GOOD RIDDENS TO 2009- THE COMEBACK OF DESIGN!

If I had to find one word to describe this year, it would have to be "survival". Not survival of the fittest, but survival of the smartest; and that's not always a good thing. This year I saw many large home improvement businesses vanish. Contractors went out of business, many design firms closed around me, furniture stores shut down and far too many went bankrupt and lost homes and assets. Some saw this coming and prepared by downsizing their companies quickly, to avoid total financial chaos. Most though, still kept on their normal business course, and before you knew it, the clients were gone and so was the income. We never thought the bottom would ever fall out of the high end market, but it sunk like a stone. Through the ashes of the companies that couldn't survive grew newly formed companies run by unskilled laborers trying to make a quick buck on unsuspecting customers looking to remodel their homes for cheap...and this is now where we are.

Where have I been? I abandoned my blogs and much of my normal life while I attempted to figure out my next move. When the going gets tough, sometimes the tough have to meditate! Although I am still standing, this year has brought many trials and losses. I probably should have been here talking through them, but you know what mommy says, " If you can't say nothing nice..".

Personally, I am in a better, more positive place, ready to take on the nay-sayers who feel that they no longer need an Interior Designer in their lives because they can get discounts, or shop at wholesale stores and watch enough DIY to figure it all out. Truth is, you can't. Sure you may be able to get the job done, but most often times for more money than you would have paid me to help you, or with mistakes that will make the job sub-standard at best. Designers were put on this Earth for a reason. We have a valuable skill that you can't absorb by watching endless episodes of "Divine Design". There is far too much that goes into designing a room. It's not just picking pretty colors for paint and fabrics that match; and SHAME ON YOU so-called "designers" who are merely bad decorators acting like you know what you're doing and working on projects beyond your scope of understanding and experience. You are cheapening what we do and making it harder for clients to see the value of our worth. Where product selection might mean the difference in their property value, a safety issue or even housing codes, a blind woman should not give directions! I have seen enough tacky interiors this year to last a lifetime! And because the design bucket is currently filled with so many bad apples, this design diva has had to take a second job. Good designers are like actors in Hollywood now, most are waiting tables or getting by on whatever can consistently pay the bills. I am designing kitchens for a second company that allows me the freedom to still run my firm part time. Thank God for his blessings and for the patience it has taken to get through this year.

I am back WORLD, better and stronger than I was. And if you think I had a lot to say before, wait till you see me now!