Transforming Ideas to Reality

Now that you have done the legwork in addressing ‘why’ you want to add to your existing house or design a new one, as well as considering the variety of feelings and impressions you want to create in the experience of the person entering the space, be sure that you have these ideas in a format that will be able to communicate to those who will be working on the design’s realization will be able to reference.

A scrapbook with removable pages can greatly assist in the planning of the house; having a few pages per room is helpful. On those pages, you will not only have images that you have saved or cut out of magazines; you will also include special notes about the performance of each room and the furnishings that you would like to have in it.

Believe it or not, it is not too early to be considering the costs of the items. And, if you have already selected the furnishings, fixtures and equipment of the rooms you are going to have, the designer can insure that each of the items has enough space in the room that you want it to go in. Believe me, it is much easier to plan for the objects and the space requirements that you want if the designer already has the measurements of those objects in mind. Logical arrangements of furniture and circulation paths add greatly to the function and use of each space; knowing the furniture you want in advance only makes the design better, and you realize the budget that you will need to have in order to make the house a home.

Before you consider who will help you realize your plans in your house or assist you in the creation of a new one, one of the key things you need to realize is that custom design is a dynamic process. Unlike going to a big box store or retail outlet, the work that you are trying to accomplish is not like buying a toaster. Very few things that are custom designed are a ‘slam dunk’. The process of designing takes a bit of ‘back and forth’ between you and the people who will realizing your dream with you. Each person who interacts with you in the process will have a degree of skill and experience that you do not have, and so you should strongly consider what they have to say, especially if they have reservations about the direction you want to go in. And, there will be ‘bumps’ in the road. In over 23 years of experience, I have never had a project or interacted with designers, builders or clients where there were not some type of issues to be resolved or frustrations along the way. This resistance is a normal part of the process of custom design.

When interviewing the designer who will be working with you, you need to insure that there is a comfortable fit between both of you… the designer should first of all realize that, since you are the one paying the bill, that your thoughts and considerations are of primary concern. I mention this because there are some designers who are such ‘experts’ that they will leave you in the dust, forget about or neglect what you have to say, and ‘do their own artistic thing’. If you do not want the designer to see your house as his or her own private ‘canvas’, then you need to be certain to select one who will listen to and take the time to understand your aspirations, dreams, ideas and concerns for the spaces that will be designed.