One of the most satisfying parts of our job is finishing a project and then looking back over the initial brief and inspiration to see if we’ve achieved what we set out to. When we are pitching to a client, we create mood boards, based on all the inspiration and ideas they have given us, mixed with our own thoughts and specific product knowledge. From creating these mood boards and presentations to actually seeing the finished product can be well over a year, and quite often you find that a design has matured and developed along the way. Not so with our recent big project, when we went back over the presentation notes we were quite taken aback at how accurately they represented what materialised. For examples, the hallway:
Before board
After photo
And that ottoman is in the study and living room.
The Master Bedroom:
The Twin Room:
It can be quite hard in the interior design world to let an design develop. After all, once you’ve done your presentation, our contract stipulates a ‘design freeze’ where the client agrees to everything to be purchased and then we go ahead. This means you can’t change your mind half way through (a nightmare when getting bespoke furniture made, or items covered in fabric, or after things have already been ordered – as the client will now have in their heads that they don’t like it, or that it is compromised). And vice versa, if we change something then the client won’t be amused as they have agreed to the one they have paid for. Projects always through up problems, and better solutions might present themselves along the way. Or you might just have a design ‘Eureka’ moment, or see a table that you just have to include. The best way around this problem is to create designs that are interchangeable. Everything in the above photos works well with everything else, but none of it is dependant on other aspects of the design. That way you have the flexibility to change any part of it and no ruin the overall look and feel.