When you begin decorating your home, you should remember one truth. Your home should suit your needs, your tastes, and your lifestyle. Too many people lose sight of this. Whether you hire a decorator/designer, or you embrace DIY, your home should reflect you.
The job of a designer or decorator is to discover your needs, tastes, and lifestyle in order to create the perfect space for you. Unfortunately, too many TV designers push their clients around, degrade them and push their own style on them. People are afraid to hire someone who might treat them this way. This is not what a good designer does!
If your decorator/designer has a haughty, “I know more than you” attitude toward you, do not hire them. If your decorator/designer asks you no questions, but just looks around your house and says, “Leave it to me. I already have plenty of ideas” do not hire them. If you have hired a decorator/designer and they push you around, make you feel stupid or insignificant, or refuse to consider your personal needs, assert your authority. Remember, you hired them, you can fire them. You are the boss. |
Whenever I go to someone’s house for the first time, I ask many questions. I notice everything around me; however, the question/answer phase is the most important part of the first interview. This is when I learn about the client and whether we can be a compatible team. This is also when the client makes this decision about me. If we pass the “first phase” and I am shown the house, I try to see the space as the client desires to see it. My goal is always to give the client what they truly want and need. We cannot understand what this is without working together.
You might be surprised to know that I turn clients down who do not want to be an active participant in the design process. I love it when someone likes the home of a client I have worked with, and calls me for a consultation. However, when that person wants me to recreate that project inside his or her own home, I am quick to say no. A person’s tastes, needs, and lifestyle are unique to them. Their home should be unique as well.
I once had a potential client who wanted me to decorate her living room. She did not want to have any part in the design process. She just wanted me to create the design for her. She could not understand why I refused. Her previous designer had done this for her. As I looked around the space, devoid of anything that would express that the woman lived there, I remember thinking that a hotel room had more life and personality. I did try to interest her in creating a beautiful space just for her. Sadly, I finally had to refuse her as a client.
I have great confidence in my ability. I have a degree from one of the best colleges in America. I bring my talent, education, and experience to every job I do. My own home reflects my personal tastes. However, the homes I design should not reflect me.
If you are acting as your own decorator/designer, you should follow these same principles. A personal notebook of magazine clippings and photos is an excellent tool in helping you to find your perfect style. If you find an image (or an actual room) that you absolutely love, take it apart. Look at every individual component of that design. There are many ideas that you can use. However, you do not want a duplicate of that space. It was created for the person who lives in it. Your home should reflect you.
I have tried to instill the importance of this in my students, as well as my clients. Soon, I will bring on-line classes, which I taught at Piedmont Technical College, to those creative who want to learn interior decorating and design. I will let you know more as the launch of the first course approaches. Feel free to contact me if you want more information. I always love hearing from you.