We are right in the middle of winter as are millions of other folks around the world. It's cold, rainy, snowy and windy these days. Lots of elements bombarding us from nature, including a horrific earthquake, floods, mudslides, blizzards, with icy temperatures frigid enough to cause a plethora of problems. How do we cope with all of this? It's nothing new of course. Mother nature has been at it like this for many thousands and thousands of years and is always pretty much ON TIME with these weather events each and every winter season. The earthquakes are a bit harder to predict, but even our seismologists know somewhat when our tectonic plates are going to shift. We cope by being more aware of our harsher surroundings, planning better between storms, and enjoying the quiet beauty of the depth of the season by reading books, cooking creatively, spending time with friends and family, and making "to do" lists, while looking for the sun to shine its face again.
This blog is such a creative endeavour for me and my intention is to uplift your design spirit as well as share some of my design experience, knowledge and visuals for the joy of it. So although this winter has brought a lot of problems everywhere which have touched our hearts, I am going to move forward with my task at hand....lifting your spirits in the winter time of the design world.
I would say winter is a time of TRANSITION between a beautiful Fall full of rich autumn colors and a Spring ready to burst into a rainbow of bright colors. Use this season for transitioning your life, work and family goals. Write down where you want to go, what you want to do, who you want to connect with. I know, as an interior designer, traditionally my work has always been the slowest in the months of January and February. We designers work quickly to finish clients' projects prior to the holidays; and then except for a few longer term jobs that follow into January, we see the bulk of new projects starting in March again.
I like the winter season as it allows me to concentrate on those overall design plan projects which started at the end of the previous year, and play catch up with my own goals business wise and personal. The air is cold and crisp and I believe it is a good time of clear thinking, and efficient decisions. Use some of this Jan. and Feb. time to prioritize the rooms which are most important to redesign for better function and beauty, so that you and your designer can finish them in time for Spring/Summer. It still takes the typical 6-12 weeks to pull a project together. Work on your list now and get ahead of the game.
When the timing is right, and the right transitions have been made through careful planning and design, then room TRANSFORMATIONS will easily and beautifully happen through a good teamwork effort of client and designer. Pictures speak louder than words, so take a look at some of my design transformations in the form of "before and afters". Afters are shown first! You'll find a master bedroom which had great bones to start with and only got better, a living room which had a complete cosmetic facelift, and an unusual passage-way room transformed into a stunning "cocktails before dinner" social space, with a mirrored bar, fabric padded walls and glass shelves filled with accessory treasures from clients' travels.
So this is a time for planning, making lists, re-evaluating your rooms and the activities within them, improving the function of your workspaces, clearing the clutter, adding more light (there are less hours of sunshine in the winter), and looking towards some minor or major color and style changes for the Spring.
Pamela
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