Trust

Dear Clients,

Please have trust in your designers. Sometimes we have to take extra time to prove things to you, like creating and alternate floor plan to prove that a sectional sofa is the wrong choice or searching for an image with the exact paint color they are proposing in order for you to approve. Many of us are billable hourly, so this can cost you more money in the long run as well as strain the relationship.

If you feel that you have to micromanage your designer or that you couldn't trust them to make decisions without you, they are not the designer for you and you should fire them. Designers are not furniture dealers, let them use their full range of talents so that you can enjoy the experience of having a designer work for you.

Your designer is not a threat to your good taste but proof of it. Despite what HGTV will lead you to believe, nonprofessionals cannot perform as well as professionals. There is no shame in living in a designed home just as there is no shame in wearing designer clothes instead of sewing your own. Your designer has more than an 'eye', they have the contacts and technical knowledge it takes to make certain that goods are manufactured and installed properly.

Love,
Emily




Dear Designers,

Please have trust in your employees. Many of us spent a great deal of money and energy getting a formal design education so that we could someday work with someone like you. We know that we are not as experienced as you, but we do have resources that you don't - mainly, the vast network of contacts that we made in design school who are now employed by your peers and competitors. We discuss many aspects of the industry together, such as which vendors we use, mistakes we have seen and made and what type of projects we are working on. As a result, we know more about the industry than you might expect.

Allow us to communicate with clients since we often have the most up to date status information and can answer their questions more readily. It does not make you look bad, in fact it reinforces the fact that you are successful and busy and do not have the time for paperwork. We can run interference for you when clients are high maintenance, showering them in attention and also telling little white lies about what you have been working on. We can allow you to be in "two places at once" by visiting workrooms or job sites. And let us do our own installations, you don't need to watch movers spread out carpets or place furniture according to the plans. You can show up at the last minute with flowers, move an accessory or two and take all the credit.

If you cannot trust your employees to install, supervise and specify than you should fire them and find better ones. Also understand that it you will not involve them in these aspects of projects they will feel unappreciated and dissatisfied and either leave your firm or not perform as well. We want to earn our pay, we are not interns.

Love,
Emily

Love Love

The Sartorialist

Why I Love Wisteria

Worth the lead times. Click here for more.

Monsoon Wedding

In my dreams I can dance like this!
http://monsoonwedding.indiatimes.com/

I'm just sayin...

Whatever happened to Trixie??

WTF?

We don't only email things we like to one another....sometimes we get greater joy out of sharing things we dislike.

In fact, this reminds me of an incident that happened at the very respectable design firm where I used to work; I was on the Horchow website for some reason and came across a toilet paper holder where a bronze tone monkey was climbing down over the roll of paper. The thing was, it kindof looked like he was squatting on it. I printed it out and very seriously wrote at the top of the page " *rich single woman client* MBath?" and slipped it in the inbox of one of my superiors. I could tell when she found it because her laugh penetrated the office. She cut out the picture and wrote "poopey monkey" in sharpie and posted it on our presentation board. We were very proud of ourselves.

The principal of the firm, who was out of the country when "poopey monkey" was born, returned unexpectedly and had a weekend meeting with some potential clients. The way he told the story (he did not think it was as funny as we did) was that he was showing the client around the office when he heard the client ask "Poopey Monkey?" after which he followed her gaze to the wall with the Horchow novelty on it. Needless to say, we were no longer allowed to use the mood board.

Inspiration: Longboat Key

We are just back from a week in Longboat Key, which was one of the more beautiful places I have ever been. There were water birds everywhere, manatee and fish in the waters, and the most chromatic flowers I have ever seen. Since my friend (and amazing designer) Nancy and I have been talking lately about a fabric line, I took the photos below as inspiration. We'll see what we come up with.

Ooops!

I am not normally someone who likes frames with words on them (although I guess I might if they were snarky) so when my bf gave me this set of three I was a little bit surprised. Upon closer inspection though, I noticed a slight translation problem from whatever country they were imported from. The (incredible cheesy) saying usually reads "Live well. Laugh often. Love much." while these say "Live well. Laugh much. Love often?" What does that even mean? And coming from my boyfriend? ;)

Sneak Peek

omg, kids. 0ur cute little abode is up over at Design*Sponge!!! super exciting....

Joseph Blajda

Simple, clean, modern art. Tres Mactastic.

Acrylic works by Joseph Blajda from his "Up Late" series, available at Artstream

via bloesem

Chalet Chic

I know, I know, we are all supposed to dislike antlers now that Brooklyn is over them. I couldn't resist being charmed by this coffee table I spotted while cruising 1st Dibs this morning. The top is made up of an cross section antler mosaic. (Oh and BTW - antlers are naturally shed each year after mating season, so making use of them is green, not brutal.) Gaston, eat your heart out!

new new new

Hella cool stuff at the store these days....have to share my favorites!! Rad 70's map of India (produced by the 'Government of India' !!) and new botanical prints framed in antique mirror. Double goodness there.

Major Design Crush

I'm suppose to be tweaking SITE online, which means really that I'm procrastinating by blog hopping online. Behold these AMAZING floors: not only are inciting a major case of the designer envies, but they seem to make my Flor carpet seem like we laid down dirt and called it a day!

Fact & Fancy's floors of wonder...I'm going to be doing a LOT of blog reading looking for tips and how-tos on floors like this....

In other other news....I'm working on a fab bathroom reno this summer...hopefully the client will bless me with permission to blog, blog, blog about it!! Some themes (*cough* 'partis') I'm mulling about

-Nautical/batten board/old oil paintings

-French/painted metal/beat up mirrors

-Preppy/chevron stripes/clean white/chrome

-Garden/metal lanterns/green accents/mesh wire baskets

In My Language

Gregory Crewdson

Without a doubt, Gregory Crewdson is my favorite living American photographer. I first encountered his book "Twilight" when I had just moved from a small college town in Pennsylvania to Park Slope, Brooklyn (coincidentally, where he grew up). In his images I recognized a feeling I had been unable to articulate - the beautiful strangeness small town / suburban life took on once one had acclimated to the frenetic pace of city life.


As an interior designer I appreciated the elaborate sets that he created for these photos. Approaching the picture plane as one would a canvas, each image has layers of detail and meaning which, although not clear to me after all these years, still justify consideration. In college I used to argue against the artistry of photography compared with painting, thinking that documenting what was existing was easier than creating a whole scene. Crewdson not only proves me (joyfully) incorrect, but somehow is able to extend his 'distance' from the subjects to us viewers.

In addition to the fantastic scenery, Crewdson also seems to capture the exact break in the consciousness of his characters where they ask themselves "What does this all mean? How did I get here?"