Epiphanies of a Design Muse

 

On October 7, 2007, I decided to write my first book.  Until it is published, this blog it is an opportunity to share the humor in my profession and to demistify the world of interior design for anyone that is interested in this “glamorous” business.

For potential readers or clients – you will get to know me personally. You may decide not to work with me or read my books, and I respect that. You may also decide that this level of directness is refreshing.  If so, please feel free to call or email – we can have a cup of coffee and decide together. I only take a handful of clients a year, and if we work together, you will be required to do your homework prior to our first meeting.

You will need to complete your Personal Design Assessment (both of you if you are married or sharing the project with someone else), and you need to read through the entire blog and my website before we meet. Why? Because you will learn about interior design from my perspective. What does this do for you? It will help you decide what type of service you want and need and whether we are right for you. If we are not right for you, please take any of the ideas presented and use them as guidelines for hiring another professional. We want the increase the knowledge and professionalism of the industry in any way that we can, and we know that there are many talented and capable designers that might just be the perfect fit for you.

About You and Your Project

Your home should be a spectacular, unique, comfortable and personal expression of the taste that is percolating inside your brain.

• You have already started creating and defining your personal style – it may just need refinement.  Many of our projects are publication-worthy although you may prefer not to have your home published for security reasons.  However, everyone I know wants their home to be a work of art that others admire.

• Your home is a visual expression of your personality, creativity (either your interpretation of what you learn through magazines, HGTV, friends and visiting museums, show homes, etc. or the creativity you hire), aspirations and level of success. If you want a few hours of my time to guide you on your own personal journey of discovery and expression, that can be arranged. Acting as your personal muse is my passion.

• Let’s talk about HGTV and the Extreme Makeover Home Edition. I love that design is now accessible to the masses. What these shows don’t tell you is that they have an entire team of people who are producing the end result. They have stylists, designers, carpenters, CAD (computer-aided design) drafters, cleaning crews, volunteers, vendors that want to promote their products and provide free work or products for the publicity. They don’t show the things that don’t work. They don’t show the poor workmanship “up close and personal.” It is like a fashion magazine, they don’t show the warts and cellulite on those lovely models. These projects take months to plan. The execution looks so easy…we all wish it were so simple to design and build an entire home in a week. The editors and writers do an amazing job of orchestrating a heart-tugging show.

• Affordable design – there are many products available on the web or even in stores such as Home Depot and Target. Celebrity designers have made design accessible for everyone. We sometimes use those products for temporary fixes until our clients are ready for the next level. With great design skills, we can make even the least expensive items look fabulous.

• Internet products – we’ve purchased them before, and they may be inexpensive and look great, but you need to know the down side of these products. If they are made in another country, the parts to fix them may not be available, and the guts of the products may not be well-assembled or be made of quality components. What do you do when your faucet starts leaking? It happened to one of our clients recently, and also to the buyer of one of our Fix and Flips. Luckily, we followed up after the sale of the property to make sure the problem was resolved.

• Your relationship with a design professional should not be intimidating. In the old days of design, the elite and affluent would hire a well-known designer for outrageous sums of money to have them take over their homes and create masterpieces of the designer’s personal signature (not the client’s). The designers learned the commanding style of looking down their nose at the client and making them feel insignificant in the presence of the designer’s genius. That does not work well for most of you today, and it is not how I work. When I was a marketing representative for a Fortune 500 company, I called on designers and experienced that same snotty attitude. We don’t do snotty.

• We are here to help you create your personal space. We will be working with you for months, and in some cases, years. We will become your trusted advisor, guide, psychologist, design therapist, sometimes your marriage counselor, confidante, advocate, personal assistant, personal shopper, personal organizer, personal problem-solver, mediator, arbitrator of taste, creative director, orchestrator, publicist, miracle worker (this is the design genie part of making things happen that shouldn’t be possible) and friend. If you don’t want a design partner that knows you this intimately, there are many others that might be a better fit for you.

