In over your head?
Are you in over your head? You know what I mean, bit off more than you can chew? Feel like you got the short end of the stick? What the hell is she talking about? Design, of course!
You wanted to build your dream home. Saved up for years, or came into a windfall, closed the big deal, whatever, and decided to pull the trigger. You’ve been watching HGTV and binging on Pinterest, blogs and podcasts about interior design.
You’ve got this.
Your lovely spouse gave you the reigns to “have fun” with the design, he trusts you after all. You can make all the decisions. You can go to all the showrooms and shop to your hearts desire. Tile. Plumbing. Flooring. Paint. Wallpaper. Stone slab yards. Cabinets. Reclaimed wood for the custom mantle. Hardware (you know, door knobs, cabinet pulls, etc). Lighting. And then there will be furniture! This is great!
You have an architect and they are drawing up the plans.
They are mostly focused on the exterior but you are diligent and asked for another closet here, maybe a pocket door there. And you’re tall, so you make sure all the shower heads are at 7’ instead of the standard 6’. The main outlets in the kitchen and by the master bedroom nightstands should be the nice ones and include hybrid outlets with standard plugs and USB ports so you don’t need a converter to charge your phones. And you remember your current house doesn’t have an outlet in the closet for your watch wonder – that Rolex isn’t going to wind itself. You also make sure that gets noted to the architect.
This is so great!
Oh, did I mention you already have the land and a general contractor? Congratulations, those are checked off the list. Hell yeah!
It’s time to start moving dirt but the contractor said they can’t give you a bid until the interior details are selected.
They said they have to know how much the products cost and the installation patterns to bid materials and labor costs. They used tile as an example. You know you want a white subway tile. But actually you want it installed in a herringbone pattern and the picture saved on your phone of what you want turns out to be not just white, but white marble, Carrera. If the contractor had given you a bid without investigating, you would certainly have seen a change order down the road. But it’s all good! You caught it, no miscommunication and you’re moving on. But wait – what about the rest of the selections?
Interiors are obviously installed last, right, so why do they need that information now?
You’re having your evening cocktail and debriefing your day with your spouse. “The project is on hold because we need all the specifications,” you say. “I need to get down to those showrooms and see what we want.” Your next week is so productive! Between your high-powered boss babe career, managing the nanny, kid’s schedules and meal planning, you squeezed in the flooring showroom and paint store. Two of the very first things we select on a project! You are smart and realized these are the 2 biggest specifications based on surface area and you want a good design foundation. (I’m proud of you.)
You brought the tile and paint samples home and your spouse is underwhelmed, not with all of it, just most.
Oh shit
Didn’t see this one coming. You’re a little crushed, but you’re a boss and he told you it was your choice. But you’re also a good partner and decide to go together this upcoming weekend to the showrooms. Unfortunately. you’re out of town this weekend so you’ll have to go next weekend – 2 weeks from now.
The showroom visits were productive. Crisis avoided. They didn’t have the sample you needed, but it can be ordered and you can go back in 2 weeks to pick it up. You need it to bring home and compare to the large wood flooring sample board you checked out to make sure they “go together.” The wood sample board is actually due back in a week, but with a call and your sweet phone voice, the flooring store extends your sample checkout time.
Awesome – paint and flooring selected.
You’re grateful to be building your dream home. But at coffee last Wednesday, when your bestie was so excited and asked how much fun you were having you kinda faked it. “Yes! It’s so fun! There are so many cool flooring types now and it’s hard to know which ones are quality, you know? But I am having so much fun! Look at all the inspiration pics I have save on my phone…”
Is it really possible that the leg work isn’t fun? Driving around town to various places to see all the different materials. Calling to make appointments, get quotes, lead times and gather samples.The reality is it’s a lot of work.
And you have to ask yourself if you have time.
Design is fun. Building your dream house is fun. Remodeling your home and knowing you have the opportunity to fix all the things that have been bugging you since you moved in (like the light switch on the outside of the bathroom – who does that!?) is fun. The outcome is fun and worth it and rewarding.
How can you make the journey fun?
We’ve sprinkled in some helpful tips;
- Stuart Design Co standards for high-end homes
- The best place to start with your design, like flooring and paint color scheme
- And a tale of the risk in romanticizing the interior design process
We wish you the best on your interior design, home building or renovation journey. Don’t find yourself in over your head. We’d love to be a part of the process and cut out the noise by delivering you curated, one-of-a-kind designs and a vision of your dream space.
