We all love those magical moments on makeover TV shows where the dramatic before and after images flash across the screen. While these amazing transformations are inspirational, there is an in between image that should be added to the mix, the during and in this case, we are talking about the design phase.
When collaborating with our clients we often start with a blank canvas (the before), but we need to show our clients the potential of the rooms and how they could look. Often our clients have empty rooms because they might not be able to imagine a purpose for the room to be able to make selections, or more likely, have trouble imagining how the room will look when it is furnished. To help our clients imagine the finished room we create lookbooks to bridge the gap of what could be; the expression ‘a picture tells a thousand words’ is very much the case here.
Our lookbooks give our clients a chance to experiment with what does or doesn’t work for them in the space.
Here is a case study working through our process.
We started this project with an empty front room at the entrance of the home. The room has no doors and at this stage, no purpose. We talked with our clients on how this space could be used and landed on a formal living space with the perfect spot for a Christmas tree in December.
Collaborating with our clients we quickly arrived at selections for furniture and furnishings as we were able to talk about how the room could be used and what furnishings could work in the brief, however, the selection of art – always a very personal decision – was proving more difficult to choose.
We moved from a landscape painting that echoed the hilltop views from the house to a landscape photograph with summer tones
And finally, to an abstract piece that repeated the colours in the room.
By layering the different options into the room, we were able to help our clients articulate what they did and didn’t like and after working through assorted options, we were able to reach a happy decision. We repeated this process with the final lamp (the selected one was out of stock and a replacement needed to be sourced) and coffee table selections.
Now we were able to fulfil the selected furniture and furnishings and create the finished room in real life.
