As a Westchester County interior decorator, creating rooms that are highly functional but also inspired is always a challenge.
Clients bring me their fantasies, torn from the pages of design magazines or e-mailed to me from Houzz or HGTV. Young clients in particular, have strong ideas about design but little or no practical understanding of what it means to actually “live” in a home. They love white on white, but either already have or plan to have “children”. They want a free floating TV over the fireplace but forget that in order to get a signal to the TV, a lot of brick and mortar just might be disturbed. And so on… My job is to make sense of it all – homes have to hold things and store stuff and be efficient and safe. Just like their owners, homes have got to work!
Creating a home that is beautiful, comfortable and functional is a lot like playing a game of chess. I have to think at least four moves ahead to help my clients visualize the future. Never mind focusing on a signature look, my role is to educate my clients and elevate their taste. And while I do have some innate spacial ability and good color sense, my real creativity is expressed in bringing order to the chaos and convincing my clients to “buy in” to the process. I’m their champion – the project manager, with only 20% of my time actually spent creating floor plans and designs – the other 80% is making sure that the project gets done within budget and an agreed upon time frame. That includes managing all the subcontractors that we hire to demolish and rebuild and picking out the furniture and furnishings that will fill up the space. It’s a lot of leg work, to be sure!
Contemporary life is so fast paced and hectic that today, the most elegant solutions provide for both form and function. There is definitely beauty in a closet so well organized that you can dress quickly with everything you need right at your fingertips. Or, a small den or library decorated with pieces that can also accommodate an unexpected overnight guest. Today, convenience, simplicity, practicality and flexibility are the most important elements of successful interior design.
Form must meet function for the home to work.
