I’m pretty humbled by showrooms’ generosity, I must say. Yes, I know they get valuable exposure from contributing to Design Houses, but from where I’m standing right now, it just feels like people are being nice. I’ll take it.
To date, we have:
– ALL of the fabric provided by Stroheim & Romann. There’s a lot of fabric, so that’s huge
– Wall-to-wall carpet AND its installation from Patterson, Flynn & Martin
– A custom-made bench from Beachley
– Several key pieces of furniture and a chandelier on loan from Robert Allen
– And, of course, the area rug from Odegard
Thanks, fabulous folks. I’m extremely grateful.
Less energizing is the fact that our “inspiration boards” are due on Monday. Sigh.
I’ll be honest with you: I don’t usually work this way. I know many interior designers work up boards for projects (one of my clients insisted on it – she still has them, come to think of it). But I get so caught up in the board itself that I stray from the real work at hand: designing the room or house.
I’m mindful that clients pay me by the hour. Do they really want me to spend several hours of billable time taping and pasting samples to a big piece of cardboard, or can I just spread out materials at our meeting so we can talk through the concept together?
The latter approach serves me well.
Time considerations aside, I find that if I work up a board, I get so invested in the scenario I’m proposing that I’m less mentally nimble if we have to change course. For example, if I’m working on a sweet country bedroom but I didn’t know about a horrifying crewel work incident in the client’s past, I’m going to look pretty dumb unveiling a room based on that fabric.
And sometimes – often, actually – a client falls madly in love with a particular fabric or rug I show them. They just light up. I want to be able to seize upon that and build. My clients like being part of the process, and I think it’s more fun AND efficient.
The “inspiration board” for the Design House is understandable, because it’s the best way to give visitors a glimpse into the process. I know, I know…
I’ll tell you what my inspiration for the “urban elegance” Design House is. Park Avenue. Park Avenue, the upper West Side, the Kennedy-Warren, the Wyoming…those grand old apartment buildings in major east coast cities. That’s my inspiration.
Now I have to come up with a big piece of cardboard that demonstrates that.
The carpet picture is from Patterson, Flynn & Martin. The crewel fabric is Himachal by Beacon Hill.