Make a Wish List, not a To-Do List
On a recent walk-thru, a client pointed out all the areas of her house she felt needed to be addressed and why. When she paused, I asked her to show me her favorite place in the house and tell me why she loved it. She showed me to a chair in her bedroom overlooking their beautiful and serene backyard. She said sitting there brought her a sense of peace and joy. I asked her, “what if the rest of your house could do the same? What if instead of feeling pressured by each room’s to-do list, you felt inspired? Then, I gave her homework “Make a wish list instead of a to-do list.”
I know, that sounds like your greatest fear about designers (blowing budgets and expanding project scope) but bear with me a sec. Visions give us direction. They help us to see the forest through the trees. Without a bigger vision of where you hope to go, you only see a home with problems instead of potential. No one said the wishlist had to be tackled all at once. It just helps provide a roadmap to get you to a larger goal.
First client meetings teach me so much. I ask a few questions for clarification and understanding, but mostly my goal is to listen. As the story of your home and how you live in it unfolds, a picture emerges in my head: one of ideals, wishes and wants. Once I visualize it, it’s what I want to create for you. The house I see moves beyond a list of needs and delivers a space of inspiration. It considers how you are currently living in your home and explores how you dream to. Our clients often come to us with a list of needs: the lighting is poor and dated, the carpets are dirty, the mantel feels wrong for the house. With a list of frustrations, it’s easy to see how our homes stop inspiring us. These “to-do lists” can keep us focused on checking boxes next to “replace the shower head and repaint the mantel” instead of zooming out to consider a bigger vision about the way we want to live in our homes, the way we can live in our homes.
That place between to-do lists and dreams is where we discover a vision for you. It’s where possibility and potential drive the design and it’s where our inspiration lives.
So in case you’re waiting for someone to give you permission to dream big, bigger than a replacement showerhead and a re-painted mantle…permission granted.
Courtney Thomas, ASID
Principal & Lead Designer
My job is to make spaces functional in their layout, comfortable in their use, inspirational in their style and luxurious in their appointment. In that order. For that one moment after installation, the pictures are perfect.
