lead to project completion, your professional design team is getting to know you.  That important process is one that continues – not one that is addressed and then at some point, is considered complete!
 
Your design vision may start with definite and specific form, but – like many art forms -- it continues to evolve.  As the project develops and becomes real, the subtleties and nuances of the original vision mature and shift.  Within the desired concept, the vision grows as each new choice is made, and as circumstances may influence

​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.

​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.

​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.

​In several past articles I have discussed the important connections between the decisions and results of your commercial Interior design project and other aspects of your business enterprise.   From human factors to effective marketing, synergy needs to happen!
 
The space planning strategies, the traffic patterns that your employees, clients or customers must follow, the emotional and visual impacts of color --  and your choices concerning furnishing and equipment -- are all part of what your business projects to its consumers!
 
As time and innovation move on, many, many changes occur in the fields of health, furniture design, efficiency paradigms and performance technologies!  Those changes have large consequences!

​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.

​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.