When Do I Hire An Interior Designer? New Construction Edition

Too many times I've met my client for the first time after they have made far too many design mistakes. Either they have spent way too much money on upgrades that they didn't need, didn't understand or could have purchased through me for way cheaper; or they did things in their home that didn't make sense within the space. I so often find that I am faced with my client saying " I didn't realize you could help me with that." or " I never thought to hire you at the beginning stages." or "Wow, I could have brought you with me to the design center?" The truth is, many clients put the bat signal in the sky way after the Joker has attacked Gotham City. Your good interior designer, meaning someone like me (of course),should be with you at the conception of your blueprints. This is where the first crutial design decisions are made that form the bones upon which you construct your home and every direction your interior goes from there. Why design a Tuscan home if you desire a contemporary feel? Why perform surgery on your home to fix something you coulld have altered while it was an embryo?

I can't tell you how many blueprints I have dissected that have insufficient lighting plans. Architects that are a bit more old school simply stick a center fixture in the room, regardless of how large it is. They also put all of the outlets along the walls in a 20' x 18' room as though it's the 90's and we all still align our furnishings against the walls like they are punished. Some architects get tray ceiling happy, some don't explain to their clients that adding space to one room, usually takes space from another, unless you are blowing out that wall. Maybe you want a niche in one wall or a feature on another. Perhaps you plan to have a detail in your yard that you want to view from all angles and require a certain window. Maybe you plan to have an indoor, outdoor bathroom- but are not sure how you will pull it off? Maybe you've never heard of one, but in a few months I might suggest it and you fall in love with the idea... How do we get those retractable glass doors into that wall now??? So many possibilities and they would cost far less money if I was there in the planning stages of your home. So now your walls in your master are going up surrounding a space for a 5' tub, but you thought a 6' tub would fit because the space measures out to be 6'...but you never considered the space required to support the drop in tub. Your architect put in a beautiful rounded breakfast nook with a portico, but you and your husband prefer to eat at the kitchen counter...lots of moola wasted there. I could go on, but I have other paragraphs to write!

Once your blueprints are done, your general contractor begins to solicit bids for the work to be done on your home to create a budget for you to get your financing. BUDGETS FOR HIGH END HOMES ARE ALWAYS A GOOD 20% LOWER THAN THE AMOUNT ACTUALLY NEEDED TO COMPLETE THEM... and for good reason. When the plumber is quoting your install, it is based on the blueprint that does not tell him you want a snail shower with multi- spa, 12 jet package. The electrician is quoting installation of 40 recessed can lights and not the 72 that you actually need. They don't know you want sconces in every hallway $$$. Then there is the sheetrocker that is using a texture on the walls that you are going to have venetian plastered or wall papered. They need to be smooth, but you didn't know you wanted all of that until you got to that stage of planning. I had a client get convinced that they should have 10% knock down texture on their walls, which turned out to be more like 5% and they didn't understand what it would look like. It looks like your taper missed a few spots with the sander. Not pretty! I had a client change a bank of windows in their family room to french doors and now they have no wall space to place anything in that room. It is just so easy to make a mistake that will affect you for the next twenty years. Why gamble? Getting your designer in on your project from day one can save you money and headaches in the long run.

And if you are not building a custom home, you have to face the dreaded "Design Center", which they should call the money trap instead. You just don't understand that the hand scraped walnut floor that you paid $16.00 per square foot for, I could have gotten you for $8.00 a square. Over the life of your loan that floor can cost you $200,000. Take the important upgrades that are structural and not as easy to change- like Low E windows and a larger water heater. If you upgrade your standard cabinets to the fancy staggered height cherry with a chocolate stain, you will sink $40,000 into a kitchen I could have sold you for half. It's just that high of a mark-up, honestly. Don't be fooled. Take the standar cabinets and swap them out for something that will be an overall better quality custom cabinet rather than the lower end stock cabinet company that they are claiming to be top quality.

The bottom line is $150.00 an hour for a good designer is a small price to pay to save you money down the line. Some, like me, can even act as project manager on your job site, eliminating so many of the frustrations involved with seeing those contractor mistakes after the fact. Consider the many important uses for your designer during your next home build or tell someone you know. $$$$$

Good Furniture versus CRAP!

I am a firm believer in educating my clients. It's important for me to make sure they understand every aspect of what they wish to do in a project and everything about the products I specify for their homes.

Our discussion for this moment is about furniture. I have had many problems with furniture stores as of late, thanks to the failing economy and poor customer service practices of the stores themselves. This is why I am happy to say that I am now purchasing fairly exclusively from my favorite showroom Nyla Simone Home in Tempe. Not only do they have beautiful merchandise at an exceptional price for the quality; I don't have to worry about my purchases, and that's important to me... Now, onto my subject of discussion...

I work with clients of all budgets, from mid range to high-end. And, for the most part, they understand the value of a quality piece of furniture. However, I have been in a store shopping for my clients and have heard " $ 900.00 for a chair... Are they crazy? I'm in the wrong store." But you're not!!!
Right place, wrong frame of mind. How can you know what a REAL piece of furniture costs, when Ashley and The Roomstore are telling you that you can buy a sofa, loveseat, chair, coffee table, two end tables and two lamps for $ 1,999.00. ( First of all, DESIGN RULE Numero Uno, NEVER MATCH YOUR ENTIRE LIVING ROOM SET TO ITSELF... so 90's!)

