04/09/2013
INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW
Whether redoing an entire room or merely replacing a single piece of furniture, it pays to ask all the right questions. Thinking like a journalist—who, what, when, where, and how—should give you and your designer all the information you need to create a successful project, regardless of how small or big it might be.
WHO
Think about the people (and/or animals) that will be using the space. Do you have a large family? Entertain often? Does Fido sleep on the sofa? Answering the “who” question will help determine the overall needs for the space.
WHAT
Once we know who will be utilizing the space, it is important that we determine what they will be doing there. Are they going to lounge and watch television? Entertain guests? Sewing in the guest bedroom? Having established the function of the room, it will be much easier to decide how best to design the space.
WHEN
The amount of use the room will get is crucial to design as well as furnishings decisions. Heavily trafficked rooms require definitive areas for ease of movement, while more formal settings that are utilized less can be more close and intimate. It becomes more important to look at quality upholstery in an every-day use family room while the little-used living room can look great and last with less expensive pieces that look great. Your professional designer can help make sure you get the right pieces for the proper solution.
WHERE
One of the key elements of design is space planning, and this is the area where so many go so wrong. With a scale plan (utilizing the answers to the previous questions), the guesswork of how to lay out the room is eliminated and knowing where to put things becomes an easy task. Issues of too big or too small, balance and scale, can all be addressed by your designer, preventing those drastic spatial mistakes from happening.
HOW
With the more definitive, black and white issues resolved, the last question you and your designer should discuss is how do you want the room to look and feel. Casual comfort? Modern? Classic? Your space should reflect your taste and style and a professional designer can assist you in finding precisely the right pieces to fit. When the project is complete, having answered all the right questions, there is nothing left to do but sit back and enjoy your new space.
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The Sofa Dilemma
