When you look to hire a designer for your project, you are looking for a combination of a professional and best friend. This is someone who is going to spend a good deal of time in your home and will get to know you and your family in a very intimate way. You want someone compatible with your personality, who is going to listen to your wants and needs and be careful with your money, but also someone who is going to gently give you a reality check when you need it and advocate for you with all the other trades involved in the project.

As professionals our job is to troubleshoot problems and propose solutions, to produce a design that meets our clients’ expressed needs and hopefully exceeds their expectations, but also complies with codes, building practices, construction schedules, and budget constraints. We have to be able to communicate effectively and quickly to keep the project on track.

As a client, you need to be able to have absolute trust in the person that you hire, to know that they are going to take the time to listen to you and explain things, but also to know that you are comfortable to speak up when you have doubts and that they will be heard. You need to know that the architecture of your home and your style will be enhanced by your designer and not buried under their own agenda.

There is a balance of respect that goes both ways. The project should be a collaboration between designer and client and it should be fun. Everyone on the project — clients, designers, contractors, engineers, inspectors — has a vested personal or professional interest in its success.  Producing a project with enduring emotional value is as important as finishing it on time and under budget.