• Many interior designers are artists in their own right. You are essentially continuing the centuries-old tradition of patronizing an artist with unique skills. We have years of experience and endless unique ideas. Unlike printmakers who mass-produce art, each project we design is unique. If you want inexpensive and unique designs, we are not your firm. The two are incompatible concepts with the level of service that we perform. We provide economies of experience, not of scale (thank you to my husband, Harry, for this excellent comment).

• There are ways to value engineer even the most exotic of designs. Even our wealthiest clients have a limit to what they are willing to spend. We will come up with alternatives for you if you don’t want the primo, ultra high-end solution.

• I loved one of my favorite client’s comments that I am a partner and not a dictator. All designers have strong personalities and opinions – that is why you hire us. We are here to guide you through a very complex and expensive process. It is said that if you are designing a 2,000 square foot home that you will need to make over 3,000 decisions. We sometimes work with clients that build homes over 10,000 square feet. Just imagine how many decisions have to be made for a home of this size. We want to help you create your dream home, and we know the ropes. You can’t buy a Lexus for the price of a Ford.

• It has only taken me a lifetime of experience and years of hard, dusty, sometimes frustrating and incredibly rewarding years to find great resources, subcontractors, contractors and knowledge to become good at this practice (there is a reason it is called a practice). We love our crew – they are our friends and teachers. We get better every day because we work hard to improve our skills.

• We love our clients and we want the best possible result for them and for you. If we wouldn’t enjoy having dinner or a glass of wine together after the project is over, then we are not the right firm for you.

• If you would rather do your own design and leg work (i.e. shopping without guidance), I will be expanding the offerings of my website to include tips, tools, trends as well as other educational features to help you in the future. You can become a charter member of the DIY Design Club. Let me know what you want to know and if I can’t answer your questions, I will ask other professionals for their opinion. You too can learn the ropes with time, money and effort.

• Some of you have a great eye already. You may just decide that you need positive reinforcement and an objective viewpoint – we can provide that as well. We have been hired on many occasions by other interior designers, interior decorators, architects, Realtors TM and builders to help with their own personal homes. It is a privilege and honor to be hired by other professionals.

• Sometimes we have clients that want to shop on their own to save money, or they just love to shop. It is an admirable and understandable goal. Here is what we see happening – some of you come home with the wrong scale of furniture for the space. You know it in your heart, but you don’t want to part with something that you just bought or admit your mistake to your spouse or designer. It is hard to admit when we are wrong, isn’t it? 

• The selection of an item or items is based on loving that item (either for style, color, price or some other emotional reason) and isn’t based on the the overall vision for the space. It doesn’t work and then we have to tell you the truth, We don’t like to hurt your feelings. I can’t tell you how many times I have had to say that something doesn’t work to a client. The crestfallen look on your face hurts me as much as it does you.

• You purchase the same thing that you’ve always purchased – just a newer model and then you wonder why we aren’t giving you the best possible result. You become sad that you aren’t able do things or see things this as easily as we can – we have years of experience, so it should seem easy for us. As Einstein said, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.

• I loved the comment of a very well-known designer on the east cost, Charles Gandy. He was hired to consult with a company for their new space. He quickly offered a solution and charged them $20,000 several many years ago for the information. They client was appalled that he charged so much. He told them that it took years of experience to come up with the answer so quickly. They paid the bill.

• You want to be your own designer, and although you have some terrific skills in some areas in your life, you aren’t exposed to all of the new products and resources that we learn about every day through industry research. Your frame of reference is understandably influenced by the media (magazines and TV) and merchandising by retailers because that is what you see most frequently. You may be tempted to purchase trendy items that are easily identified as designs for a particular year. We believe that good design is timeless. Your home and furnishings should become well-worn and well-loved before the style looks terribly dated. Please don’t be a slave to fashion.

• You might make expensive mistakes because the items you purchase are not aesthetically correct – they may not cost as much as a car, but sometimes they do. We have seen clients spend thousands of dollars on a sofa or large piece of furniture and it doesn’t fit the space proportionally. Oops!

