Individuality in Design

I have been visiting a lot of homes lately and noticing how different the people live to me. I know that I wouldn't choose to configure my home like they have but it works for them. As an interior designer it is not my role to change the way they live - just enhance the environment and make it work better for them. Some people like to spend their indoor outdoor living time in the morning and catch the morning sun on their deck, others the afternoon, so they have their home arranged quite differently. It is all related to how we live in our home. Some people are elderly and enjoy the morning sun with a cup of coffee and prefer to be indoors at the end of they day as they tire and just want to feel warm and safe inside. Young couples often only have the evenings and the weekend to enjoy their home so their important spaces are more likely to be the kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms. Young family's homes are usually chaotic, the kitchen and bathroom are always being used so are often cluttered as the focus for them is on caring for their children. Professional couples often entertain at home so their importance is on the living/dining and kitchen areas and are usually highly specified with expensive fittings and fixtures as they are often more affluent.
The most important thing I have learned from visiting homes lately, some of these homes are being repaired after the earthquakes and some will be rebuilt, is that most of the people who are having their homes rebuilt want the same layout as they already have as it works on their site and they are comfortable with it. I am surprised at this as I would have thought it would be a great time to change things, I know I definitely would but that is probably because of my background in design. Others just want their lives to be back to normal and be in familiar spaces that work for them. The repairs for the homes are similar, they are happy with what they have. It has been a good lesson for me, as an interior designer I need to be reminded that you don't impose your values and way of living on others. You are there to find out what they want and how you can use your design skills to make the space as efficient and aesthetically pleasing as you can. You have to listen and observe how people live, get in tune with their habits and rituals, find out what is really important to them. Something that seems minor to me like an glazed aluminium wind block screen could be vitally important in their life as they have saved up to have it installed and it increased their quality of life, they are emotionally and financially attached to it, it is important.
The most amazing thing that I have come across is ovens. Yes, 20-30 year old ovens that people love and do not want to part with. I can now understand from taking a look at them as the standard ovens you buy today internally are much smaller, but you just can't get these great big wall ovens anymore.
People don't seem to worry about curtains, I found this surprising as our curtains website is so poplar, I thought everyone loved curtains! Maybe it is something they forget about until they get back into their home, they treat it as decoration rather than the design of the home.
Finally, what I want to share with you is that we can make a difference with our interior design skills to anyone, money doesn't assure good design, it does help but being sympathetic to your client, getting to know them and working out how they will use their home and working to their budget is critical to a positive end result. You could be spending their money in all the wrong places if you aren't in tune with them.
So have fun with your design, enjoy meeting different people and helping to make their interior environments a better place and most importantly remember that you don't know it all, you will never stop learning and valuable honest lessons can be learned from those who possess the least.

Of course I have to direct you to a few new articles on our curtains website, I hope they give you some insight into choosing curtains.

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My Home is My Castle

My Home is My Castle

I write this article after nearly two years of upheaval in my city. We had a major earthquake on February 22 2011 and the people of Christchurch's lives will never be the same again. They lost their homes, some lost family members, jobs were ended abruptly because the entire central city was closed down and most of it is now demolished and still inaccessible  People have had to find a new place to live, put up with after shocks which are now less frequent but still there. Children practice their earthquake drills on a regular basis and my daughter won't even mention the date February 22nd as she just wants to pretend it didn't happen.

That is the background for what I am going to write now. I have been working in a job as a project manager to reinstate people's homes. It has been eye opening in many ways. I see people living with large cracks in their walls, windows boarded up, uneven floors, broken paths and driveways and once loved garden's now unkempt. They carry on their daily lives, adapting to their new environment, most don't complain as they are happy to still be in their own home. Others, I visit their home with them, they are no longer able to live in it, they basically walked out and left their home life behind. Their furniture and belongings battered and tattered all over the floor. It is quite distressing to have to take them back there. They will get a new home built, but it is not the same, they have had to rebuild their lives and be in limbo for two years now, finding somewhere temporary to live, moving kids schools, buying new furniture and everyday necessities,  finding work, and most of all trying hard to be strong and keep their families feeling safe and secure.

I write this from the heart as I have always stressed when I teach others interior design that the home should show the owner's personality, be full of their life's adventures, mementos from travelling, trophies won by children, collected paintings, handmade quilts, whatever they owner loves should be a strength in the interior design. I still agree whole heatedly with this theory, but it is hard to watch as a lot of families have lost their personality, their collected homely possessions. Yes, insurance covers the cost of replacing or repairing their home and their contents, but it can't possibly rebuild their home personality. Where do you start as a designer to get that home feeling back for people? How do you build them back their castle?

I will leave this article now as I would love your feedback to help me answer the question - how do we rebuild their home to be their solid, sturdy, safe and warm, homely castle? Do you have any suggestions that I can offer them? I would love to get some help with this as I am too close to be able to think like a real interior designer about this question.
Thank you
Lee Brown

Trust Your Instincts

Trust Your Instincts

The reason I write this blog is to give you insights on being a designer. In the ecourses I offer, I give you direction to understand and learn the principles of design. Anyone can learn these, but to be truly able to take these lessons and move up a level you need to be able to think and feel like a designer.

All I want to talk about today is to trust your instincts. If you have finished all the education, you will have the fundamentals to be able to make good decisions, even if you don't feel you have the confidence to do so yet. I just want to help you along and guide you to achieving confidence.

Some Tips

Practise
Even if you don't have any paying projects - invent some. If you visit a friends home, take a mental picture and then do a mock proposal to redesign a room. Use your own home, try writing a client brief and creating a scheme for it. See how many different client briefs you can do and you will be amazed on how you treat the same space according to your different client's needs. The only thing this will cost you is your time, but it will give you the confinence to start trusting your understanding of using a brief and putting together a scheme for it. When you write the brief, here are some ideas on what type of design the client may want - a comfortable and cosy home, a pristine design icon, a user friendly family environment, an entertainer's paradise. I guarantee you will enjoy this process and you will feel proud that you can create interesting and different looks for the same space.

Trust Your Instincts
I can't stress this enough. Once you start to become fluent with putting schemes together you will be amazed how quickly you can do it. I can always tell a potentially good designer as they are fast decision makers. They have narrowed down the possible choices they can make for a scheme early on by using the brief, they can then focus on items and materials that will work for the scheme, they are not getting distracted by beautiful fabrics or lovely styled chairs that catch their eye. They walk into a store and know exactly what they are looking for. When they see it they make their decision instantly. This is because they have preplanned and subconsciously they know what they want. So trust your instincts. Don't doubt your choices and decision making process. If you do you will never be able to look confident with a client and justify why you have chosen what you have.

Be Confident
As I have just explained above - be confident at presenting your choices, because if you come across as sounding doubtful about something you have selected, how do you think the client will feel? They are paying you for your expertise and ability to make choices for them based on your experience and education. So show your passion for the products and materials you have selected, inspire them, explain their durability, color, finish, reasons for your choices and their situation. They will feel comfortable with you and believe you and be able to speak up if they aren't happy. You have to make them feel they can trust their home with you.

I hope these few tips help you take your design education to the next level.

Here are some articles you may want to read to help you

Client Brief Form
Creating Color Schemes

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