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ENGAGING WITH US
Stage 1 : The Meeting (Sharing Enthusiasm and Exploration)
Our first meeting includes getting to know you and exploring your tastes: learning what you like, what inspires you, who you are now, and what you want your space to be. This stage includes in-person meetings, phone calls and emails, plus all of us sharing inspiration images.
During this stage, we will be looking at your space ( home, office, restaurant. commercial space) and taking into consideration any architectural changes that may be required according to your needs. This stage is where we are defining your specific needs and details, whether this is space planning, lifestyle needs, or personal desires.
What kitchen appliances do you want? How many cabinets for dishes? What will you put in that master closet? How does your family like to spend time together? What size dinner parties will you host in your new dining room?
Stage 2: What’s the work (Design Boards, Floor Plans, Materials, Decisions)
In Phase 1, we tuned ourselves into the aesthetic direction. We also looked at your current space, and your goals, and how to harmonize whatever is staying the same with whatever will be new.
Now, in Phase 2, we apply our expertise to create the design for you.
During this phase, we show you options. We arrange meeting(s) and present you with two well developed and different sets of ideas for your space(s).
The purpose of presenting each set/ theme is to have you experience the colours, shapes, weights, and textures together, and respond. For clients who want more help visualizing how all the pieces will fit together in the space, we may create a computerized 3D rendering.
Usually, at the presentation, our clients have a clear and immediate favourite option. And even so, a detail from one design plan may move to the other; we may set a goal for finding a third option that is suggested by what we’ve gathered but is not yet presented. We listen and we watch, holding the space along the journey, weighing in on every detail and its impact on the next.
Trust your designer.
Stage 3: The Waiting (Quotes, Proposals, Orders, Deliveries)
Expect those high-end products and fine furnishings to take time to make and deliver. The Programming and Design phases (Stage 1 and 2) are one aspect of the time the whole process takes, but there is also the time it takes to custom-make or hand-make your items, and have them installed.
This is what comes of wanting high-end, bespoke, artisanal pieces that show the hand of the maker. This is why the product is so soulful in the end.
The Proposed timelines to be estimated. Contractors and vendors also will have a timeline, and that timeline may stretch, due to their own suppliers, and/or the fact that they, and all of the vendors on your project, have other clients and projects they are serving.
In an ideal world, a single room can take about 3-to-4 months to design and execute. If you are embarking on the whole house, you would expect it to be a lengthier process. Not just because there are more rooms to deal with, but also, in design, we really have to consider how every decision impacts the next.
Expect things to go right—and trust us to fix it if they don’t. There is no better salve for a project than a client’s ability to trust us to do our jobs (trust is a theme that recurs, in this process).
Expect to be surprised. Expect to love your project more than you thought you would.
Stage 4: The Big Reveal (Installations, The Reveal)
It’s understandable, after such a long wait, you might want to be there to greet your new furniture.
And, this is ultimately what you’ve hired us for, the big reveal. You get to come home to a beautifully put-together house. We love the power of transformation. To that end, when we can, we collect all of your new items in storage and bring them all to your house (with the help of movers) to install in a single day.
Thus, when we are ready to bring all of the elements together, in your space, consider taking a spa day.
Expect to feel all the feels. | Expect to get excited and thrilled by change.
In the end, we designers are creating beauty and magic, just for you.