"The Times They Are A-Changing"

"The times they are a-changing". Dylan said it in the 70's and now in the early part of the 21st century everything in our world is changing, making everyone tense and tentative. People are spending more time at home and want their homes to be livable, comfortable and attractive. The vacation they might have taken is now the new lower level build-out, the new kitchen or newly reupholstered furniture in the living area. Others feel more comfortable with more modest updates that change their traditional décor into a transitional more "edgy" environment - barrel shaped lampshades are replacing pleated cone shapes, patterned wallpaper is being replaced with textured paper or paint, and window treatments with valances are simplified to side panels with exposed poles. I have a client who painted the faux peach walls in her family room a rich chocolate brown, replaced her older sofas with a leather sectional and added a zebra-patterned carpet.

Clients expect their interior design professional to understand their tentativeness in this time of economic uncertainty and to be flexible in his or her method of working - former minimum budgets and scopes of work need to be discussed and flexible if one wants to establish a good working relationship between client and designer. It is no longer "if a client has money to spend" that is important but "what money the client wants to spend" and a professional designer needs to be ever more respectful of this amount.

I am finding after practicing for 28 years as a designer, I am challenging myself by developing different methods of compensation and sourcing. I am currently working three projects in three different ways. One is sourced totally through "to the trade" vendors to ensure customization of the entire project. The second is sourced through a combination of "to the trade" vendors and retail/wholesale suppliers. The third, a second residence, is almost entirely sourced through retail catalogs and vendors which work within the client's modest budget. In all three cases, with very different budgets, a design professional can create a well-designed, comfortable, workable space.

As the times change, I feel the professional interior designer must look within his or her self and decide what works for their client in this new environment. They need to define clearly what compensation method or methods make them comfortable and whether they are willing to broaden their horizons by spending many more hours digging deeper to find alternative methods of sourcing. If you are unhappy with what you are charging for your services, then your relationship with your client will suffer. You also must prepare for companies declaring bankruptcy after orders have been placed, by having a provision to cover this in your contract. I have faced this twice in the last two years. Your client becomes the victim and you the arbitrator.

A design professor of mine said many years ago "the profession was 15% creativity, 35% business and 50% psychology". We are now being tested far beyond the boundaries of these percentages. I feel quite certain that the only way to pass this test is by adopting a flexible mindset coupled with a positive attitude.