Dear Melissa,
My husband and I are building and decorating our dream house. I feel like I need an interior designer to really make my dream come true, but my husband thinks it’s unnecessary. Do you have any advice for us? O.G., AZ
Dear O.G.,
While building a dream house is exciting, it can also be very stressful. If this is all you and your husband disagree about, you’re doing pretty well. I’m curious as to your husband’s concerns. Is he worried that it will cost too much, that your personal taste will be ignored, that the designer isn’t experienced enough, that you and your designer won’t be compatible? It’s easy to prevent all of these with a thorough interview.
Have you ever taken a virtual or actual tour of a grand house that’s on the market? (Don’t you just love open houses and real estate websites where we get to peek into other people’s homes legally?) Very often the interiors inside these magnificent structures are so disappointing, it’s a shame. Many homeowners with excellent taste have neither the expertise nor the resources to bring the interior of the house up to the level of the envelope. If you are using the finest materials in the structure, it is only fitting that the home’s interior appointments should meet this level of quality as well. Designers can provide access to superb furnishings, fabrics, lighting and accessories that are available only to the trade. An interior designer can also make sure that costly mistakes aren’t being made in furnishing the home’s interior. Moreover a designer can serve as a sounding board, meshing a husband’s and wife’s conflicting ideas into an agreeable compromise; often, the designer will put an idea on the table that homeowners haven’t even considered.
An interior designer can also provide a cohesive plan for your home, so that the colors and styles of the various spaces complement each other. Many homes have windows with unusual shapes, light control, or privacy issues; a designer can provide you with stylish window treatments to solve these problems. Furthermore, designers have access to the best workrooms for upholstery, window treatments, and pillows, as well as decorative painters, finish carpenters, paperhangers, etc., who are the best in their fields. The quality of their workmanship can make the difference between a so-so room and one in which even the smallest details are wonderful.
A well-designed interior that is wholly functional as well as aesthetically pleasing is difficult to achieve; that’s why people specialize in creating them. Keep in mind that there are a lot of dream houses that have never become dream homes. You are smart to recognize that an interior designer can help make this transformation a reality. Hopefully, you can convince your husband that you’d be more comfortable with help. (Even if the designer just supplies you with those to-die-for-gorgeous furnishings that your dream house deserves.) M.A.K.
