Bringing it together
Looking back over everything we’ve explored this year, hopefully you have begun to see glimmers of how you can live in your own story — not the one your mother wants for you, nor the one you think you should have because your neighbor does, and not even the one a formula-driven decorator or designer feebly offers up. As we’ve suggested, the way to a well-designed life is to make every expression of it true and authentic to you.
At the top of the year, in January’s column, we thought we’d tackle with you a desire to make a change in an interior. We encouraged you to outline goals, think about budgets, and hunt high and low for inspiration. While seeking images that made your heart flutter, you considered how you want to feel in your space, what things you want to surround yourself with and what meaning you want to infuse through it all. Putting together a Pinterest page or a collection of magazine pages might be helpful, but we suggested that you keep it on a more general level: color palettes, patterns, moods and category of design style. Steer clear of collecting Houzz images of room and details, wanting to sew them all together for a Wonderbread result.
As you started envisioning your interior and all the possibilities, you might have started feeling overwhelmed. Hopefully, you remembered to pause and not be overly swayed by all the latest trends and others’ advice, but
rather focus on those things that speak to your story in a timeless way. All along, we suggested, write down key words or phrases that best capture your design intent, and measure everything against them to see if they resonate to something true.
At that point, you might have felt comfortable with moving forward on your own, or you may have thought to call in a licensed interior designer to help. These professionals can gather what you have started and show how your intentions can be conveyed in a specific space with a little bit magic and a lot of experience.
After reading our March article, you might have vowed to be true to yourself, and the professional helping you, and not rely on others for approval or advice. We realize this is almost always harder than it sounds, but repeating to yourself as often as needed “too many cooks in the kitchen …” helps a lot.
While working through the design process, we thought you’d begin to find a comfort in the natural hierarchy that emerges for when and what decisions need to be made. You read in September’s column that supported risks are worth taking, and hopefully you embraced that premise. You discovered that there is a way to create real design, and that skipping steps or rushing the process is rarely a good thing.
You know when you get a cocktail crafted to perfection, one that hits every high note in every sip? Your professional designer is like that, a mixologist carefully adding various elements to create the perfectly balanced concoction tailored to your taste and lifestyle. You may never have considered or even known some of the ingredients existed before they were brought together. And that’s the twist to the story that even the author doesn’t see coming.
Tell us your story and let us bring it to life.
Heather Van Luchene, ASID, and Steffany Hollingsworth, ASID, are partners in HVL Interiors LLC, an interior-design firm offering professional residential and hospitality design services. Both are New Mexico-licensed interior designers. They can be reached at 505-983-3601 or info@ hvlinteriors.com.