“By changing the way people feel about their environment, ultimately it can change the way they feel about themselves” – Marylou Sobel
Collaborating with an interior designer can be a sensitive and emotional time for the client. Whilst the process is exciting, at times it can be scary and daunting. I can empathise with our clients who are finding the prospect of moving out of their homes while recreating a new home, a challenge. Moving is an emotional experience for people, especially if they’re moving back into somewhere that is no longer how they left it.
Mindful interior design
I believe that when working with an interior designer to curate your environment, you are opening yourself up to the opportunity to change how you feel about yourself. So I am always incredibly mindful of this, and the impact that our work has on our clients. The whole process can be a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, from the early planning stages right through to the final delivery of a project that has been in the making for over a year or two.
We appreciate these continually moving and evolving emotions surrounding the process, and are there to help our clients to navigate through this challenging experience. We take the time and make an effort to thoroughly understand the needs of our clients; not only what they want, or think they want, but what is required to achieve an outstanding cohesive outcome that surpasses expectations.
Over the period of an interior design project, we work together for a very long time, a year minimum. I always prioritise my relationships with clients as we work together, being as helpful and as kind as I can to their own internal struggles along the way. We gently hold your hand through the process, providing reassurance and growing trust between us that we are ultimately doing everything we can to make space perfect for you.
Understanding people
As much as our work is interior design, it is much more than that. We are here to understand people, relationships, families and lifestyles. For me to be able to design your home, I first need to understand the people who will be living there, and no two people are the same.
I prefer not to get caught up in the dynamics of a relationship when couples have very different tastes or styles. One may prefer a clean and contemporary feel in the home, the other more ‘homely’ and arty. And sometimes I find that some voices are often louder than others in a relationship, with the power struggles for what they want becoming very evident.
My role as their interior designer is to expertly mediate and manage my clients’ expectations, to create an environment that will satisfy the desires of everyone. Ultimately we are designing and delivering a finished result that is for the people that will be living there, so it is incredibly important to ensure that everybody feels seen and heard, and is comfortable within the design process.
Trusting your interior designer
When observing the intricate psychological aspects of interior design, really what it whittles down to in the end is the trust that you have in your designer. We recently published an article about this; Trust your interior designer, trust the process. When a client allows themselves to trust us, trust our processes, we are able to effortlessly build strong, meaningful relationships that not only help the client to feel safe and secure during their project, but be overwhelmed with happy emotion at its completion.
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