The cost of a piece of furniture is largely related to the quality of materials used in it's fabrication. Does that mean that going to that " STUCK UP" furniture store in the North of Scottsdale warrants a sofa costing $ 15,000. NO!!!! There is also such a thing as frivolous mark-up to pay for my Benz. Be careful! We'll talk about that in another blog post.

Chances are the sofa from those lower priced box stores are comprised of a low density foam, an inferior particle board and 1" x 2" frame ( what makes up the bottom of your seating area).
Chances are very good that you will be feeling those springs on your backside in a few years, if they last that long! Chances are excellent that your sofa comes in three colors, purchased by the thousands of square feet to give them "such a great deal that they pass on to you"; that the leather back to your sofa will probably not have a grain match, and if it does, chances are very good that portions of your "leather" are actually a nice quality vinyl. Oops! Are you checking your couch?

I am not saying that there are not some nice, decent quality chairs for under $900.00. But, if you are not looking for a contermporary piece with a simplistic style in a microsuede, you are looking at an average chair of good quality starting at no less than $600.00 and going up to around $2,200.00 (depending on your fabric). Most chair purchases that I make for clients fall within the $800.00 (with a standard fabric) to around $1,600 (with a nicer quality fabric or a C.O.M ((customer's own materials- which means a fabric that I purchase especially for the room from another vendor)).

If you were to cut your seating in half, there should be several layers to your piece. Underneath your fabric layer should be a wrap of dacron or another thin foam sheeting forming the fill below it. Your fill should consist of one or more layers of either a high density polyurethane (as your least expensive option), or another fiber or poly blend product. You should have options for down and some companies offer a hypoallergenic fill for those who have allergies to feathers but still want a down luxury fill. Underneath your fill layers is the construction of your piece. Believe it or not there's wood in there! The frame should be a sturdy kiln dried wood screwed and/ or doweled with thick corner blocks. Under your fill will be a plywood/ spring, open/ spring or even an eight way hand tied configuration supporting the weight placed upon your seat. In an eight way hand tied sofa 3- dimensional coils are hand attached to the bottoms and sides of the frame and tied to eight adjoining coils in that many directions to prevent shift in the piece. It gives an even strength throughout every area of the sofa to prevent "bottoming out" (or a lower sagging) when a larger person sits down or the wearing away in one particular area of a piece. You will find this in the higher quality pieces, but you can also find good quality without it.

Last, but not least, the crowning jewelry of your piece- there is the fabric, or upholstery. You need to consider all that I do when approaching this subject. Do you have children? Pets that might be scratching the upholstery? Will you be eating on it, laying all over it or merely staring at it in the parlor? Will it need a high traffic fabric and should you purchase a stain guard? Any high quality piece will not simply come with a protective coating, you must order it. Many polyester blends, silks, satins, rayon combos will leave water stains when cleaned, as will many chenilles. A solid will show more dirt than a print. A medium- dark color works best in AZ. Something too light will show dirt by getting darker. Something too dark will show lint, dust and pet hair. A high quality leather will not damage when scratched. There is a particular type of leather that is a harder feeling, more rustic leather meant to be scratched and weather with age, but you will not find it at that chain store. That leather is scratching because it is garbage. Don't be fooled.

Of course, I strongly recommend that you do not go it alone. If you are working with a good designer, go with them to the store or allow them to specify what will work best in your space. A showroom will not carry absolutely every product they sell, so if your piece is custom made and you can sit in one piece mad eby the same maufacturer, the others that are made the same will sit the same as well. Do not dismiss a piece because it isn't on the showroom floor. Trust your designer to make the best choice for your room. I have put together some of my best rooms all from a catalog. A real piece of furniture is an investment. I have recently reupholstered 2 sofas that I have had for a few years. Because the pieces are good quality, I saved thousands reupholstering versus buying new... and NO, you can't reupholster your sofa for $500.00. That'll be another blog post. Man, I'm gonna be busy!

I'm back...with a VENGEANCE!!!

Hello All,

Welcome back to me and my blog. I took a blog vacation, which it turns out is not the best thing to do. I, at first, found it necessary to spend all of my effort hunting down potential new clients. I have since found that I need the therapy that my blog allows me to have, so I am back!!! And boy do I have a lot to say. My last few months have given me insight into so many things. More than anything it has shown me that the potential client (yeah YOU) are uneducated when it comes to purchasing and design. And that is not your fault. It is the fault of many different outlets. The largest one begin mainstream media. Television has got my poor unsuspecting clients believing that they can do anything with a little gusto and $3,000... Oh my gosh! Damn you big box store who tells my potential clients that they can get an entire kitchen for $128.00 a square foot. Damn you overstock places that tell them they can now have granite for as low as $35.00 a square foot. And most of all- SHAME ON EVERY DESIGN SHOW ON HGTV that makes my clients believe that they can gut and remodel their living room, put in high end furnishing, glass tile walls, wallpaper and new flooring and doesn't tell them what it all costs. Sure, I have shared ways to do low cost cosmetic makeovers. They do exist... But honestly, now is the time to invest in what we have and do it well. I am back now to show you how. Candace won't tell you, somebody has to!!!!!