Meeting with a designer is an exciting part of the renovation process: your mind is filled to the brim with ideas for how you want your remodeled home to look, and you finally get to talk with someone who can help you put those ideas down on paper and – even better – into practical design applications. To help both you and your designer streamline what can become an overwhelming process, take into consideration the following suggestions to help capitalize on valuable face-to-face meeting time.
- Provide visuals. Everyone communicates (and receives) messages best in different ways, and designers are no different. Maybe you’re describing your dream closet in what you think is perfectly clear English, but your designer just isn’t getting it. A couple pictures showing your wishes can help to ensure everyone’s on the same page.
- Take inventory of the following:
- Lighting. Do you want more natural or artificial light? Do you require more task lighting for specific activities (i.e. reading, applying makeup, cooking)?
- Storage. Are your kitchen cabinets bursting at the seams? Is your shoe collection growing faster than your closet can manage?
- Counter space. Do you find yourself constantly searching for an open square foot of space to work on?
- Room to move. Are you and your partner constantly bumping into each other in the kitchen or bathroom? Can you open and close cabinets and doors without worrying about them slamming into something?
- Start with problems, not solutions. If you have a clear vision of how you and your designer can work together to make the most of your home, great! If not – no worries. Your designer is trained to take your design issues and work with them like a puzzle until all the pieces fit together just Sit back, relax, and let them do the mental work.
- Make a list. A wish list is a great, easy way to make sure you’re not forgetting to bring up anything during a design meeting. As an added bonus, you can print off a copy (or email a soft copy) to your designer so they can follow along with you and reference the list after your meeting.
Coming prepared to your design meetings does more than just make your design team’s life a little easier, it can help reduce iterations needed to get the vision juuuust right and ultimately reduce design costs. To be fair, there’s absolutely no shame in coming to a designer empty-handed, but if you’re like me (type A personalities, holla!), showing up with a game plan can help soothe your nerves and give you something tangible you can reference if suddenly your mind full of ideas and wish lists goes blank.
Ready to schedule your first meeting with a designer? Give us a call and we can help set up your initial consultation!
