Thank you so much for your response. In particular I was unaware that some of the programs I was considering were CIDA accredited and some weren't. Your information was most helpful. - Jacob Liedkie
2010/02: A Day In The Life Of An Interior Designer – Part 3 (The Finale)
contributed by Alana Villanueva [interior designer / dallasDECORUM blogger / design junkie]
EDITOR’S NOTE: After an early morning presentation and a subsequent five hours inspecting, placing, collaborating, sourcing and starving, Alana believes she’s on the home stretch until a broken Murano glass chandelier and a roll of damaged $300 per yard fabric threaten to derail her day. Follow her as she gets her afternoon back on track with fortitude, keen organizational skills and, of course, chocolate covered almonds.
3:15PM
There are 46 emails in my in box, and to my dismay, none of it is spam. Plus, my voicemail indicator light is blinking. The stone department purchaser needs to see me. The furniture purchaser needs to see me. The business manager needs to see me. The warehouse manager needs to see me. SD needs to leave in 15 minutes for her presentation tomorrow, and we need to load her car with 500 pieces of tile and slab chunks (okay I am exaggerating now – there are only 300), along with everything else that is needed.
Design Bible? Check. Plans? Check. Scale? Check. Measuring Tape? Check. Paint Decks? Check. Notepad? Uhh….no – there is a seven minute manhunt for the notepad when it is discovered under SD’s desk on the floor. Besides these basic items that go to every meeting, there are also proposals that were completed that need to be presented, photos torn from magazines for concepts, and catalogs dog-eared for selections. Finally, SD is out the door. She returns two minutes later looking for her keys. Hence, another massive manhunt ensues. Okay, now she’s on her way.
3:45PM
Desperately need caffeine and almonds covered in dark cocoa. I answer emails to various job supervisors, vendors, and firm staff. I have a message from the job supervisor that I met with this morning at the lighting delivery – one of the arms on the Murano glass chandelier is now broken and he needs a replacement. Yes. My world has just ended, but that has to wait. Another world is ending at 4:10.
4:10PM
I run downstairs to the warehouse to look at fabric that I have been waiting on for four months for a client’s dining room chairs. It was shipped overnight so that I could have a hot rush upholstery job with the goal of my client having her chairs in place to host her first Thanksgiving in her new home. This also happens to be the client that I just presented the playroom concept to this morning. The one who is probably going to hand over a $35,000 check for playroom furniture.
The warehouse manager is saying there is an issue with the dye lot and there are marks on the ends of the roll. Upon inspection, the dye lot will work with the seat fabric so we are good on the color end. The other issue is if the workroom can get by with cutting off 2" on each side of the roll. It’s for situations just like this that we are located five minutes away from most of our vendors.
I run over to the workroom lugging 40 lbs. of fabric in my arms. My white coat is now a “greige” color. The owner, who has an eagle eye over every minute detail of his workroom, personally checks out my fabric while I am in the process of holding my breath to the chagrin of my heart, which is now beating at an obscene rate due to the energy drink and the abnormal intake of nuts that I have eaten throughout the day. (Remember that Payday and those almonds, along with peanut butter on my mini bagel on the way in?) My mind wanders for a brief minute as I think I may be a descendent of a squirrel, what is with all of the nuts?
Okay, Alana, focus! Send good energy to that beautiful $300 per yard fabric so that it can wrap its little warp and nap around the custom, hand-carved frame of my chair. My client will f l i p if these chairs are not in before Thanksgiving.
LESSON 5: It does not matter who, what, when, or where something when wrong on any project – the client only sees you, and you are responsible for making everything look glamorous and effortless. They may be nice and act like it isn't your fault when something goes awry – and it usually isn't as there are one million variables that can come undone at any time at no fault of the designer – but it leaves a bad taste in their mouth. And that's not what they hired you for. Frankly, I wouldn't want to pay someone for a bad taste in my mouth.
Okay, I am still holding my breath. The owner is inspecting. Frowning. Furrowing his brow. Grunting even. He calls over another worker. They go back in forth in Spanish at same rate that my heart is racing. "Well," he says, "I think it's gonna be okay. It's gonna be enough for the chairs." I can breathe! Then he says, "But you ain't gonna be able to do the self welt. You gotta find another fabric. It ain't gonna be enough for the self welt too."
4:55PM
I go back to the office, trying not to feel discouraged. It will all work out, I say. In the morning I add to my two immediate priority list pages: source welt fabric. I know it's not the end of the world, but everyone has their own world and perception of what is the end of their world, and I don't want to be a part of it – especially when I am getting paid for it.
5:15PM
Answer immediate emails so that I’ll have no unnecessary distractions in the morning. Check my voicemail. Make a list of who to call in the AM. Then I start prepping for a meeting SD has mid-morning.
I get the conference room ready. I have a ritual – a method – for everything, which may have something to do with wanting to have some kind of control in an uncontrollable environment. I wipe down the table to get rid of loose fabric fibers from a previous meeting. I place the plans toward the client, turning to the first page of the first floor, smoothing out any wrinkles.
I place the sketchpad, the one with our logo, to the right of where SD sits. I top it with a roll of "trash paper" being sure to that the end of the paper has a straight edge. If not, I use the scale to put pressure on the paper, vertical to my body, and pull the paper back in one, clean sweep. The edge is now straight.
I get three unused pencils, sharpen them to a spear point, blowing off any loose lead, and place those on top of the sketchpad along with one black pen and one red pen to the right of the pencils, but hugging up against them. The scale is places horizontally above this arrangement. The notepad is placed in front of SD's spot. The Design Bible is placed to the left of SD. The conference room is now ready.
5:50PM
I start getting ready for my own meeting that I have in the AM – one that takes place before coming into the office. And that is fine by me. I can't stay in the office straight for more than a couple days at a time. I get stir crazy.
Then my email bings. There was a miracle with the chairs. They dug through their stacks and stacks of remnants and there was enough of the seat fabric to do self welt on the seat backs. My client will have her chairs at her first Thanksgiving in her new home. Someone’s world was saved today.
Closing Time
My job and my “emergencies” may be trivial to some, but, to a designer (a good one, anyway), this is why you do what you do: to create spaces that change and nourish people's lives. Just as music can change your mood or clothing can empower you, spaces can change your life. They can make you happy or they can make you sad. They can make you feel depleted or exhilarated. They are where we shelter the storms, both physical and spiritual.
“We shape our homes…, and then our homes shape us.” ~Winston Churchill
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