BUILDING A HOME OR A HOUSE OF CARDS?
A lesson in Technical Design

Wikipedia defines Interior design as “a multi-faceted profession in which creative and technical solutions are applied within a structure to achieve a built interior environment.
The interior design process follows a systematic and coordinated methodology, including research, analysis, and integration of knowledge into the creative process, whereby the needs and resources of the client are satisfied to produce an interior space that fulfills the project goals”

Interior design transforms the mundane into extraordinary through a creative process combining art with technical analysis and production.  A “decorator” offers color and furniture selections.  A designer merges sustainable structure with functional aesthetic architectural art.

When you hire an interior designer you are asking them to reach beyond the possibilities you have been able to conceive.  AND you want them to be able to make it happen in the most beautiful, timely, and cost effective manner possible. The coordination of these talents is the difference between your complete satisfaction and a mess. 

A house of cards will look intriguing for a moment or two but when it falls in, you have to pick up the entire box of cards and start over.  Unless the “bones” – yes, like the bones in our body - are right in a space, the home will always lack in something.  Architectural and structural elements create the perfect background to which refined details will be the art pictured by the client.

Hire a designer who coordinates every element of your Project.

Conceive a concept with your Designer. Tell them your goals.   Have them articulate the design concept through technically correct, architectural drawings of your space.  Approve the design concept and direction.  Estimate and approve the budget.  Ask for a time line for the work to be done.  The Designer will then begin to put the pieces of the intricate puzzle together to achieve the outcome you desire. 

A Technical Designer must be

·         Part Artist - never losing sight of the finished art, the budget or the timeline

·         Part General Contractor;  knowing what to do and the ramifications of a bad decision

·         Influencer and Great Communicator – so that sub contract trades and the general contractor work together to achieve the best result according to the design direction. 

·         Part Psychic in order to foresee changes and hold-ups of each element, trade, material selection, AND be fully accountable for the successful outcome of the entire project.

We all have good ideas, and each sub trade on a project will do their best to achieve the desired outcome, however one person must coordinate the efforts and complications of three-dozen trades and material elements to ensure the finished product is what YOU ordered in the first place

 

Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, ARE THE LARGEST PURCHASING GROUP IN THE WORLD.  In North America they make up 123-million, a whole 45% larger than the 85-million that make up the 18 to 25 age group. 
Boomers have changed every age as they moved through it.  There is no predictable here. 
In 1975, over 40% of North Americans had a pension. In 2006, less than 17% had a pension.  Today, boomers on one end of the spectrum are making a second career of managing their money, or, on the vast other end, they are desperately trying to afford the sandwich sense of their kid's tuition expense and their own retirement savings.  "There are no guarantees", takes on a whole new meaning to those who have been so substantially "richer" than any other generation...and who are now grappling with the idea that there may be a depression looming. How does one make that adjustment?
Boomers don't live like they are supposed to...they have never followed the rules.
If a Boomer decides not to shovel snow in the winter, they don't necessarily move to a warmer climate.  Maybe they buy a condo in a trendy section of downtown and completely renovate it?  ...Snow problem solved!
This diverse group of millions are more active than any other generation in history.  They travel to learn, they volunteer more, they take time for themselves whether that is golfing or taking care of the grandkids.  Nothing is as it should be, or rather, as the marketers would have you believe it to be.  They are not predictable.
In conventional marketing, the consumer needs, motivations and behaviours are studied.  CRM's (Customer Relations Management software), thought to be the silver bullet of marketing when it was introduced, monitor these specifics and dole out a list of probabilities.  This no longer works because Boomers have made it next to impossible to predict them. As Boomers grow older, they become less materialistic (aka, less product centered) and more metaphysical (aka, more experience centered)  Boomers, all 123,000,000 of us, want the things we want, things that fit into our lives, things that are specific extensions of who WE are individually.  It is therefore, hard to hit this moving target with standard marketing and sales approaches.  So how?

According to lifestyle trend forecasters, the HOME is becoming more important than ever. For the baby boomers (born 1946-1964) home is what has been earned, for the Generation X’ers (born 1965-1979), home is where you retreat to, and for the Generation Y (born 1980-1999) and the Millennials (born after 2000), home is where you springboard from.

