It’s the end of the year, and if you’re anything like me, this week between Christmas and New Years feels like a black hole. There’s work to be done, yet no one is really working or expecting anyone else to work. I have no idea what day it is at any given time, and while there’s something blissful about this period “in between,” I also have this itch to get back into my routines and start working toward my 2025 goals. So how, you are wondering, does this image of yarn have anything to do with the right tools for home renovation? Let me tell you a quick story.
A couple of days ago, during one of our slow mornings, my 7-year old daughter brought me a ball of tangled and twisted yarn for her crochet project. With alligator tears on the brink of spilling over, she explained that her little sister had unrolled the yarn in a sweet, albeit misguided, attempt to help her finish the crochet scarf that she’d been working on for several days. She had tried to untangle it herself, but had only made it worse, and now she was afraid she would have to cut the yarn and start over or unravel a good chunk of her scarf so she could blend the color in seamlessly.
As I set about untangling it, I started thinking about how that yarn mess was a metaphor for so many of my clients’ design projects. At first, it seemed way too tangled to fix. I was tempted to not even try – every time I pulled one side of the string, it tightened another knot.
After a few minutes loosening knots and looping strings through each other, I started to see that the real problem was that the knots in the center were pulled so tight, there was no way I could loosen them enough with my bare hands. I needed the right tool to loosen the jumbled mess and see it clearly. I asked her to grab me the smallest crochet hook she had, and in a painstakingly slow process, I started to pull each knot loose enough that I could see which loop I needed to unwind to release each one. It took a while, but knot after knot, I was able to straighten out the string and eventually, we fixed the whole mess.
Home renovation can feel a lot like that tangled ball of yarn. Everything is connected, so if you pull things too quickly or you pull the wrong string, you can really make a mess of it. Having the right tool to make sense of things and to keep things in the right order can be the difference between a beautifully completed project and an expensive and time-wasting re-do.
As interior designers, we are trained to follow a very specific design process to minimize costly mistakes and re-starts. We can be the tool you need to make sense of a tangled mess. Step by step, we can untangle and make sense of things to get your project on track. Here’s the process we follow:
- Programming – Gather information and learn as much about you, your project, and your dream space as we can, so we can plan out your project to meet your specific needs. We take measurements and photos to help us plan accurately.
- Schematic Design – Use the information we’ve gathered to develop a design concept, including a space plan, images to show the direction we’re heading, and a color scheme.
- Design Development – Turn those ideas into real construction plans and a budget. We find the exact products and materials that will turn those ideas into reality.
- Contract Documents – Finalize plans and specify what needs to be done for your contractor, write purchase orders for vendors and workrooms, and ensure everything that needs to be on site for the project is there and accounted for, in good condition.
- Contract Administration – Make sure the details are executed flawlessly so your project is completed on time and within budget. Answer questions on the job site as they come up, deal with backorders and other issues, and schedule and track installation services.
If you try to handle any one of these steps out of order, you could end up with furniture that doesn’t fit your space, finishes that are installed incorrectly, and a host of other (costly) mistakes. Home renovation is costly enough when everything goes smoothly, so it’s critical to do it with the right tools!
Ready to chat about your home renovation project? Set up a free intro call! Not ready to take the leap? Learn more about Kimberly Morris Interiors and our process here.
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