The Artful Dwelling

Expectations-Renovation-Lesson Learned

I have been working on a renovation in the Nashville area for a while now. It has been a long 9 months, with a lot of BLIPS on the screen for the client, waking up in the middle of the night for me, but we are in the home stretch. We are almost done and I only have one word to say, it's SMASHING! This end product is so very beautiful, but what makes it extra beautiful is all the blood, sweat, and tears that really went with this job and the lessons learned.

Everyone should take note of the huge lesson that was before us during this job. The builder builds the material expectations, the designer and architect must also plan and execute the client's unseen expectations. I mean more specifically, the designer and architect should work very closely together to plan and execute a feeling, an aesthetic, a history, and a lot of other adjectives that a client may allude to. My job is not cut and dry, it's reading between the lines to listen for those unspoken and unseen objectives, and then go design, and buy products accordingly.

Here are some of the specifics from the photo below: The perimeter is white on white, with a 10' center island that is dark, distressed knotty alder. The island top is an exotic granite -colors of white, greens, pinks, grays with a lot of movement. Also what you don't see is a dropped down pastry counter of Alabama White Marble with the dark, knotty alder legs to look like it's a table. Over the pastry counter is a group of three, silver, mercury glass pendants hanging at different heights. Are you drooling yet? More to come!

Colors For 2012

I have been in love with the color gray for a long time. I use it all the time as the current 'neutral'. I am moving a little away from the steel gray that I love so much to a warmer, taupe-gray. The steel gray I use with more cool colors like blue and lime. The taupe-gray is more of a warm color to be used as a back drop for other softer hues.

Whether you know it or not, color and design relate from year to year to the world climate and economic times. In college I wrote a paper on how the economic times affected the design of furniture in France during the reign of Louis XIV and Louis XVI. Also, current design colors trickle down from couture fashion design. (Did you see "The Devil Wears Prada"? )

I have not actually looked at color projections for 2012, but here's my thoughts. I am in the mood for softness and a calm, but crisp aesthetic. I don't necessarily associate soft with pastels. Pastel type colors can be soft but what I call ooey-gooey (for kids, or from the decades ago). Crisp colors emerge from the pastels but with a little more life, and a little more edge to them.

So here are a few of my new favorite colors:

Butterscotch- Benjamin Moore- Summer Harvest or Vellum

Papaya-Sherwin Williams- Emberglow

Citrus Green- Benjamin Moore-Sweet Pear

Taupe-Gray- Benjamin Moore-Seattle Mist or Harbor Gray

White- Benjamin Moore -Snowfall White

To create this softer aesthetic, I would use the neutrals of white and gray, with pops of the other colors. For a more lively space, I would paint the walls the butterscotch color with a few prints with the other colors thrown in.

I also love taking one accent color and staying with it throughout the entire room. If you take one of these colors, such as Papaya, you can easily move into orange-red or back off a litte into a coral color so the room won't be very matchy-matchy.

In all of these options, we are working with colors next to each other on the color wheel to keep it softer to your eye. AAAhhhh-color 101. I shall give another color lesson on another day! For a while now, the home furnishing market has been displaying color pairings that are on the same side of the color wheel. The most popular pairings have not been"across the color wheel' in some time. I do see that trend staying the same for a while. Think about it, right now in our world we aren't look for or need strong, jarring color combinations. We need peace and softness.

If you are totally confused, you can always contact me for more advice or direction.

Photo courtesy of http://tinywhitedaisies.tumblr.com

 

Can you see the potential?

My favorite new program on HGTV is Property Brothers. This show really highlights how you can take an ugly, out-of-date house and make it your dream home. My favorite game online is to look at houses and see how I can renovate them and make them current. I was given the talent to see all the possibilities easily in my head and I sometimes forget that most people cannot do this. Some potential homeowners on Property Brothers think the brothers are insane and cannot possibly do what they say they can do.

When I renovated my lake house, most of the work was purely cosmetic, except for the master suite and bathroom upstairs. It looks so different cosmetically most people think it was a MAJOR renovation but it really wasn't. For less than $50,000 construction cost, I gained about $180,000 in home value. I really don't consider a renovation to be major unless it's over $100,000 and you tear down a lot of walls.

There are so many homes on the market that are fantastic deals that need updating or a complete renovation. Pay most attention to the neighborhood and lot description on these homes. If there is a home on a fantastic lot that is ugly or out-dated, call me and I will go look at with you. I can help you see a better, more modern picture of what the home could look like. I can help you create your dream home out of an ugly duckling. I actually love this process and live to do this.

Call me, the Property Chick.

Intangible vs. Tangible Products

It never fails, parts of projects always go awry. Any builder or designer will tell you that. It's how you handle it that makes all the difference. I am thoroughly amazed and shocked at people in my line of work that do not take responsilibity for mistakes or make things right for the client.

I worked in retail for a very long time. I was taught very early on,"the customer is always right". That still applies in the design/build industry also. The clients expectations should always be considered no matter what! If miscommunication happens, as it always does, what is your compass to guide you on the answer? You should always be guided by what makes the client happy and what is going to meet their expecations.

The client's home is their sacred and safe place, to mess with it by not making them happy or meeting their expectations is shattering. It's not all about wallpaper, mantles, flooring, and countertops. It's also about what is between the lines on that contract, how that mantle from their great-grandfather makes their family traditions more important, how that countertop makes the entire kitchen more peaceful and pleasing to their senses, and how that paint color makes their daughter happy every morning. The contract is about money and materials, but the project is about aesthetics and how it makes someone feel.

Many builders and other designers forget this concept. It really makes me angry actually. I consider my job is to produce more intangible assets than tangible ones. A house is a house, a piece of wood is a piece of wood. It all goes back to the concept of material possessions can come and go, and really don't mean anything. It's how they all relate and make you feel that matters. I am going after the intangible reward with my clients---although it is nice to make money at it too!