A thought occurred to me the other day, while I was chatting with a colleague of mine. She and I were having a brainstorming meeting, and she said, “Do you realize just how much we have to know?”
One of my favorite stories in working with a client was during a meeting to go over some design revisions. The client wanted to know how much it would cost to do a specialty dry-erase coating on a few other walls we hadn’t initially planned on. I quickly busted out my calculator, and started going over the ceiling heights in order to calculate the square footage, which then lead me to another math equation where I could then determine how many gallons of the product we would need… Halfway through my math, my client turned to me and said, “I didn’t realize just how much math there is in interior design.” We all had a good laugh, but I have never forgotten this moment.
Interior designers have to be incredibly detail oriented. We do a lot of math, as mentioned above, but we also have to know about things like sloped ceilings in a steam shower, how many controls it is going to take to have those fancy body-spray heads in your shower function the way you want them to, and how many filler pieces it is going to take to build out your kitchen to give your appliances a “built-in” look.
When we start your project we are looking at many parts and pieces as well as taking into consideration how gorgeous it is going to look when we are done. For example, drains can be quite costly to move, so unless you have an unlimited construction budget we are going to try our hardest to keep the drains and water lines close to where they currently exist. Exotic hardwoods do NOT do well in our Colorado climate, and despite how much you may love them, you may be better off with an engineered product that comes from the United States. It is our job to educate you on all topics related to your project from the underlayment you will never see or touch, to that soapstone counter that is MUCH different from granite.
So what do I do, when I am not working hard on your project, finding you the perfect tile, hardwood, and furniture? I learn and I meet with other professionals to collaborate!
I believe that keeping up with the latest in tech, construction, trends, and codes are important to the best outcome of your project! I want to always make sure I am meeting new vendors that will bring us great pricing, products, and services, and I am constantly on the hunt for fabulous contractors to bring to you as well.
My colleague is right, we do have to know a lot, but for designers our brains are wired for this kind of thing and it is so much fun! I can tell you in the 4 years I have owned this business, I have never had a single day that was the same as any other, and I wouldn’t trade that for the world. I enjoy that things are constantly changing and that every client has a different style or need that we get to find an answer to. We do more than just make your space look beautiful, we get down and into the difficult details so that you don’t have to. When we present our ideas to you, they are easy to understand so that you can make the fun decisions. (I promise we leave the math out of it!)
-Megan Thompson
