By:
Courtney Thomas
Resources
June 09, 2018

Want to Know How We Work? Steps 5-8

Stretch, take a breath and a small walk-about. We are halfway through the process. Hooray! It can seem daunting, but I want to deliver all the info up front in all its detailed glory, so there are no “ions” later: confusion, frustration, distraction. In the midst of a remodel or interior design project, it can seem as though it cannot end soon enough, but knowing what comes next helps put patience and perspective in place. Stay the course and we will see you through to the end. It’s so worth it.

Step 5- The Presentation

Swp 4025 Preview You have let us marinate on design details while we source for your space. We have taken everything from the style direction meeting, your design direction preferences (including the picture you sent us of the hotel room you stayed in that had the most amazing shower you loved) and we have made the vision more concrete on paper. Now, we want you to see it. You come in for a presentation meeting and we walk you through our creative thoughts behind the vision. We think about the big picture and balance. I often have a good reason for everything I’ve included in a space, so I can go on and on about what we selected and why. Better make sure you have a sitter. I want to make sure we have answered all of your requests whether we can implement them or not. There are lots of sleepless nights before presentation because it’s the critical moment between thought and action. These ideas that lived only in our heads get put in motion when you sign off on presentation.You have let us marinate on design details while we source for your space. We have taken everything from the style direction meeting, your design direction preferences (including the picture you sent us of the hotel room you stayed in that had the most amazing shower you loved) and we have made the vision more concrete on paper. Now, we want you to see it. You come in for a presentation meeting and we walk you through our creative thoughts behind the vision. We think about the big picture and balance. I often have a good reason for everything I’ve included in a space, so I can go on and on about what we selected and why. Better make sure you have a sitter. I want to make sure we have answered all of your requests whether we can implement them or not. There are lots of sleepless nights before presentation because it’s the critical moment between thought and action. These ideas that lived only in our heads get put in motion when you sign off on presentation.You have let us marinate on design details while we source for your space. We have taken everything from the style direction meeting, your design direction preferences (including the picture you sent us of the hotel room you stayed in that had the most amazing shower you loved) and we have made the vision more concrete on paper. Now, we want you to see it. You come in for a presentation meeting and we walk you through our creative thoughts behind the vision. We think about the big picture and balance. I often have a good reason for everything I’ve included in a space, so I can go on and on about what we selected and why. Better make sure you have a sitter. I want to make sure we have answered all of your requests whether we can implement them or not. There are lots of sleepless nights before presentation because it’s the critical moment between thought and action. These ideas that lived only in our heads get put in motion when you sign off on presentation.

Step 6- The Execution

66 Preview 1Once the vision boards from the presentation are approved, we will move quickly to execute on ordering and purchasing. Time is of the essence since much of what we source can be subject to availability and we hate having to tell a client that an item is now back-ordered or discontinued. It happens more than we like. This is also why we ask you to budget and set aside the funds for the furnishings. It can all add up at once.Once the vision boards from the presentation are approved, we will move quickly to execute on ordering and purchasing. Time is of the essence since much of what we source can be subject to availability and we hate having to tell a client that an item is now back-ordered or discontinued. It happens more than we like. This is also why we ask you to budget and set aside the funds for the furnishings. It can all add up at once.

Step 7- The Installation & Final Design

Swp 9103 PreviewWe will ask you to leave your house. I know… how heartless, but it’s for a good reason. For the same reason we ask you to be patient and let us install all at once instead of in phases, we don’t want clients to be on site during delivery and installation. If you see one item come in, you may not see beyond that one thing. You start to think “it’s too big, it won’t work” or “it’s the wrong color and she’s lost her mind.” You will start to doubt… our abilities, your belief in the final look and that your expectations might have been misplaced. When you can’t see the final look, you look for mistakes in the partially done. We want you to focus on the final look and the best way to do that is to make sure you don’t see it until we’re ready to let it be viewed. It’s worth it. Because when you walk into a turn-key designed room, all the in-between hours and angst seem so unimportant. This is where all the artwork is hung, the beds get made the way we’d like to think they’ll always be made (we will spot check J) and all the flat surfaces are styled. We use this opportunity to get the house photographed for our portfolio, say our final goodbyes to the pieces that took months to customize and check the details no one but us will ever notice or worry about.

Step 8- The Epilogue

Swp 8897 PreviewThe house is ready for visitors and your everyday enjoyment. All the ideas we explored in all our meetings and conversations have come to fruition. You’re finally using the alcove where you proclaimed you would read a book or seize a moment of quiet contemplation. You realize how important that outlet we hid in the kitchen cabinet to charge all the kid’s electronics really is or how often you use that extra overhead light we insisted you’d want in your laundry room. Instead of working around the house’s short-comings, the house is now working to support the way you want to live and giving you time to focus on the things that really matter, living and loving.

We design for the big picture. Sometimes it can seem like all these steps just get in the way and take more time than they’re worth. But without them, projects lead us instead of us leading them. We use a process to be proactive, not reactive. And that, in the long run, will save you time, money and headache.

Courtney Thomas Luxury Interior Design Services

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.

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Courtney Thomas Lead Designer