We go out, but we want a place to securely come back to that represents our place in the world, regardless of our age.

Our lives are moving so quickly. Trends in technology and lifestyle design help to optimize every part of our lives…

• Can’t use a hand held phone in a car anymore? Ok, use an earpiece or Bluetooth.
  
  
• Have a long drive so you can have your family live in a suburban neighborhood? Ok, use book CD’s or an MP3 or your iPod in your car, because you don’t have time to read anyway.
  
  
• Need knowledge fast? Use Google, or Wikipedia, not the Yellow Pages or Encyclopedia Britannica.
  
  
• The “Coles Notes” of the Baby Boomer era is now Google, but as a sophisticate, you can download and read half the book on your IPad on the way to class.
  

Time is the currency – even more than money. Our time is so precious, we must maximize every moment. Our HOMES however, are where we stop. We recharge. We sleep. We wake to race again. But we cannot look like we are racing. We must sincerely and effortlessly hand out sound bites so we are creating the relationship that will tie us to other people…and that is where HOME comes back in.

Home Trends have evolved like the technology industry. In 1945 the trend cycle was 15 years. In 2006 the trend cycle had compressed to 3 years, and despite the recent economic downturn, innovation leads to inspiration and trends continue to emerge. Staying on top of current trends unlocks tools for aesthetic trends as well as to keep the industry financially moving and growing.

There are some trends that seem to be recession proof, and that consumers are buying en masse.

HOME must be optimized.

• Give everyone a space that is theirs
  
  
• Coordinate functional social gathering areas; multi use rooms
  
  
• Wire well
  
  
• Work in some green space; some nature
  
  
• Find the sun, or filter natural, colour corrected light
  
  
• Develop a surprise around every corner that inspires a pleasure centre response of happiness
  
  
• Seek clever functionality of furniture
  
  
• Integrate personal entertainment and the emergence of laptops as the primary source of computing and personal entertainment
  

We invite people into our HOMES who will enhance us, or whom we will enhance. We invite relationships. Our HOMES must be a reflection of this.

Creating relationships in business has evolved since the 1970’s primarily due to women’s involvement in the business world. As a rule, women create an emotional bond with the people they spend their money with. In the 40’s, 50’s and early 60’s, women knew the butcher and his whole family. In the late 60’s and 70’s, women were struggling to fit into a male dominated business world, and (quietly so as not to wake the sleeping lion) now that feminism is the new reality, there has been a marketing shift from a hierarchical model toward a relationship model of doing business. Oh, and women make 75% of the buying decisions when it comes to the HOME. Women will however, acquiesce to the primary needs of their family members. Some may still not write the cheques, but they must be the centrepiece of the thought process in designing any home space.

From relationships, add a social conscience, and economic reality and you have the recipe for a stable and balanced environment. Personalize each corner of the home, Localize the sources, and get us involved in our community and we now have full control over our lives.

In 1990 it was predicted that by the year 2010, 80% of working people would do at least some work from home. We didn’t have the mainstream of wireless internet and Blackberrys’ and Iphones…but we could see it coming. And we are there.

HOME has to be a lot of things to a lot of people…most of all, it must be a reflection of who we are as individuals and it must be comfortable.

So where do we go from here?

Our lives are moving so quickly that we must assemble the most efficient talent in the most cost effective manner.

Project management in any home design is the pulling together of all pieces. An architect, a designer, home builder or renovator must coordinate the elements of lifestyle trends with the bricks and sticks and interior specifications to create a HOME.

At JD Design, we specialize in the careful mix and coordination of professionals who implement the designer’s blueprint which is crafted from the client’s vision and goals. We work with architects to carry out the big picture goal and make it a home inside. We work with residential interior designers to manage the onsite projects in order to share the same final product. We work with the Contractors to efficiently manage the details and the subcontractors, and we work with the subcontractors to increase their visibility with the Clients. JD Design is fully entrenched in your Project…Architect, Designer, Renovator, Builder…we’re here for you.