• You may not have access to the trade quality products that are built to last. Every item in your home doesn’t have to be expensive, but some items should be because they are worth it and so are you. You know the L’Oreal commercial.

I secretly loved hearing a few recent stories about some doctors that decided that they wanted to save money by designing and building their own homes. They actually ended up spending more than if they had hired a professional in the first place. (We wouldn’t perform surgery without going to medical school, would we? By the way, my father was a doctor, so I can say this.) What they found out was the following: 

• Finding great subcontractors and contractors isn’t as easy as you think. We’ve all heard the horror stories (and I have personally had it happen to me which is why I carefully select our tradespeople) about subcontractors that don’t show up, take your money and don’t finish the job, finish the job and do it poorly, break something, cause a catastrophe such as a fire (it happened to a builder who asked me to design his Parade Home – we did not take the job, and the day before the Parade started – his house burned down), get injured on the job and sue you (haven’t had that one happen to me yet but it has happened to other people I know), can’t get along with the other subcontractors, smoke dope in their vans and then think they are gods with a tool belt (that one did happen to us and we had to have another crew come in from another city to re-sand all of the hardwood floors on a project – if the homeowner had been the ones trying to get that resolved on a one-time basis, one can only imagine how quickly they could have recovered from that one), show up drunk, have parties when you aren’t there, help themselves to your hard-earned prizes, don’t carry insurance, are unprofessional and uncouth, smell bad, make a mess, overcharge, underestimate and come back to you for more money, refuse to fix their mistakes, won’t tell you when they break something, track mud across the brand new carpet, etc.

  • It costs more to do the job twice than it costs to do it right the first time.

  • If you aren’t doing more than one project every few years or so, unless you are really lucky, you won’t get the level of service as you will from our tried and true trade professionals. They know we bring them business on a regular basis, so they take good care of us and our clients. They bail me out when I make a mistake (the key is knowing how to recover quickly and elegantly), and they teach me more about design than you will ever know. They are excellent problem-solvers. They teach me how to install products, what not to buy, what to buy, why to buy it, building codes, construction detailing, construction scheduling and client relationship skills (still working on all of these).

  • You will pay in time, re-work, frustration and lots of money if you do your own project without adequate time to manage the project and knowledge of the process.

  • It isn’t just who we know, it is what we know and how we solve problems that ensures a great result. Just ask our clients.

  • If you are our client, you will have access to our professional posse. If you just want their names without our services, we won’t share that with you. They only have so many hours available and we want them for our clients that appreciate the level of service we have to offer.

  • If you do become our client, please do not share these professionals’ names with your friends. You paid for this access and they should, too.

• The ever-expanding www.renaissancedesign.com website will include interviews and features from other industry professionals plus some excellent ideas and insights from my friends in the business.

• You will have lots of fun homework if you work with me. If you are married, especially if you are a C-level or senior level executive, you have to participate. You may think it is your spouse’s project, but guess what, if you are making the money that is paying for the project, you will have an opinion when the bill arrives. Let’s make sure you aren’t surprised unless it is with a party for your birthday.

• I no longer take prisoners or clients that don’t want my level of service and partnership. If you are looking for free ideas, I am not your woman. If you want honesty, integrity and the Xtreme level of service – call me. I might be your next best friend. We go beyond the norm – if you are new to Denver, we will help you meet people and become involved in the community. If you want to know about some great restaurants, spas, caterers, etc., we will introduce you to them. We want to be your Ultimate Lifestyle Consultants.

What is My Design Style?

I will share my personal journey as a designer, construction and real estate fanatic. The reason this is important to share with you is that I have many personal preferences and memorabilia that are part of who I am as a designer and a person. Many of the experiences I had during childhood shaped my design aesthetic and attitudes toward design.

I would never dream of making you sell or give your personal treasures away. They are part of who you and they are part of your design heritage.

I remember from the age of four (forty-eight years ago) that our basement carpet was a rough sisal. It wasn’t great on bare feet – I remember that it was hard and scratchy. I never specified it even when it was one of the hottest design trends a few years back because of that early memory.

