Respect thy client's pocket book.

     I ate a tuna fish sandwich and 16 tortilla chip crumbs (what was left at the bottom of the bag) for lunch today.  Then I washed it all down with what was left of my cold coffee from this morning.  I abhor tuna fish sandwiches and cold coffee, but guess what?  That was lit-er-ally all that was left in the kitchen.  I mean I couldn't possibly stomach the banana on the counter which was so brown that it was a week past 'good enough for banana bread' and had like, 6 fruit flies on it.  'Cause that's just gross.  Really?  Are we this poor?  Has the economy left us stunted with nothing but tuna, mayo and stale chip crumbs?  Oh, and that nasty piece of fruit which is now in the trash?  Earlier today I was on a construction site where the client just ordered a Viking/Subzero appliance package!  Yet I am eating lumps of canned fish?  Where I implore, did I go wrong?  Oh yea.  I decided to become a designer and then I went ahead and fell in love with a contractor.  FRICK!  All was well when we were both working for other people and getting steady paychecks, but THEN, with impeccable timing, juuuust before the economy decided to take a royal dump, we simultaneously had the brilliant idea to "go out on our own and live the American Dream!"  Just Fabulous...  I never thought we were complete idiots but lately, I find myself questioning our sanity.  I mean, we both got university degrees and all right?  uhhhh, right...???  BARCH. (check) and BS in Construction. (check)  That was us wasn't it?

     As the husband and I struggle monthly to make our mortgage payments and keep food in the house; a house mind you, that is being eaten from the inside out by termites, I have the immense pleasure of knowing that at least I get to do for a living, what I love.  It may not be "cutting it"in terms of getting me ahead monetarily, but I get to design!  Pretty much same goes for the husband.  Despite it all, he idiotically loves what he does.  Adult babysitting he calls it.  For him I guess it's because he's really good at it.  (Big, boss-man, number crunching guy that seems to yell to get things done right - a lot)  For me, yes, I complain about our current state of affairs, but I am fortunate enough to still have the rare few clients that seemingly trust me and my design-y opinions.  Economy aside, it's a hard profession to be in.  This design business...  We try to sell a complete, three dimensional space on paper.  None of it is tangible until built, but we bill the client on what we think are brilliant ideas at the time.  My time and opinions (I guess) are worth X amount per hour and I most graciously accept payment.  I go around collecting fabric swatches, mini pots of paint, tile samples, and countless specifications.  Then I kind of haphazardly put it all together (mash it up) because it looks good to me.  I use big design-y words to describe my creations like 'cohesiveness' and 'dimensionality.'  And then, I pray.  I pray hard that the clients sitting across from me think that I know what I'm talking about.  HA!  But do they know that I am simply presenting what I have been trained to do?  Express my love for design as seen through my own eyes, and from my past experiences, not necessarily theirs, and hoping that they want to pay for it and live in it for themselves?  I don't know.  I have never been on the other side of design.  I always had my own personal taste and never really asked for the opinion of another person on matters concerning design-y things.

     It's kind of weird when I think about it.  My extension of the perfect living room arrangement lives across town in that house for Mr. & Mrs. So-and-so and the master bath that I could die for is perched up in that other house on the hill for Mr. and Mrs. What's-their-face-again.  I say that I always have the client's best interest and personal tastes in mind when I design "perfect"spaces for other people but do I really?  Am I not just pushing what I think is best?  Is it right?  I guess it must be if they pay me for my services and are happy in the end...?  Though I have to wonder... when my own tastes change every other day it seems, how truly happy are those clients in their designer-created spaces after let's say 5 years?  10 years?  What if they think the worst???  I can just hear the conversation now!  "What the heck was that crazy designer thinking when she brought this to us for approval?!?!?  Furthermore, what were WE thinking paying a crap load for it and then on top of that, paying her know-it-all ass to tell us it was... what was the word she used?  Cohesively, dimensional???  What the hee haw does that even mean?!?!  What a load of absolute BS!  Go find her business card  from my Rolodex so I can tell her just how cohesively demented she is!"

     I guess the best compliment a designer can get is the exaltation of, "OMG!  This is exactly what I imagined but could not put together on my own!"  I love that feeling I get when I know my little trick worked.  You know, the one where I haphazardly mash things together and sell it with big design-y words.  Tee Hee.  But seriously, I love thinking about how people feel in space.  Humans are amazing that way are they not?  We are the only animals that create spaces to live and work in and those spaces make others feel.  The emotions that a room can evoke are created from mixing and matching textures and colors and that is what moves our emotions from high to low, sunny to sombre.  And we as designers and builders get to partake in the creation of perceived spacial magic.

     I guess I will continue to complain about my current disposition until it all gets better.  I'm just that way.  (Short, slightly cynical, idea mashing gal that seems to complain while trying to get things done right - a lot)  But I will always continue to recognize and appreciate how fortunate I am to be able to put in practice, what I love.  I love to design and I love to watch the husband build.  We make quite a pair, us two.  Tomorrow's lunch might be crusty left overs from tonight's dinner of God knows what, but at least we can get up each morning and say we love what we do.  We create and build for others, spaces and places that are lived and worked in and most importantly, felt in and that's a pretty sweet mark we get to leave on this earth.

Like Floating Fairies

I died a little and went to heaven today.  A client who's house is currently in construction just informed me that after much deliberation, she has decided on the Bocci Chandelier for her entrance hallway!
My reaction upon the news?  I squealed like a school-girl who was just offered a personal meet and greet with Justin Bieber...  I know, I'm pathetic.  Who gets that excited about a light fixture you ask?  That would sadly be me.
I work part time in a lighting design/low voltage office as their CAD jockey...  (Soooo NOT glamourous)  But I took the job for 2 reasons.  I wanted to learn more about lighting because I have always been fascinated with it, oh and it pays really well.  So in the past year & 1/2, I have learned a LOT about lighting and various aspects associated with the Electrical trade.  Beam spreads, conduit sizing, Lutron, LED strips, can housings options, sizing racks for Low Voltage, yadda yadda yadda...  It's all very technical and (no offense to all electricians out there, but) painfully boring to draw, but the reward are the end results.  From this particular office, they are always stunning.  And lucky for me, I get to see the installation of some of the most phenomenal fixtures on the market today.  I have fallen in love over and over again with what lighting and automation technology can bring to a project...
Anyway, back to my beloved Bocci Chandelier.  I have always described this fixture as looking like "Floating Fairies."  I always say it in my "once-upon-a-time" voice and imagine myself with anime starry eyes.  That's how much I love this look.  There is nothing quite like crystalline glass globes cascading from lofty heights, a soft glow emitting from each orb is there not?  Photo after photo that I see of this arrangement is just magical.  Unfortunately, until today, no one thought it was magical enough to purchase for their home...  But FINALLY, after many years of introducing this lighting marvel to any client with a double height space, Mrs. H delivers!!!  I can not wait until the day I stand in the entrance of her Palisades home and marvel upon the heavenly fixture I have admired for so long!  I am secretly praying she gets the one with the most glass globes...  For the full effect!

Though often overlooked and sometimes sadly neglected, lighting is, in my opinion, essential in good space design.  Just as much as the pieces of furniture selected!  Maybe even more so!  I wish I could convince everyone who decides to build or remodel to not skimp on their lighting budget even if it means compromising on a line item that could wait until another day.  Once lighting is in, it's more of a pain to change than, for example a couch or draperies.  Proper lighting creates a mood, and warms the soul.  It enhances architectural elements and sometimes makes them even more striking.  Lighting can change one's perception of space.  I don't think any other tactile sensation can be fully appreciated without proper lighting to bring out depths of colors and textures the way good lighting does.  So doing it right the first time can literally make or break a space.  And concurrently, if lighting can be improved upon for a remodel situation, I believe it should be!

So let there be light!  Whether it is floods of natural light through spans of glass or with a fabulously glittering, perfectly positioned, piece of eye candy, plan it well and let it shine.  I may go as far as to say that I would rather sit in complete darkness than to endure the dogginess of a poorly lit room...  Okay, maybe not as drastic as that, but shouldn't everyone enjoy a well lit room?

Here are some more of my all time favs.  (All fixtures below can be found at Y Lighting.)

Remodels - The new Construction Model

Remodels are a pain in the ass.  They have so many variables that are unknown and have to be dealt with after-the-fact; when the ripping and tearing has already begun.  I get it.  The last thing a homeowner wants to hear is, "oh, and while examining your leaky roof issue, we also discovered black mold...  That will be an extra $$$ added on to your already growing list of by-the-way's that we found after construction began 3 months ago..."  FRICK!  But I believe it's worse for the designer and contractor.  They are the ones that actually have to DEAL with the issues and make them right.

And that my friends is why contractors LOVE a ground-up build.  The issues, though they still exist, have to do with things that are NEW and controllable.  Not pre-existing mistakes that are obviously bone-head moves made by the previous builder who cut corners to make his own life easier or to save money.  I mean come on, Mike Holmes from 'Holmes on Homes' and 'Holmes Inspection' makes a damn fine living pointing out how incompetent and lame the previous contractor was!  If I was a non-designer and knew nothing about construction, I would probably think that all contractors were a group of bull-shit talking, total dumb-ass idiots too!

Whether we like it or not, the reality for builders and designers today is, the remodel is the new construction model...  It's most likely the bulk of our business right now.  At least that is the reality for us.  No one seems to be building ground-up homes in this economy and those who are, aren't hiring us.  Why?  I don't know... but such is life for young, professionals in a shitty economy trying to compete with either guys that drastically cut their prices just to keep their employees working, or the big boys who have been around the longest and therefore are just better known.  I feel like though "this ain't our first rodeo" and we've been around the block more than a few times over, somehow we still look too young to "really" be legit.   ???

But all bitching aside, we have had the pleasure to work on a few lovely remodels that have turned out great.  Despite the problems, we are thankful to the gracious clients and happy to still be in business!

So the first project below was no different in terms of difficult remodels, but it was a testament to how a solid and respectable working relationship between designer and contractor is vital to the quality of work delivered in the end.  I participated on this one from the construction side with the husband.  The designer, R.S. from Ras-a, Inc. did a phenomenal job of keeping the look clean, simple and classy.  In the end, good design (and good construction) always prevails.  Thank you Ras-a, Inc. for another fabulous partnership project!  We love working with you!  (Photos Credits: Roel Kuiper 2011)

Before

After

Before

After

Details

The next project was a design-build collaboration with mod and always hip, Culver City architects Modative.  This loft space remodel features bold wall partitions that double as storage, a charming butter yellow nursery for a new family addition and thoughtful details that create a luxe living space such as sultry gray walls and an interior peek-a-boo window. (Photo Credits: Krystal Navar 2011)