​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.

So you've hired an Interior Designer,and completed  speculation, research, photos and preferences , it is time to bring “intentions” into sharp focus, and begin to create a specific project plan.  You have done your homework, have shared ideas and wishes with your professional designer and have set your feet on an exciting path.
 
With serious consideration for the time and money commitments your project will demand, you and your designer begin to fine-tune the product of your preparatory phase.  You will make choices that will guide the prioritizations in the project path.  You will begin to develop the formula for balancing dreams with reality.

​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.

​For those familiar with flow charts and critical path planning in their everyday work, the meaning will jump right out! 
 
However, not everyone is involved with very close and precisely timed junctures in their ordinary work patterns.
 
Achieving your desired project completion date hinges on a series of activities, availabilities, choices, decisions and actions that must converge appropriately.   They are the functional elements that exist within each phase and aspect of your project, and are strategized by your design team at the front end of the project.  Also built into the plan are allowances for flexibility in situations not entirely predictable at the start.

​They come up in both perspectives of your design project:  Client and Contractor.  Large or small (real or imagined!) all are important because they have an effect on your project path.
 
Again, good communication tools and comfortable, open, comfortable relationships are the key to managing your concerns.  There is no concern too small to bring to the attention of your professional design team.  And, likewise, your designer will not hesitate to bring clarifications, questions and “mysteries” to your attention.
 
Large concerns are usually obvious to all the players and probably will quickly bring cooperative attention to bear for solutions.  Very small concerns (questions or momentary mysteries) might just be handled as they arise, where they occur, and not even cause a blip.
 
While the terminology “concerns” may seem vague or obtuse, most of us could quickly come up with examples!  In the course of a project there is often sudden concern for something all assumed was handled – usually by someone else!  And assumption is a concern in itself!

​It can be a real challenge to meet the holiday seasons with good taste that enhances – not harms --your year-round environment.   Whether you are planning for residential or business celebrations, take the time to think it through-- for good presentation and good use of funds.
 
Regarding Holiday Decorations, you will want to put enthusiasm and holiday spirit into all your efforts, but not compromise your basic decor, color scheming or furnishings.   Many of the things available for holiday ambiance come with some risk.  Some even present subtle forms of wear and tear to existing finishes and flooring.

​ Some can drive your design team stark raving nutz!
 
The serious side of this problem is no laughing matter, and nutz or not, time is money and that invoice in the mail is the bottom line clincher.  It is vital to know all the facts about how it got to that number.
 
We all like to think we are efficient – and prudent.  But, too often, little stuff adds up and disputes that assumption.
 
How efficient is it, for instance, to take four five- minute phone calls with your designer waiting each time (on the clock) to continue your meeting?  Do you think your professional should “give you” that quarter hour?   Or, when your designer arrives on time for your appointment and you keep them waiting thirty minutes – do you think they should clock off?  (You would not want your designer taking phone calls or texting while you were paying them to be focused on you!)

​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.
​

​Contemporary Interior Design has grown bolder and more creative in the use of humor and fun when designing Interior clinical space for the very young.   Dental and Medical Interior environments must be sensitive to the anxieties of youngsters – as well as to their wonderful abilities for imagination, whimsy and comedy!
 
Today, when confronted with the very enjoyable challenge of designing Interior medical or dental environments with kids in mind, Interior design teams are less confined by the somber, traditional approaches to clinical Interior space of past decades.  That severe, stark, no-nonsense approach was often self-defeating when it came to management of apprehensive or frightened children anticipating medical or dental discomfort.  The necessary instrumentation alone, presented on trays within their sight, could be enough to make young patient management difficult – or even impossible.

 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.

​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.

Close relatives (but with distinct differences) the styles that you choose from, with which to develop your Interior Design vision, say a lot about your past, present and future!
 
Whether you are considering a business Interior space or residential Interior space project, your Interior design team wants to know about all three aspects of your personal taste:  previous surroundings, your present interior space and the future Interior you envision!  The ways and elements with which we surround ourselves, in our business or personal space, critically defines parts of who we are and what we offer to those we invite into our Interiors.
 
A decision to change our surroundings is a very real indicator that something has changed within us!   That decision may relate to a change in the message we want to project outward to our marketplace or to our personal inner circle.   But, just as importantly, it may relate to significant changes in our own preferences.

 What drives those changes may also include the strong influences of seasonal fluctuation, obvious trends within our business venue or attractive – even quirky – fads!   Perhaps, we realize that we are being drawn to more classical forms and messages that offer different satisfactions within our Interior design project vision.

​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!)

​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.