It's too bold. It's too green. It's too too. There are moments, even in the best designer-client relationships, when doubt and discord take hold and designers find themselves saying some version of "You just need to trust me." Plenty of clients will relent, but others push back, maybe even insist. So, are they ever right?
"Whether you're right or wrong or they're right or wrong, it becomes a gray area, especially with the clients who aren't sure of what they want," says designer Brian McCarthy, who has worked through all kinds of ups and downs with clients in a nearly four-decade career. "When I'm able to say, 'Trust me, this is it,' that comes with deep conviction, and I mostly do it with clients I have a real relationship with." McCarthy says he welcomes debate, especially with those who "have a point of view."
But things do go wrong. Not only in the second guessing of aesthetic decisions but also with delays and cost overruns, issues that ever-more-demanding homeowners tend to have little tolerance for. "Today you have to run your business like a very tight ship," says designer Ernest de la Torre, particularly if you're working "in the billionaire zone," where clients "don't easily forgive mistakes. They want lots of information. And they want things on time."
Bu hikaye Elle Decor US dergisinin Summer 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye Elle Decor US dergisinin Summer 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
And How! - Decorator Nick Olsen transforms a Sag Harbor home into a Hamptons retreat with an irreverent humor.
If you must go to the Hamptons, however-because it is devilishly good fun, after all-you may notice an apparently modest, low-slung cottage on Sag Harbor's Main Street and think, with a comfortable sort of feeling, Now that is how a house should look. Nestled amid the Botox bars, helipads, and club-staurants, it could almost set the sordid world aright both a rebuke and a solution to the chaos that surrounds it. A real home.
You Stay Here
At a Martha's Vineyard compound, Steven Gambrel and Tom Kligerman have made a guest retreat so good, visitors may never want to leave.
WHAT'S IN THE MIX?
Rayman Boozer brings his mastery of color and pattern to the renovation of a Harlem duplex for a young family.
THE EMPIRE
A 19th-century gem in Cambridge, Massachusetts, gets a tour-de-force restoration thanks to Frances Merrill of Reath Design.
Now You See It
A modernist beach house's discreet profile hides killer views and knockout interiors by Rafael de Cárdenas.
CIRCLE D'AMOUR
For an object lesson on how to design a Paris love nest, look to Pierre Yovanovitch.
PARK AND RECREATIONS
With the rise of electric vehicles and a fresh focus on design, the once overlooked garage is becoming a future-forward source of joy and energy at home.
Just Like That, But Cheaper
One writer tried to replicate a classic ELLE DECOR interior in his apartment. Could he do it for $500?
But This is My Home - One writer discovers that living in an architectural icon can be a blessing and a curse.
One writer discovers that living in an architectural icon can be a blessing and a curse. My husband and I moved into the Kallis House in Los Angeles six years ago. It was designed in 1946 by the modernist architect Rudolph Schindler, and it's believed by many, including Frank Gehry, to be among Schindler's best. The house is eccentric, perched on the lip of a hill, with a butterfly roof and a shaggy exterior made of grape stakes. The interior is an unfolding series of surprising angles, with a wonderful wide view of the San Fernando Valley.
A SISTER STORY
Jewelry designer Brent Neale Winston and her decorator sibling, Ramsey Lyons, recast a historic Long Island home.