Shortly after that, I found this fabulous Jenny Lind spool bed in my grandparent’s attic. It was in splinters. I begged my mother to fix it for me, and after asking many antique dealers and repair shops for help, they all told her it should be thrown out – that it was irreparable. I continued to beg her, and she figured out a way to fix it including making her own clamps and hand-carving spools to replace the ones that were missing. She intentionally made them look different so we could tell which ones were original. She cut a copper pipe in ½” pieces and forced it onto the bottom of the legs to hold the splinters together. She drilled holes and added casters to allow easy moving of the bed for cleaning. I still have that bed today. It will be passed down to my sister’s daughter and hopefully, to her children.

The only house my mother owned after my parents divorced had white walls and an orange, mid-century sectional sofa. The retro style would be would be a hot commodity today – I am still not fond of orange.

My mother was an artist and Renaissance woman (thus the name of my company) – she could build, paint, solve, fix or design anything. She even created oil paintings that are hanging in my home today. She didn’t like to hang artwork on the walls because she didn’t like to make holes. I never had that problem – you can always touch up the holes with a little spackle and paint.

I remember helping mother with many DIY projects including installing electrical outlets, building my first bookcase, staining and repairing furniture, upholstering furniture, repairing a vacuum cleaner and radio, planting and maintaining a vegetable garden and fruit trees (I only design exterior spaces now…no digging or weed-pulling for me) and painting the house. My sister and I also helped our mother build musical instruments – mostly as tool-holders since she was a perfectionist and she didn’t want us to damage her projects.

Because of mother’s interest and talent for the artistic, we visited museums from the time we were young enough to walk. She spent many hours talking to us about scale, proportion, hue, composition and many other design elements that thankfully stuck with me through the years. She was fascinated with architecture, and one of the projects she designed (the plans were stolen and it was never built) was a house with suspended furniture and concrete floors so that the house could be easily maintained with a hose.

Mother was also an advocate of the house being oriented to maximize the solar energy of the sun. She taught us to open the right windows to get ventilation in our air-conditioning-free home. She also thought that bottles could be recycled and mortared with concrete-dipped rags to make colorful stained glass windows. We never actually had a house with that kind of windows, but that story always stuck with me. We discussed space planning and furniture planning though I didn’t know that was what we were discussing at the time.

After my father remarried, he moved to a small town and bought the only home he ever owned with my step-mother. I remember that they owned early American furniture – I couldn’t stand it even then. Ever since then, I have never been fond of nor encouraged the use of plaids.

Many of the lessons I learned are still with me and are incorporated into the homes I design today.

While I was in college the first time for my BSBA in Finance & Banking, I took some real estate classes and sat for my broker’s exam at the age of 19 and passed. I worked for a local Realtor in sales, and ended up running her office. I sold a house to a client and learned through first-hand experience how to provide customer service. It was the beginning of my love affair with real estate, but I knew I needed to learn sales, so I went to work for Armstrong World Industries as a marketing representative in the carpet division.

Once I graduated from college thirty years ago, my first furniture purchase for my apartment was a chocolate suede contemporary sofa with an ironwood frame. (I just gave the wood to one of my fabulous artisans so we can create a new piece of furniture by recycling the old frames that were in my attic – those trees are now endangered, so it would be a travesty to throw out such rare wood.)

After a few more years in the floor covering industry, I purchased my first home and installed hardwood floors (personally) and metal blinds – quite the hot item in the late 70s. During the late 70s, I called on builders, architects and designers – I liked the architects and builders, but thought designers were snotty.

The next house I bought was a contemporary in North Houston. I painted, wall-papered, selected some Henredon furniture (long-since retired) and designed my first custom draperies – cream with chocolate bands, landscaped and built a deck. Some of the chairs I purchased with designed by a famous architect, but I soon tired of those and gave them to someone else before I moved to Dallas in the early 80s.

I purchased a nice condominium in North Dallas with cream colored carpeting, paint, tile and marble with grass cloth wallpaper. Over the years, I wallpapered (I haven’t used it since), painted, changed light fixtures and designed custom window treatments. I also installed my first Roman shades (I still use those). These details were progressive for a mid-twenties person, and my friends started asking me to help them shop and install artwork (unpaid of course).

My first job in Dallas was marketing and sales to the commercial flooring subcontractors. I also called on architects and designers to teach them how to specify flooring products, so my education in the industry continued.

My second job in Dallas was consulting with a subsidiary of American Airlines on a project that involved space planning, facilities planning, designing working offices and coordinating two moves and two offices for a joint venture with Budget Rent-a-Car, Marriott and Hilton Hotels to develop the next generation of web-based software for the travel industry.

I ended up in Denver via San Francisco for seven weeks and began a job with a graphic software company. I met my husband a few weeks after moving here, and after the software company went under, he and I married. Right after that, friends started calling me and flying me to other states to help them with their homes (always on tight budgets and short schedules). Harry and I talked about it and finally, we both decided to go back to school. He completed his fifth degree and I my second (never finished the MBA) – an interior design degree.

By the end of the program, I was busy full-time with my residential design business. Before I started school, we finished our basement in our suburban house. We sold that house and moved to central Denver. We remodeled that house completely inside and out, sold it and moved across the street to our current house which is my design laboratory. After one more major remodel, we will be done (and will probably move).

Throughout my lifetime, all of these experiences were instrumental in developing my design aesthetic and skills with construction. We have boldly experimented on our own homes, and have hopefully learned many valuable lessons that make us better designers for you. We feel your pain when you are frustrated with the process and mess. We will help you through it. That’s what friends are for.

What is Your Design Style?

Most client’s style might be described as eclectic. If you really do have a personal style that you can identify as traditional French, Tuscan, Contemporary, New York Chic, Lodge, Mission or some other word or word that you can express, let’s discuss what that means to you.

Your earliest memories of your childhood home could easily influence what you like now. I am absolutely sure you have a few stories of your own. Let’s explore those and develop a personal signature that is unique and defining for you and your family.

You might consider writing your own story so you can tap those memory banks for the key to your personal taste. I encourage you to share your personal biography with me so I can better understand what you know and what you want to accomplish.

You may be doing this now, but start a dream book with a collage of pictures and articles. Don’t worry about making a work of art, just enjoy the mess. When you are finished with your destruction project, glue the photos onto sheets of paper and insert them in a notebook. This should be a family project. If you have children, let them participate in the process so they feel that the home is theirs, too.

I am not a slave to one style of design. When I moved to Denver, my preference was indelibly contemporary. If you look at my work, the majority of my portfolio is traditional since that is the predominant design preference in this city. I learned to love traditional design, and today, the trends are moving back toward the sleeker, cleaner lines.

It really doesn’t matter what the trends are…they will always change. As you can tell from my story, some of the design preferences I had thirty years ago are popular again today. Just stay true to yourself and we will design your masterpiece together. Have the courage to be yourself. You need to be surrounded with touchstones of your individuality. When you walk in your home, it should envelope you and provide the cocoon for renewal that allows you to re-charge and relax after a demanding day at the office or taking the kids to their many activities.

Call us when you are ready to tackle your Personal Design Assessment – we will email a link to the assessment.

Design Resources

            Luxe Magazine

Colorado Homes & Lifestyles

Architecture & Design of the West

Mountain Living

Better Homes & Gardens

Southern Living

Veranda (one of my favorites)

Architectural Digest

House Beautiful

Home

Country Living

Good Housekeeping

This Old House

Martha Stewart Living

HGTV – one would think I get enough with my profession, but design is my passion. I love to see what is new. These are few shows that I watch from time to time:

Designing for the Sexes – shows how a designer resolves conflicting styles for clients.

Divine Design – One of my personal favorites – Candice Olsen is a tremendously creative designer. I love her attention to lighting.

Trading Spaces – You could never actually do the work in the period of time and for the amount of money they budget with a designer’s and carpenter’s help, but it is fun to watch anyway. Vern Yip isn’t on the show any more, but it is an entertaining show.

Flip That House – This is a classic – most of the flippers do not have a clue what they are doing. They have unrealistic budgets, ridiculously optimistic schedules and they are not experienced with construction and design. I love watching the host discuss their plans and then they proceed to do the opposite of what she says.

Internet

www.ASID.org

www.IIDA.org

www.HBA.org

www.NKBA.org 

When Do I Need to Hire a Designer?

You may not need a designer. If you, your family and your guests love your home, just keep doing what you are doing.

• If you have trouble visualizing things in 3-D, you might need some help. Make sure you have a clear idea of your goals and budget before looking for a designer. We are all work differently.

• If you and your spouse have a hard time figuring out how to place furniture in your home or how to resolve conflicting design preferences, it might be worth discussing with a design professional.

• Do you ask all of your friends to help you shop for furniture and accessories, and do you prefer to purchase them at retail? If so, we might not be the design firm for you. We can do that type of design, but another professional might be more suited to that type of assistance and might be more cost-effective. The exception would be if you want custom furnishings for public areas of your home and you want to use more cost-effective furnishings for your children’s rooms or guest areas that aren’t within you entertaining rooms.

• Do you purchase furnishings that don’t work and get frustrated that you spent money on something that doesn’t fit the space or look the way you expected it to look? A designer can help you avoid costly mistakes and determine a general budget based on your scope of work.

• Do you entertain frequently for charity events or for work? You may be in that percentage of clients for whom image is extremely important. If so, a designer can help you design your space to impress your guests.

• Do you have the time, interest or experience to take on a full-scale project? Once you understand what it takes to do the level of design a professional can provide, you may decide to relax and let someone else with more experience manage the project for you.

• Do you know how to hang art and place accessories? Many great designers are experts at this. We do this for most of our projects.

• Are you remodeling? You may need help with construction design – this becomes especially important when working on bathrooms and kitchens. Moving walls, and re-purposing space is an artform. Most clients do not have the interest or knowledge to capably design and manage a complex design such as this.

• Are you building your dream home? Especially if your home is more than 4 – 5,000 square feet, you probably need to involve a professional. Not all designers have the experience to design the interior and exterior of a space. Be sure the person you hire knows this special niche of the business. Don’t wait to hire the designer until the architectural plans are done. Architects tend to design from the outside in, and designers begin from the inside out. If the architect and designer get along well and have a collaborative approach, you will end up with your very best result. Your builder should also be part of the team from the very beginning.

• Are you trying to decide which home to purchase, or are you trying to decide if you should remodel or build your dream home? Sometimes it is hard to know if your furniture will fit in your new home, or whether it is worth the investment to renovate your current home. Our firm offers real estate evaluation services. We help clients select lots, purchase homes (sometimes shopping with you and your Realtor), design homes from blueprints, plan for your move whether in town or out-of-state. We can also help you decide whether to remodel a house that you live or whether it would be cost-effective to remodel. We provide furniture plans for your new home for your movers and we also offer traditional design services. We know how builders work and can often assist you with negotiation tactics.

• Do you need or want lighting enhancements and technology upgrades for your current home? Builders understandably offer basic lighting in their homes and can’t be competitive with other builder’s spec products if they include too many of the latest technology advancements. If you are over the age of 40 (you need more light for each decade of age), you have an art collection, or you love the latest gadgets, we understand your special needs. You can either hire a lighting consultant/engineer, A/V specialist and a designer, or you can hire a designer that understands that niche of the business. Our job is to help you integrate the new technologies as unobtrusively as possible. Few clients have the time or interest to understand how to elegantly incorporate these features in their home. If you are one of those clients, please give us a call.

How Do I Find the Right Designer for Me?

You need to be prepared for the process – the more knowledgeable you are about the design process and what you need, the better the results will be.

• If you like your friend’s house and they used a designer, ask them for a referral.

• The Denver Design Connection at the Denver Design Center is a great resource for finding designers. Call Marina Dagenais at 303.282.3226 or email her at marina@denverdesign.com. She will give you three names based on your project description. Please be aware that only a handful of designers are members of the network. If you don’t find an excellent fit, keep looking.

• Ask your Realtor TM - they have great connections.

• Ask trusted advisors. They know people who know people.

• Some of the best designers are the most published designers. Call them and talk to them about their work.

• The internet is one source of information, but not all designers have websites. The Denver Designer at one time had over 5,000 “interior designers” on their roster. Very few of those designers spend money to advertise and promote themselves.

What is the Difference Between an Interior Designer and an Interior Decorator?

An Interior Decorator may have some of the design skills of an Interior Designer, but one of the key differences is education. A designer has completed a minimum of two years of intensive interior design education. A licensed professional has at least six years of experience and has passed the NCIDQ certification exam. As of a 2002 survey by ASID (The American Society of Interior Designers), there were 1,720 licensed professional designers registered in Colorado.

Colorado is the only state in the union that has an interior design permitting statute. This allows a licensed designer that has proof of professional liability and business insurance to produce construction documents and pull a permit for a job. I have the ability to pull a permit, but I feel strongly that a general contractor is the best person to provide this kind of service.

ASID Colorado’s Interior Designer Definition:

“Engages in consultation, study, design analysis, drawing, space planning and specification of nonstructural or nonseismic interior construction with due concern for the safety and occupants of the building; preparing and filing interior design documents for the purpose of obtaining approval for a building permit as provided by law for nonstructural or nonseismic interior construction, materials, finishes, space planning, fixtures, equipment, lighting and reflected ceiling plans (layout of lighting), designing for fabrication of nonstructural elements within and surrounding interior spaces of buildings; or the administration of design construction and contract documents as the client’s agent.”

There are many other services that a designer can provide for you:

• Furniture plans

• Drapery design

• Purchasing

• Expediting

• Job oversight and quality control

• Review of building codes

• Client advocate – assisting with many special services to ensure that your home is actually built according to palns

• Interviewing of collaborators

  • Architects

  • Builders

  • General Contractors

  • Building Engineers

  • Lighting Designers

  • Subcontractors

  • Specialty artisans – muralists, faux finishers, etc.

  • A/V Consultants

• Custom design – for example:

  • Furniture

  • Interior details such as millwork, iron railings, fireplaces

  • Tile

  • Exterior materials

Some of us are construction junkies – I love working on the jobsite with the tradespeople. We work together to interpret the drawings, execute the design and provide expert problem-solving skills when challenges arise which is frequent.

A remodeling project is a perfect example of a time that you want the designer to take the project through the final delivery phase. Why? Let me share a few stories with you:

I received a call from my plumber on a bathroom remodel. He asked me to meet him at the project to find a good location for the whirlpool motor (this was for a neighbor’s project on the same block). I said that I would be there in 20 minutes, so he went to the store to purchase a bag of quick-setting concrete to stabilize the base of the tub. When I walked in the bathroom, I could instantly tell that the color of the tub was wrong.

The contractor said, “oh no, that’s the right color, let me get my work light shining on the tub.” Sure enough, when the plumber returned, we checked the crate – wrong color…he had the purchase order in his truck…it was for the right color. If they had set the tub, the manufacturer would not have replaced the tub and they would have paid $2,500 out of pocket (ten years ago) for a replacement tub. The rep had ordered the wrong tub even though the order was right. The contractor and plumber were very happy that I walked in the door.

As you might imagine, I have many of these stories. Another one just happened on a project this year. The contractor that was hired by the client at the recommendation of some friends, assigned a handyman to project manage – unfortunately, he did not know how to read plans. The work he performed was substandard, and midway through the project, it became evident that there were even more challenges that were going to cost the client money. The client fired the contractor and I finished the job for them.

Not all projects will be as challenging, but we did what it took to correct the problems. The client was happy in the end (except for the part that they had to pay twice for some parts of the work).

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