Don’t Go Along Just To Go Along
Pillows or Paint? - Chairs versus stools? The choices are many, but the decisions are yours!
Be open, honest and fearless with your Interior Designer and team!
One of the most – if not the most – difficult problems that can develop as an Interior design project gets underway, is discovering that a client has “gone along” with something they really did not feel quite right about.
Some of this phenomenon is about feeling uncomfortable with confronting; some is a true ambiguous dilemma. But sometimes, it can be a case of just not wanting to go up against what you assume your Interior designer thinks is the only right choice about something.
That’s never a good assumption, especially when it doesn’t feel right! One sign of an experienced professional is their ability to spot this problem ASAP! It is a problem, and could become an expensive one involving re-dos, returns and unnecessary re-expenditures.
It involved a relatively small factor for the scope of the Interior design project in point, but here’s an example. It was about the accessory pillows for rather formal living room couches and chairs. As is my practice, I specify a variety of combinations from which a client may select – sizes, shapes, materials and colors, etc. When asked my recommendation, I have no hesitation with suggesting “best choices! But, I make it clear that any of those presented would work.
When an installation has been completed, I follow up with a visit to be sure all is well, and to do my photo shoot record. To my surprise, my client was a little embarrassed and apologetic as she pointed out that she had replaced the items that had been chosen for the ones she “really wanted” – instead of what I had wanted. Well, we had a good conversation, cleared the air about who’s in charge of decisions, and we have since successfully completed subsequent Interior projects!
For some clients it feels uncomfortable to disagree with the expert!
When I sense such discomfort, I take the time to clarify. First, it’s your Interior. All final choices and decisions are yours. Second, recommendations aren’t orders or even necessarily your Interior designer’s personal preferences.
When you hire a professional Interior design team, it’s usually because you know what you don’t know and you want the guidance of professional help, experience, knowledge and resources. None of those exclude a client’s personal taste, common sense, likes and dislikes.
My Latin is a bit rusty, so apologies in advance, but there’s an old saying: de gustibus non est disputandum! Concerning taste there is no argument!
Your Interior designer learns all that’s reasonable about your tastes, at the beginning of your Interior project plan – the color spectrum you like, the feeling you want for the environment and many, many other details about the finished vision you have in mind. Armed with valuable insights, your Interior designer presents concepts and choices – not decisions!
As your project progresses, it’s important not to just go along with recommendations, as if there were no alternatives, just to get along. Your Interior designer doesn’t have a fragile ego! There’s another irony in all of this, too. I also have had the experience once or twice when a client simply said: That’s exactly what I said I wanted, but now that I see it, I don’t like it!
Communication – again – is the key! When you aren’t sure, be clear about that with your Interior designer - who wants your Interior design project to be exactly what you envisioned!
