all IN THE PROCESS
I once told my brother who recently visited my new home, “You wouldn’t believe how much electrical demo and rewiring we had to do, in the kitchen alone, just to get to this point. It’s so fascinating.”
To which he replied, “It’s fascinating that you find that fascinating.”
What can I say, I love construction. It’s a direct manifestation of the design process. Particularly with a home renovation versus new construction — there is so much rethinking and tweaking as you go. In renovation, the design process is very much ongoing on-site, especially after the demo phase, because it never goes as planned. Ever. And that’s the fun! It’s a challenge and ultimately makes the design much stronger.
There is of course the downside to that. You always have to budget for contingencies that will occur. I would always prepare my clients of that, a rewiring of a kitchen for instance, will eat into your “design” budget. But the systems of a home are part of the design. You always have work ‘up and out’ to have good design. You have to set a good foundation and make sure the house functions, before the aesthetics.
The end product of a room, or the overall design vision, is beyond rewarding. But it’s the process for me that I find the most interesting. All the meat of it that you don’t get to see. One can appreciate once you’ve been through it.
So, I purposely started this blog before the house was completed to document the process and my method of navigating through design problems. As in life, I try not get hung up on the glossy image or what I think the end result should be. Design is very much a fluid, everlasting thing. I believe design is all in the process. It’s never final.
