When if at all should you involve your Interior Designer when starting to build your new home? This is a question that must enter a potential client’s mind when they are starting to build their new home with their Architect. It depends on who you ask. If you are asking your Architect when he is designing your specific Architecture, you might get one of two answers.
“We have an Interior Designer on our staff”, which is sometimes the case. They do this to keep all the work in house and not loose the focus and the finance , which I call the “F and F” quotient. The other answer may very well be …you need your Interior Designer when we are done. This again keeps the “architectural process” moving without interference from outside Interior Designers.
However there is a smart answer that select architects in Bergen County and Morris County also say, “yes…absolutely”… and I have seen this more and more. “I want you to select and use your Interior Designer as we go through The Architectural Design process, so we can get all the questions answered at the point that we need them answered throughout the 18 months it takes to build your new Architectural statement.” This by my estimation is the right answer. Why?
Well, clearly you want your new Architecture and Interiors designed in unison giving thought to each and every detail, not only for “Look” but also for your “daily function”. Each house is used differently. If you have lived in more than one location, you can easily understand this. Why shouldn’t you have all the information that you need to seamlessly join your Architectural expectations with your Interior wishes? They need to be designed together, so subtle changes and adjustments can be made in the planning stage before the first shovel of dirt is thrown.
Now…why should you choose an Interior Designer from a separate, independent source than the Architect’s Interior Designer, you might ask? When I am asked this question, I simply say, that I am independently working for your best interest as the Architecture and its Design emerges. I take the vision of the Architect and determine how the subtle details impact the lifestyle that we have established best fits your life and the lives of your family.
I have a separate set of Interior Design and Architectural eyes that are not impacted by the Architectural firm and their constraints…only the thoughts and the desires of the client. Even though it is the client that selects the Architect, it is important to have a separate source or shall we say, Architectural and Lifestyle “eyes” that look at your project so you are assured that the project is the best combination of Architecture, style and use.
A door moved three inches to accommodate a specific use that the clients want to achieve in this new architecture project can make the difference between Architecture that is frustrating and an Architectural statement that will stand the test of time through out the years and the growth of your family. A new Architectural statement is the largest purchase that a family can make personally. It should reflect every aspect of the needs and desires of the Client. Architecture is just the start…Interior Design is the integrated necessity to make it work for you stylistically, emotionally…and the thing you also want to hear…”Oh my…this is fabulous!”
All this happened seamlessly, for example, in a project that we have just completed this year in Hohokus, NJ which is next to Saddle River in Bergen County, NJ.
I had done a home for this couple twenty two years ago also in Hohokus and when we were done, they of course loved it. They said, “It perfectly expressed you they were and how they live.”
Years later, when exchanging holiday wishes, they both said that they were thinking of building new architecture in the same town. They were just looking for the right piece of land. Well that land finally revealed itself and the project was underway. Ed, the husband said he kept my card all these years for just this moment. I had meetings with them and their Architect and continual meetings with their builder and worked the project hand and hand with the Architect and the builder throughout the entire process. I was on sight several times a week to go over details of the design of the architect so that anything that came up could be handles right then and there…not waiting and loosing time. I was able to style the moldings, pick the finishes, colors, fixtures, overviewing the design of the cabinets. I had input on exterior color choices, shutter shapes, roof shingles…every detail that goes into building their next and finest architectural statement. This freed up the time of the Architect because he was confident that I was keeping his vision in mind during this whole Architectural development. I am always the bridge between the Architect and the client. This is what a talented Interior Designer does…he negotiates and blends the design that the Architect envisions and the hopes and aspirations of the client for which the Architectural design is designed.
The end result is that the clients said they wanted to build another house because this one was such fun…imagine that!
Do you want fabulous…? Call us and let’s start the journey…973 402 7400 or email us at polo@polomainc.com