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One Decorator’s Nightmare

March 2009

It’s a regular Sunday morning ritual in our home to pour over the excess of newspaper flyers that land on our doorstep. Somehow, each time I go through the bulky mass I think that I will miraculously find that one thing for our home, that one great deal which will make the weekend tradition worthwhile, or at least worth the mess of black smudges on my fingertips. Rarely, if ever, does something catch my eye that creates a pang in my stomach – the urge
to immediately drive to the store to be the first person in line, money clutched in my eager fist.

In fact, generally the ads make me wander to the store later that afternoon to have a better look. More often, once I’m there I’m disappointed by the ingenuous “Sorry we’re sold out” response that I get from the skinny 16 year old unfortunate enough to be on shift that day. However, what follows is undoubtedly of my own doing… I become fixated on the ‘thing’ for my home that is suddenly not available to me and, what’s worse, with the notion that absolutely everything that is ‘wrong’ in the house must be fixed immediately or better yet, yesterday.

I’m certain that my husband spends many Sunday afternoons avoiding direct eye contact with me as I
purposefully roam from room to room surveying the current state of affairs that is our home. Suddenly the draperies in the dining room look tired and the kitchen could use repainting; and if we’re going to repaint, what about the floors? They’re in desperate shape, and we might as well change the hallway leading into the kitchen for consistency’s sake. But, before we change the floors, why not just remove the wall between the kitchen and the family room so that we can do all the floors at once. That would make the most sense. Removing a wall can’t be THAT expensive, can it? After
all, we’re just taking things out and not adding anything in…per se.

The thought process that I go through during these tangents amazes me still today. I have been an Interior Decorator for some 12 years now and I still catch myself falling back into old pre-decorator habits. The notion that “Well, I’ll buy something inexpensive just to fix the problem for now” still lingers in my head despite the fact that I know better. It’s difficult to face those ads that show you all the wonderful things that you’re not experiencing in your home. If they were only cheaper… okay, free. Free would be good.

I whip myself into a home-reno frenzy that is only placated on Monday morning – and only because it’s what I do for a living and I am suddenly thrust into the world of fixing all that is wrong in my clients’ homes. Honestly, I’m not even trying to keep up with the Joneses. I’m just trying to keep up with me.

Perhaps I can blame those darn television shows (on which I am guilty of appearing) and the shelter magazines which make it all look so easy and SO attainable. In fact, on most shows it even appears that the decorating is not only free, but instantaneous! And even though I do this work every day for a living, I somehow manage still to try to fool myself into believing that it’s all do-able. After all, in our home we are do-it-yourselfers. So it’s GOT to be cheaper, right?

Well, cheap…rather inexpensive, is really a relative term, because the notion of inexpensive or even free implies that it’s somehow easier simply by virtue of the fact that it might not cost anything (and as such we don’t have to
work harder to get it). But for the do-it-yourselfers in the world, cheaper is not necessarily better and it’s definitely not easier. Quite frankly, if I had the money in my wallet, I’d rather spend it on watching someone else do the work.

So, what’s a woman to do when she has too many home renovation ideas and not the budget with which to tackle it all? Well, as per my article last month, if she’s smart, she makes a plan. But once the plan is in place, where to go next?

One of the key concepts that most of our clients seem to struggle with is the notion of wanting it all, NOW . The majority of the time (probably 98 times out of 100), our clients have a budget which we need to maintain (to some degree). Yes, believe it or not, even those who can afford expensive designer fees often have a limited number of funds at their disposal.

In this day of overexposure to home décor television and shelter magazines, the consumer has become much savvier and increasingly aware of the benefits of hiring a designer. Clearly, this is great for our business, because we receive many an eager call from people who know what they want and are ready to pay for it. But here’s where the difficulty lies: not every savvy consumer knows the true costs involved in redesigning their space despite having an understanding of the value of the service they’re seeking. Obviously, some clients have very generous budgets which allow them to decorate their space exactly as they dreamed. The majority of inquiries we receive however have allocated an unrealistically low amount of money to their projects (especially if they expect them to be completed by a designer).

The concept of ‘not biting off more than we can chew’ is a notion that seems to be lost on today’s consumer (looking in the mirror, I’m often guilty as charged). To combat this, I always approach my projects – and encourage my clients to follow my lead – with the plan foremost, and completing the room as a secondary priority. What I mean by this is it’s important not to forge ahead with your decorating plans until you’re really financially ready to do so.

Too often people try to spread their budgets (generous or meager) over as much space as they think they can. They have a finite number of dollars to spend and by the way, they want to redecorate the entire house with it. The result is often a home that’s finished for now… not finished forever. I am probably the greatest proponent of tailoring your timelines to meet your budget requirements. When setting out on the path to spend the money you’ve allocated to decorating your space, you must ask yourself, “Does my budget realistically allow me to purchase all the items for my home at once?” A quick browse around a quality furniture store will give you the answer right away.

My motto (ask all my clients, I tell no lies) is “Do it once and do it right.” I regularly suggest to clients to think about taking all the money they have allocated for the design and furnishing of two rooms and consider spending the amount only on one. By over-allocating how much you might spend on a space, you will allow yourself to purchase the best quality items that you can afford and will as a result begin to make long term investments in the items going into your home. I cannot overstate how the plan of “maximizing your investment” in one space coupled with purchasing good classic styles will ensure that the money you spend on your furnishings will not be wasted on items that need to be disposed of in two years down the road because they’re poor quality and need to be replaced (already!).

Moreover, all those savvy consumers, if they are as they say, are probably as concerned as I am about unwittingly adding to the problem of our community landfills. Until just recently, little consideration has been given to the problem of making the majority of modern consumer goods ‘disposable’. When I think about the number of mere cell phones I have gone through in my years in business, I shudder to think about how the olds ones are piled atop a mountain of other cell phones in some local waste management yard. Now, take that problem and add to it the much larger but equally cheaply made major furniture items that consumers are now purchasing through their local ‘super stores’ (and probably for the same price as my now-defunct cell phones) showing them they can have the ‘look-for-less’. To what end, I ask? But that’s a different article. Though some might argue otherwise, quality goods and home furnishings are not a thing of the past. They are simply priced higher than the imported goods found at the big box stores.

Remember that with good quality comes a lifetime of usage which will help improve the condition of the environmental nightmare we’re leaving for our children. Your home is likely the biggest investment you’ll ever make. Shouldn’t the things you fill it with reflect its value?

Janice Clements is a Certified Interior Decorator and President of Clements Interiors. For more information, please visit: www.clementsinteriors.com

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