It's been a while since I put out a blog post. It's been that kind of year so far!
I would love to continue the Myth Buster Series that I started back in March. Here is Part 1 where we busted the myth that your designer will spend all your money, and Part 2 where we busted the myth that your designer will get rid of all your stuff.
Now we will tackle the myth that your designer will impose their own style in your home.
I have heard this one a few times in passing, but I have never experienced it myself, and while I don't think this thinking is completely false, I think the issue is more of a breakdown in communication, more so than a designer wanting to impose their style on a client.
There are two types of designers in the world:
A designer who will decorate in any style that the client desires
A designer who has a very strong design aesthetic and design point of view, and will design your home in some version of that "signature style"
Well, I should correct that by saying, that there are 3 types of designers, because I believe I fall somewhere in between.
What I mean is that over time, I have evolved as a designer and have refined my own signature aesthetic to where it is recognizable and desired by my clients. They usually come to me for that signature style - bold color, elaborate but thoughtful pattern-mix, lots of layers of texture, color and pattern and a sophisticated, refined end result. Some may call it maximalist, though I prefer not to label it as such. Some prospective client do seek me out for this aesthetic because that is what they mostly see in my portfolio, but some request other aesthetics that are unrelated to that signature aesthetic, and I enjoy doing those as well.
What they are looking for is the execution - the layers and overall sophistication that our work exudes regardless of the design style.
Most designers I know, go through great lengths to understand what their client's style is so they can design for the client and their needs and desires, and not their own.
Most will start with some type of onboarding quiz or questionnaire, with detailed and thoughtful questions to help a client express their style and what they want their home to reflect.
Some will ask the client to provide inspiration photos, Pinterest boards and even imagery from their own portfolios to get clients to open up about their style.
The point is that I don't know that there is any designer out there who truly wants to impose their own style on a client, but I can see how that could happen if the communication is off.
The first thing to understand is that you must do some due diligence as a client as you start your search for an interior designer. In this age of information, most designers have a website where you can see their work and even get to know them as a person.
You also should try to understand for yourself what you want your home to reflect. What mood you are trying to evoke. What you want to feel when you walk in. You don't have to use a "style" label for this, as the lines between design styles is very blurred, but you must be able to communicate what you want.
Also keep in mind that you have to live in your space for the long term, so thinking about how you will likely evolve personally is a great exercise as well. For example, you may be single now, but thinking that marriage is on the horizon for you in the next few years. Or starting a family may be the next step. Maybe a promotion in your company could lead to traveling and being away from home a lot. Or maybe you plan to get a dog. Think about potential major life changes. Things like these will affect how a designer will make decisions on certain finishes and materials.
Another important question to ask yourself is how do trends affect you. Are you one to be influenced by what's trendy, or do you prefer timeless, or maybe a good blend.
Your upbringing, current world view and spiritual beliefs could also play a major role in how you design. Sure, these things make up who you are as a whole, but breaking them down a bit may help you decide what things you want to be surrounded by or not to be surrounded by.
It might be easier to communicate to your designer what you DO NOT want. It is easier to express colors you don't like, art genres you don't like, shapes or silhouettes of furniture you don't like, trends you don't like.... and so on. I would be super careful with that though, as you may tell your designer that you hate yellow for example, when yellow has such a vast range of shades that you can choose from.
So with that said, how do we navigate this idea of figuring out a client's style, so we are not guilty of imposing our own?
We use a lot of tried and true tools at our disposal.
We are very visible with our preferred design aesthetic to work in. While we love to work in lots of design aesthetics, we try to focus on the types of projects that showcase more of the breadth of our capabilities with bold color and pattern mix. We make sure that our online portfolio reflects that as well as the work we share on social media.
We feel it. Yes, I have the innate ability to walk into a space and can "feel" what it needs. And follow up conversations with client confirm this.
We have deep conversations with clients about things they like and dislike. We try to do this in person instead of having clients complete a quiz or questionnaire. I personally find taking quizzes exhausting, so I do not subject my clients to that, unless they want to. I also do not require Pinterest boards and inspiration photos. In fact, I kind of discourage them, because often times what I see is that muddies up the process. In some cases, there are valuable pieces of information you can derive from them, but in general, they seem to stifle the creative process. If client is already collecting imagery and inspiration, we gladly accept them as a starting point. If they are not, we certainly don't make them do it like other firms do.
We start with what clients own. One of my key abilities is deciphering from what clients already own if they just made a junk purchase for their home to fill a gap, or it is something meaningful that we can use as a jumping off point for their design. The truth is that people often buy what they love, and even if they don't seem cohesive, there is usually some commonality that we can pull from as a starting point.
I am very observant. What the client wears, places they've traveled to, restaurants they love to eat at, hobbies, what they drive, movies/TV shows they love can be a great clue to what a potential design direction might be.
The home's architecture can be a great starting off point as well, especially if the client has expressed that they love the architecture of the home.
An inspiration piece. This can be anything. It can be a textile, rug, a piece of art, or even a piece of jewelry. That one tiny piece can spark a grand design that speaks exactly to the client's style.
None of the above will matter however, if we cannot effectively communicate our design ideas to our clients before they sign off.
I think where I have seen other designers fail in this area, is they don't do a good enough job of curating every single piece of the design - from specific materials, finishes, furnishings and provide samples, floor plan layouts, elevations and renderings to communicate what it will look like finished.
We can see it finished in our heads, but we now have to get our clients to buy-in and fall in love with the design too.
Ultimately, as the designer, we are to be able to lead our clients through the process, listen intently, communicate well and provide guidance all the way through. A well informed client who is empowered to trust the process will not ever think that the designer imposed their own style.
And speaking of trusting the process - one last piece of advice I'd like to leave in this post is that a client really understand their personality type before hiring a designer - or at least how they work with other professionals. I would not be telling the truth if I said that I have never had a micro-managing client. It boggles my mind that someone could pay for the services of a professional in an area that they have no expertise, and then insist on telling the professional how to do their job. It happens!
Micro-managing always has the opposite effect of what people may think. I mentioned above, that when a creative is being told how to create, they have a harder time (or lose interest in) creating with all that's in them. They merely become facilitators of stuff at that point, and before you know it, your home will look like you designed it yourself - which is what you didn't want to begin with.
Keep in mind that a part of what you pay for when you hire a designer is our knowledge of products and materials, access to things that consumers typically don't have access to, and most importantly our imagination and ability to dream something up and then align the right resources and people to help create it for you. So even if you are seeing a rough or abstract version of a vision, trust the process to the end.
We are visionaries, we are collaborators and we want nothing more than for our clients to love the home we helped them create.
If you want to explore how your home can reflect your style, feel free to reach out to us for a consultation.
Or a virtual consultation if you are not local to the Houston area
Wishing You Beauty and Inspiration,
Veronica
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