At what price — interior design

By Connie Britell, ASID
Special to the Coastal Point

How much is this going to cost anyway?

	Brittell

What? I need a plan?

Prepare yourself. Decide on a budget.

If you’re unsure about the costs involved in your design project (and most of us are), start to make your plan. Get out pen and paper and get real. List the rooms and/or items within the room that need help. Think about the furniture pieces you hope to keep. Collect magazine clippings that reflect the style, color, fabrics and furnishings you like, as well as those you don’t like. Sketch a simple floor plan. Listen and look at all ideas, but never go ahead without a plan.

Obviously, if your whole house is getting the evil eye, your best first step might well be to seek out the help of a professional. (See last month’s column “How To Hire An Interior Designer”). Regardless of whether you have the benefit and expertise of a professional, however, you still have to do your homework. Shop around. See what things cost. As you observe the marketplace, learn to distinguish between timeless quality and the trendy “look.” Retail stores are loaded with knock-offs, but the quality of many doesn’t hold up to the test of time demanded by classic design. Put an educated dollar amount or price range next to each item on your list: furniture, services, windows, window coverings, wall painting and papering, floors and floor coverings, tile, lighting of every variety, accessories, do-it-yourself supplies such as tools and paint brushes. Then, somewhere near the subtotal, add in a line item for “contingency” which can be 10 to 20 percent. Once you have decided on the sum you wish to invest in home improvements, it often helps to check the feasibility of that budget by allocating portions of it to these different areas.

Most people understand a single item, but few realize the large number of items required in the design of an entire space, and fewer still add all the numbers and look at the grand total. Oh, dear, The Old Grand Total!

It’s important not to confuse the word “budget” with “life savings.” Your budget should be the amount of money that you are happy to spend to achieve the results you desire. Getting honest and frank about your budget and its limitations (everyone has them) will put you in control rather than “at effect” of the project. Communicate with your designer, if you have one. Listen. Talk. Listen. Consider. Start to prioritize.

As a designer of 26 years, I find that most projects wind up needing some kind of budget adjustment. We all start out with long wish lists and lofty ideas. And that’s not a bad idea. I do it myself with clients. In the initial creative stages of the job, I ask the same simple question: “If you could do ANYTHING with this room, what would it be”? The beauty of creative brainstorming like this is that it takes the lid off and opens us to the possibility of possibilities. Inspired by this process (or perhaps the latest issue of Coastal Living), our desires and dreams carry us away. We are transported to design nirvana. The challenge of the fun and creative process, however, lies in translating the ideal into the real, that sometimes hard-to-understand language of our own wallets. Alas, we must return to the earth plateau.

Getting a grip

If, in establishing a design budget or, later, having to put the skids on a runaway budget, you find yourself overwhelmed, I offer a few useful and perhaps somewhat emotionally comforting options. From experience we have learned that few of us are able to afford everything we ever wanted at one time. What a bore, anyway. There’d be nothing left to do or dream about. Therefore, flex your budget muscles and tame that overgrown design project as needed.

Decide whether to proceed or abandon the project.

While this is a black and white approach, it is important to allow you to relax and enjoy your decision to go ahead or not. Obviously, being able to go ahead full bore with the design project is the happier outcome, but waiting for a while or abandoning a project altogether may be what it takes when facing budget reality head on.

Postpone parts of the design project

This is a healthy approach. Tackle that part of the job your budget figures allow. Instead of the whole first floor, make yourself happy with just the living room or maybe living room and dining room. There’s always next year or the next bonus.

Phase the project

If you like the idea, you can phase your budget over time in a different way than going room by room With your design plan in hand, decide to decorate the “bones” of the room(s), the large surfaces that make big visual differences. Contract or paint the walls yourself, purchase rugs and carpeting, install window treatments for now, leaving the purchase of furniture for later.

Sure, you’re going to hate the looks of the old sofa for a while, but, hey, you’re on the way. One of my sister designers, Mary Jo, has for years stuck push pins with fabrics and trims attached into bare window casings whose windows will one day receive the intended window treatment. She says it makes her happy to see and know that when she can afford it, those fabric swatches will become a reality. Silly, maybe, but it works for her.

Remember that it is your responsibility as a client or homeowner to have a clear idea about your budget before you start your design project. Those shoestring TV makeovers are programmed for their entertainment value, not for their practicality or longevity in the real world. Permanent, added-value home improvements come with a price tag.

My next month’s article, scheduled to appear the end of February, will address Establishing Your Own Design Style. Meanwhile, I invite you to submit your design-related questions to me at DovetailDeziner@aol.com.

Connie Britell, ASID, is owner of Dovetail Interior Architecture and Design with an office in Ocean View, Del. She is also co-author, with her two professional designer sisters, of S.O.S. Sisters on Style, The Professional Organizer For Your Home Designs, available in February 2005.