Source: google.com via Ellen on Pinterest

Does the workroom she uses work with quality lining and

interlining fabrics, stand behind their work, and are they

willing to come make reasonable adjustments

if necessary?

If you are doing expensive work, are they accustomed

to working with designer fabrics(fabrics which start at $150 a yard, 

and you will need 12 yards for your average window)?

Can they do custom touches, for example?

You don’t want an expensive mistake being made on your job

because of inexperience.

Does your professional use a quality upholsterer?

Are your seams, lines and patterns nicely matched when you

get back your upholstery?

And, if your designer reps a particular line exclusively,

do you love that look and are you willing to forego other options?

Does she have an excellent painter, a great wallpaper hanger,

a quality furniture refinisher, a perfectionist carpet installer, 

and someone who can professionally and

correctly hang those expensive new draperies?

Can she have custom furniture fabricated if you are looking for

something not readily available?

3) Does your professional always specify

the most expensive lighting, fabrics, and

carpets?

Or, does she know how to resource budget-friendly items,

say for a child’s bedroom or a playroom?

Does she at least occasionally show you a trim option from somewhere

like Lewis and Sheron fabrics (running $35/yard, not $250/yard),

a lamp from Shades of Light or Ballard or even Overstock, or an accessory

from Target, Anthro, West Elm or Pottery Barn?

When appropriate, she should.

(Wallpaper is a different story. Don’t buy cheap wallpaper, ever.

Good wallpaper is worth every penny.)

It takes work to know where to find nice reasonably-priced accessories

and budget options.

Is your professional willing to do the legwork necessary to know where?

4) Does your professional use correct/useful

design terminology?

Knowledgeable residential design professionals should be discussing concepts

such as “fixed finishes,” “undertones,”  “focal point,” “symmetry,” “color harmony/

flow,” “repetition” and “balance,”

when helping you achieve an overall look and feel in your home.

She should be happy to explain (without condescension)

any terms which you aren’t familiar with.

If  someone you are thinking of working with uses the words

“a matching dinette set,”

you are going to get a very different proposed look from someone who says,

“an antique  Regency breakfast table mixed with Louis Seize-style chairs.”

And, watch out for someone who uses the same vague buzz words

(“edgy”  and “whimsical” are two which come to my mind) many times

during a consultation.

A decorating cliché is likely to follow.

And here is what you can do for your

trusted design professional to help the

collaboration:

1) Provide magazine pictures

(tear them out and keep them in a file)

Provide your designer with pictures of rooms you love.

YOU need to decide,  and then communicate, what it is that attracts

you to a particular look.

Don’t hand your designer random pictures if you don’t want her

to achieve a similar look.

We are not mind readers.

We can’t determine from a photograph that you hated the room

in general, but absolutely loved the fabric on the ottoman.

So, tell us.

If you trust your professional, you should be able to

2) articulate a clear reasonable budget 

for whatever you want done.

If you have never given out a budget, you, the client, should go

to your nearest quality furniture retailer

(if they carry primarily brands such as Henkel-Harris, Sherrill, Baker, 

Hancock & Moore, Henredon, then they are a quality retailer).

In Birmingham, I would tell you to start at Birmingham Wholesale Furniture,  

and price out whatever is closest to what you think you may want.

That means pricing every single thing you need off of your list: rugs, tables,

chairs, sofas, lamps, etc.

If you want antiques, they have a selection of antiques there as well,

which you can price out for your budget.

This is valuable time spent, and it matters, because you now will have a

minimum starting point for the budget that you give your professional.

It will not include draperies, but you can get your professional to roughly

estimate this for you in advance.

Custom is always more expensive. Custom draperies are exorbitant.

Custom wool carpeting is price-prohibitive for most.

But, you are in for less sticker-shock, and you can spend your time more

productively,  if you price needed items at retail first.

And, if you are lucky enough to be one for whom the sky is the limit,

say so if you trust your design professional.

The best professionals will save you from making expensive mistakes.

(click to go to this previous post).

3) Let your trusted professional’s ideas

percolate for a bit.

Try not to make a snap judgment about every single thing that

we suggest.

Whether designing, decorating, or selecting fabrics, accessories,

and colors, this is what we do.

We will not suggest something that we don’t think will have a

reasonable chance of filling a need or a space.

We usually see things in a different way, and our fresh eye may

have come up with a solution that you hadn’t thought of.

We know which fabrics will stand up to children and pets.

We know how to achieve a total look and feel for your home.

Try to keep an open mind and try to appreciate the vision we have

for your space, and give us the chance to articulate that vision to you.

4) Understand that quality jobs take time.

A good design professional will allocate your resources in a certain order.

Rugs should be chosen before your wall color, for example.

Special order upholstery takes 8-12 weeks.

Custom drapery jobs may take 6 weeks just to fabricate.

My best painters may be booked up for weeks.

Oh, I didn’t even mention “backorder” or “no longer current.”

We might have found the perfect fabric, and it might be out of stock with

3 months to wait for new stock.

Or, the colorway that works may have been discontinued and 

is completely unavailable.

Stay flexible.

We might have to look for something else.

5) Make us tell you “the because.”

We know there are some of you out there who are going to be resistant

to any change we suggest, because that is human nature.

Ha, I always meet resistance when I suggest painting dated wood or brick

(usually orangey or pinky, but can be other colors).

Want to see “the because” on this one? Here is a great before and after by

fellow True Color Expert Kristie Barnett who lives in Tennessee,

well worth the read for an amazing transformation:

Before, dated wood and brick: