To be a decorator (or
in today's accepted parlance, an interior designer) means anything
that you want it to mean. There are no universal standards for
the profession; there are no requirements that must be achieved.
In fact, you can wake up one morning, pleased with your own innate
good taste and call yourself a decorator. Or, the neighbor next
door admires your house and wants your help. Voila, you
are now a decorator.
For older women in
the suburbs, the two most prevalent jobs are real estate broker
and decorator/designer. Real estate brokers actually have a formalized
profession than that of the decorator: they are licensed and must
adhere to state requirements. Within that framework there are
different levels of commitment but there are also strict mandates.
For decorators, anything goes: there are no established business
practices, no professional mandates. Indeed some of the best decorators
-- Sister Parish comes to mind -- began their careers working
for their friends. The word spread and they were launched. In
fact, they were the ones who created the industry.
It is different with
today's top cadre of designers who may have been schooled in the
business or apprenticed for the major design firms. These highly
qualified designers have set standards for their profession which,
at some point, will regulate the industry. But, at the moment,
a decorator is one who calls themselves by that name.
The business of decorating
has also changed. The time honored way was to buy wholesale (net)
and bill retail (list). The showrooms were closed to the retail
buying public. Many of the top design firms still operate in this
fashion -- with the addition of design fees as a retainer. Today,
many of the showrooms are open to the public and products are
sold at discount in retail outlets. Without a net/list method
of billing, many decorators charge by the hour or by the job or
a basic consulting fee.
For clients wanting
to purchase the services of a decorator, it's a slippery slope.
The finished product might not be what they anticipated. The workmanship
may be substandard or they may be dropped in mid stream because
the decorator takes a more lucrative job. Indeed, they may be
overcharged. On they other hand, they may end up with a decorator
who has the expertise and sources to translate their hopes into
realities.
A prospective client
needs to do some serious homework before they hire a decorator.
It helps to have on hand reference pictures of looks that you
like. It helps to ask friends whose rooms you admire about their
decorator. Most good decorator/designers can work in many different
styles but, ideally, you want to find someone whose taste is akin
to yours.
Having established
a comfort level with a decorator's taste, however, is just the
first step. It is equally important to sense a rapport with the
person you hire. If it is an ongoing job, this person will be
in and out of your house for a considerable period of time. As
part of the job, a decorate may need to pry into your personal
life -- how you live, what social demands will be made on the
house, how much you want to invest in the project, etc. If the
most talented decorator available also happens to freely discuss
personal details of other clients' jobs, it is prudent to be cautious.
Decorators learn a great deal about their clients -- both from
what is said and what is observed That information should stay
within the confines of the client's house.
And finally, it is
important to establish a realistic budget from the beginning,
whether small or large. Many clients overstate what they can afford
or want to spend because they want the job to be enticing. Other
clients understate because they don't want the decorator to take
advantage. The best job is achieved when when client and decorator
are realistic in their goals.
What I've outlined
to date is some of the who, what, how of decorating but the most
elemental question is why -- why hire a decorator? There is a
long litany of answers to that question. Most
people don't have the time or expertise to achieve the look they
want. In general, people make mistakes in decorating -- in scale,
in allocation of budget, in value of purchases, in fabric selection,
in use of color and in furniture arrangement.
Often, mistakes are
made because options are limited. One of these errors is to rely
on a local store as a primary source as there can be two problems
connected with this approach. One, stores only make money when
they sell you something from their store. They have a vested interest
in selling even if it's not quite right. They also don't know
your particular house despite photos, room colors or anything
else the client may show them. As with all blanket statements,
this is not always true but it is rather prevalent.
The second problem
with allowing the store to be your decorator is that they tend
to be trendy. As in fashion, decorating has definite mass market
trends -- in terms of scale, color and style. Of these three trends
the worst is scale. The scale of most available furniture in the
market befits the newly sprouted McMansions. This is not the way
most people live. I already sense some
movement away from these white elephants to a sleeker, more streamlined
scale. Very often, decorators are called in after the mistakes
have been made. The decorator then states the obvious...the sofa
is overscaled; the color of the walls is at odds with the carpet
which is at odds with the upholstery; the room is 'correct' but
sterile.
I have rarely had the
client who owned nothing in the way of furniture when we began
the project. More often I begin with a client who has tried to
do it by themselves and 'failed' to live up to their own expectations.
Usually, they are correct. Or, I start with a client who has furnished
their first apartment or small house themselves but now have a
family, a bigger house and a real budget for decorating.
This kind of collaboration
can go on for years while the needs of the family change. When
you get the basics right -- room arrangements, appropriate scale,
use of color, lighting, quality furniture -- the project can last
a long time. It should translate well to another stage whether
you go upscale or downscale. Seating pieces can be recovered,
wall colors can be changed; case goods such as an end table or
a chest of drawers can be moved from room to room.
What I've described
is the classic decorating scenario. There is a master plan, priced
out and executed according to the client's budget. The special
pieces including accessories, art work, personal mementos are
figured into the budget and added when found.
There are alternate
ways of decorating which are outside what I've defined. One increasingly
common form of decorating is staging a house to put on the market.
Typically, the owner has lived in the house for many years and
the house looks tired. In the current economy, creating curb appeal
and the illusion of a well ordered house can add significantly
to its salability. This process is not dissimilar to the more
classic approach I've described. It usually involves furniture
arrangement, better lighting, sometimes repainting or rehanging
art work, perhaps adding plants and almost always reducing clutter.
The difference is that you're not building for the future, but
instead you're presenting the present in its most eye-catching
form.
Lastly, it's possible
to retain a decorator as a consultant. An owner may want specific
help with an color element, the size of a rug or approval (or
not) of a new purchase. In some cases, the client may sense something
wrong with the decor but unable to define it. In another case,
they may want to do their own decorating but need a decorator's
sources and access. Hence, the role of a consultant is that of
a professional eye with good sources.
The marketplace has
dictated many of these changes both in terms of how decorators
work and how they charge their clients. The bottom line is that
most homeowners have made mistakes and mistakes can be costly.
They turn to a decorator for their expertise in order to avoid
these mistakes and to think 'outside the box' about the world
of possibilities in home decoration.
Next time: Decorating
Case Studies
