How to Find Direction on Your Design Project

How to find direction on your design project

11/20/2021

You know you need to tackle a few things in your home (or garden) to get it dressed up a bit, but it's so overwhelming and confusing that you just never really get going and it drags on and gets stale.

It can get confusing with all the media and buzz about what the latest trend is and what's in and what's out. If you're not a do-it-yourselfer and want to hire professionals to do the work, the truth is you still need to be able to articulate what exactly you want to do and in what priority.

It can be really hard to know where to start. And maybe even more importantly, how to bring it all together so that it makes sense when you are done can be very elusive.

The result can be some false starts or even not getting started at all because you aren't confident with how to get going.

I get it.

photo: Ovan Samkov/pexels

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It's never like the reality tv shows

I know lots of folks enjoy watching these speedy-quick and thrilling home or garden overhaul shows. There's so many of them it's become its own genre!

The theme is always the same: a brief meeting with the frustrated homeowners, a jazzy run-down on all the massive changes that will be made in less than 48-hours while homeowners are gone, and then the big reveal where everyone cries and screams. Okay, I know that's a bit cynical, but it's just so unattainable and everyone's home looks virtually the same regardless of the show, because it's all based on the latest trend. Or maybe a little twist on that trend.

Still, it's kind of like Disney movies in that it's hard to resist the charm and appeal of that total transformation.

You get excited about some inspiring ideas and it sure seemed pretty easy on the show so you jump into a project. Let's say it's a new backsplash in your kitchen. Maybe you get it done and start thinking about the next project, or more often you get partway into it and it proves to be more complicated or involved than you imagined so you get stuck.

Even if you got that one project done, when the excitement wears off, you take a step back and realize... hmmm. Well the tile was stunning when you looked at the sample, but now that it's on the wall it kinda looks crazy next to the floors. Either because of the color or pattern, or often it's because the modern shape of that glass subway tile just doesn't play nice with the rest of your home style.

Now what?

What's missing is the big picture direction and a set of priorities and guidelines to work from.

finding design help is tricky

What some folks do is to hire a professional interior designer (or a landscape company) or just work with a design person at a retail outlet or manufacturer to help you make purchase decisions.

First, a full-on interior designer can be very pricey and worse, they often specialize in a specific look or feel or size of project (usually very large, let's be honest). If they do work on smaller projects, they often don't work with you on-site or necessarily consider the larger picture of your home as a whole.

In the second case of working with a retail designer, you obviously are going to be much more limited in the options made available to you which doesn't necessarily serve your needs. And, rarely do they make the trip to your location to provide realistic, personalized solutions.

So, if you're looking for a bigger picture direction, or some help setting priorities, and want the guidance to be totally customized but not crazy expensive or trend-focused, what are your options?

image: Tomas Hustoles/burst

Micro designs ~ with the whiskey porch

Good news - we've got a service at The Whiskey Porch that we call a "Micro Design" that can help you with the whole game plan. At a fair price. In an executable format. Within a specific time-frame.

I created this service to fill this gap in the design market.

To give you the idea of how it works, I thought I would do a little behind-the-scenes peek at the process we recently did for The Ride Prescott House here in Prescott.

Owner and local celebrity Chloe Woodruff has big plans for her bungalow and agreed to share some thoughts on the process.

In her case, we worked on a Micro Design to address both the interior and exterior of her bungalow, as well as the front and back landscape.

Chloe Woodruff - Olympic Mountain Bike Racer

I've never thought of myself as someone who decorates -- and yet I love functional design and beautiful spaces. I think a lot of my hesitation to dive into projects tended to come from not knowing where to start.

Because The Whiskey Porch aesthetic and vibe appealed to me, I felt comfortable reaching out. - Chloe Woodruff

behind-the-scenes peek

While each process is customized to meet the specific needs of each client, all Micro Designs generally follow this same overall process.

1) On-site 2-hour walk through of Chloe's bungalow & property, a detailed interview, and images/video were taken.

2) A Design Plan was delivered to Chloe a couple weeks later which included:

Design Overview,
Prioritized Project Goals,
Big Picture Suggestions, and a
Design Plan Menu (think of this as a preliminary project task list or checklist to work from in priority order)

3) We went back and did a Color Plan consult where we spent some more time evaluating existing colors and goals, and then delivered a Custom Color Palette for her interior, accents, and exterior.

You'll find the a snap shot of the Design Plan and Color Palette that we delivered to her below.

Big Picture Suggestions - for chloe

While her entire Design Plan was 7 pages long, we wanted to share some of her Big Picture Suggestions to give you a flavor.

Each of these items included a discussion of the bigger ideas and direction, and how these were prioritized for her needs, goals, and budget. These groupings then helped to inform how her Design Plan Menu was organized for her to work from, which I believe includes around 50 or more specific tasks/projects.

Color Planning
Lighting
Furnishings
Walls - artwork and design detail
Patio and Garden
Entrance
Garage

Because she and her family are pretty handy, some of the work will be do-it-yourself but there's a few things that she's planning to hire out.

The Whiskey Porch will be working with Chloe as the project progresses to help address key decisions or find solutions to unexpected challenges. This ongoing support is an additional service that can be customized. For her we are doing this on an as-needed basis, but this could be organized as a weekly or monthly standing meeting, for example.

For other clients, we may be more involved in preparing drawings and managing the projects and contractors. But in Chloe's case, she feels pretty confident that she can manage the majority on her own, so we went with a lighter touch for future support.

What's important is that she now has confidence that each task or project she tackles has a place in the overall scheme and is a step in the right direction.

It's so helpful having a plan in place that aligns with priorities. And I can't tell you how much the color palette helps with paint selection - which is always so hard. - Chloe Woodruff

custom color palette - for chloe

We developed a custom Neutral, and Accent Palette and suggestions on Color Swatches and Paint selections, for interior as well as exterior.

Everything begins by first identifying and mapping what already exists (that isn't going to change) and branching out from there based on personal and locational inspiration.

Chloe's neutral palette - mostly from existing elements.

Chloe's accent palette which was inspired by the leather on one of her favorite chairs and a homemade family throw blanket.

The exterior color palette works from the existing metal roof and links back to the interior colors as well.

This is a design process that's made easy and fun by using high-tech color apps, photo tools, and color decks.

The palette is designed to facilitate not only interior paint, but exterior paint, furnishings, artwork and décor, as well as hardware and fixtures in her home and garden.

Continuity and flow throughout all the spaces is critical to a successful result.

Follow along and plan visit to prescott

While we did most of the Micro Design Planning early this year (2021), Chloe has just started working through the Design Plan Menu recently, after the end of her mountain bike racing season.

If you're curious how things develop, we'll be following along as she continues to make progress, and you can catch updates on our social media or, of course, follow her directly @ The Ride Prescott House on Instagram.

This is a small bungalow. Smaller spaces are manageable and have so much potential if they're designed thoughtfully.

Now, I'm excited! I see a lot more potential in my home than I ever did before. - Chloe Woodruff

The Ride Prescott House should be available for short-term rentals later in 2022. Stay tuned! And if you're not local, plan a trip to beautiful Prescott, Arizona. And bring your mountain bike.

how can we help you?

To learn more about the Micro Design and how it works

Dragonfly Journal
~ The Whiskey Porch Blog ~