The Whole Design Process- Pt. 2

As I had mentioned on socials, here is the guide for Flush Mount Lights. It's 14 of my favorites and hopefully you like them too. I made it in Canva and found that was also the best place to host it but you'll find it is a little bit annoying when you click the links. Sorry and will find a better method next time I do this.

part 1 recap

Last week we left off on Part 1 of The Whole Design Process, breaking down how I typically approach designing a space.

This will get you back up to speed:

1. Craft a compelling vision of how the space would ideally be with a couple inspiration pictures

2. Get a ballpark budget - you don't need to know exactly but you do need to know if the walls are going to be marble or drywall.

3. Focal points & general theme. What are the primary purposes of the whole house and each individual space. What's the visual feature in each room? We make a mini collage of each space establishing the theme.

4. Floor plans. Are we super open or private and closed? We make sure we have nice wide walkways and paths everywhere we need to go. We also start to get a better idea of what furniture to use and how big it should be.

part 2 /room plans

After creating floor plans, I like to create what I call a "room plan."

This basically looks like a collage over a floor plan to give us an idea of colors, shapes and themes in a room and how things will look in the floor plan.

It can look something like this:

Client have usually seen some of these pieces earlier in the focal point/theme stage, I just add more to it. We refine this until we get a room that has the colors and shapes they like.

I will also add, I am very low tech. There are many incredible designers who use beautiful 3D modeling software and create walkthrough renders as they work.

That's not me. I'm basically doing what people used to do with paper but in google docs or with different collage programs.

windows & walls

Now that we really got the objects, flow, and colors of the room nailed down, we can focus more on the walls.

So this would be things like paint colors, blinds, curtains, art.

Paint - choosing paint is very difficult. I often find clients have a much easier time picking furniture and rugs than a paint color.

So if we get some of those furnishings nailed down, we can base paint colors off of those choices. It gives us a little more constraint when it comes to finally picking paint, and I love constraints.

Similar to paint, I like to base window treatments off of the furniture we're putting in the room. If we need more drama, some velvet drapes can be a very easy way to get that.

If we need more warmth, roman bamboo shades are also a wonderful way to do this.

Finally art & wall decor. This is harder than anything else in design. Mainly because art is wildly subjective.

I am a pretty firm believer that you shouldn't buy everything that goes on your walls until you have lived in a space for while.

But you need to give your clients something to go off. And probably at least a few things to buy right away.

So I usually get an idea of their art budget and then try to source a combination of actual paintings, prints, mirrors, and wall hangings. This is not because they are actually going to buy all these things, but so they have an idea of the vibe to go for when they do.

Something I have found with art: you usually want to buy very large things. Because more and more homes have 9+ foot ceilings, you need big art to eat up all that wall space. An 18x24 isn't gonna do it.

selections

This is where it all gets real. We've got a pretty darn good idea of what goes in every room. Both on the floor and on the walls.

Now we need to put it into a sheet so we or the client can order and track it. I just use google sheets, and create big cells so you can see a picture of each item. Then we tab it out by room.

Two things happen when you get to selections:

1. Things go out of stock, and you need to find a replacement. If you need to do this in a pinch, both Pinterest and reverse Google image search are great.

2. You realize there are small things that you missed. A door mat, or a plant or throw blankets. This is normal, just add it in. If you have a hard time choosing, add two things. Often when you come back, one will jump out.

Now it's either your or your clients turn to order everything. Maybe you'll be there to set it up, or maybe you're designing remotely.

Whatever you do, make sure you get some before and after pictures. There are a bunch of projects I worked on where I did not do this and it was stupid. You'll be happy if you do.