If you've ever planned a huge wedding or big event, you know that there are 1,000+ decisions made throughout the process that would never have crossed your mind at the beginning. The same holds true for an interior design project!
You probably know that an interior design pro will help guide you towards the perfect paint color, choosing the best sofa fabric for your family's daily use, and suggesting countertop stone that works with your lifestyle. But what about the other intricate details that more than matter, they make a big impact and can be domino decision makers unto themselves, but may not occur to you? Bottom line: When it comes to design dilemmas, decisions and great attention to detail, interior designers do it all!
From overall design to plotting the best location for things from appliances to electrical to fabrics, finishes, fixtures, and furniture...it's also about flow, functionality and how you and your loved ones want to live in your space. All those decisions, plus the myriad of domino decisions that flow downstream all go towards a great design outcome in the end. Scroll through to read about some of the invisible decisions that impact an interior design build or remodel.
Interior Design Details & Decisions
HANGING LIGHTS: HEIGHTS MATTER
There are definitely go-to heights for hanging pendants like the ones above, but I tend to go higher than most, and insist that lighting is installed by the electrician with me on site to verify in the moment.
A kitchen island is the perfect example of why that decision matters - if you are 5'5", but your spouse is 6'5", the standard height for a pendant above an island would mean the taller person wouldn't be able to see straight ahead standing at the sink. That decision is fully informed by the people who actually live in the house, not a predisposed number that a majority has agreed is a good standard.
And not all lighting vendors are the same - a pet peeve I'm currently dealing with is being forced to lock in the final height of a lighting fixture at the time of ordering, rather than supplying a variety of extension rods or adapters to make onsite specific height decisions at the time of installation. That means that other elements affected by the lighting must stay the same height, which makes that specific light a potentially rate limiting step, in my opinion.
LIGHTBULBS MAKE A DIFFERENCE
It feels like the entire lighting industry has pivoted to LED lighting, but I have to say I'm still partial to incandescent bulbs. Not only because the warm glow of incandescent bulbs makes for a cozier space, but studies have shown the makeup of some LED lighting contain potentially toxins like mercury, lead and arsenic, so it's not necessarily the best environmental option as the industry claims, in my humble opinion.
BTW...designer tip...I usually look for lightbulbs in the 2700k to 3000k scale...not too cool, not too warm but rather just right. #personalpreference
YOU DON'T HAVE TO USE A ROOM AS THE BUILDER INTENDED
Just because an architect or builder labels a room on a plan a certain way doesn't mean you must use it that way. If you eat out frequently, your 'dining room' could become the playroom for the kids because it's on the first floor and close to the action. Once the kids are grown, that could be an entertaining area, music lounge, or anything else we dream up!
All of these 'rooms' are just open space - yes, they may have been designed for a particular use in terms of scale, but that doesn't mean you have to use it that way. Trust your creativity and habits, and we'll help you reimagine the space to serve who you are!
HANGING ARTWORK
I can't even tell you how much it sets me free when I go into a space, and I have to look up or crane my neck to see the art. If you're in a basketball player's home, fine, but the average American woman is 5' 4".
When we're hanging art in your home, we think about the heights of the adults in your household, and go for the average eye level height on which to center the middle of the art piece. If we're doing a gallery wall, we start with a focal piece in the middle at eye level and work around that until everything is hung.
And also remember that your current art can be reevaluated - maybe that 8x10 print can be matted with a much larger frame to take up the visual space it was lacking before. Art, plus framing, are both key factors in getting the scale right for the space it lives in.
RUG SIZING AND SCALE
The most common thing we see with rugs is a lonely little island rug floating in the middle of the living room with all of furniture not even close to touching it. While you can always go the custom route and get a rug specifically sized for your room and your furniture, it's a pretty penny to do that.
If we're working with common rug sizes, we go for a size that at least allows for your seating furniture's front two feet to be sitting on top, as well as room for small side tables (these should be all on or all off). We also can layer a more expensive patterned rug on top of a larger neutral rug to cut down on cost but still have some fun patterns happening.
GROUT
We have a list of 50+ design selections we call out for every bathroom design we do. Trust us when we say grout color and grout line size very much can change the look of that tile you fell in love with for your bathroom or kitchen. That may seem like a really small thing, but when you're on your hands and knees scrubbing the grout for the 5th time in a month because it looks disgusting, you'll thank us for not choosing white grout!
Is there anything you've personally gone through with a remodel or new build that took you by surprise? Let us know in the comments!
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