Advice for Designers: Why your Project isn’t Published

After I had finished decorating this living/dining room for my lovely clients Jim & Carol I sent the photos to some magazines. Only to receive zero response.

Photography by Jennifer Houghton

I tried to figure out what was wrong with it.

Then in February, at the Design Bloggers Conference in LA I got to chatting with a celebrity designer who gave me some good advice.

She told me that magazines are mostly interested in full house tours. The living room, bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens. When she told me that I thought, ‘Duh, I can’t believe that did not occur to me’.

Isn’t it funny how we immediately think, ‘There must be something wrong with me, my living room, the nose on my face : ) ‘.

At Blogfest in New York last May someone asked Margaret Russell, the editor of Architectural Digest, why they didn’t feature more kitchens. Her response was that many times a designer will decorate a house that does not include designing the kitchen.

Love this vase because you only need one bunch of tulips, I should have bought them all.

As I mentioned in my kitchen post the other day, I am the one to talk to regarding pulling together the colours and finishes in your kitchen but I am not a kitchen designer.

If I was a kitchen designer, I would never have created a system for understanding undertones because I would have been too busy learning everything there is to know about kitchen design.

It’s impossible to be an expert about everything related to design as it takes 10,000 hours to become one.

So to make a long story short, I’m publishing this project here on my blog.

Accent Wall:  Cloverdale CA 185 Verdigris /  SW 6212 / HC-143 Wythe Blue    

Main Wall Colour: Cloverdale CA136 Natural Muslin/ SW 7036 /  966 Natural Linen

See the drapes? Because there was so little space between the window and the bulkhead, I just hung them stationary on a track, which is actually very inexpensive to do because you don’t need a decorative rod.

 

My clients had been on vacation in Paris which is where the theme of the living room was created. Carol had bought some beautiful prints which we had framed by Kent Picture Framing.

Dining Table from IKEA: Dining Chairs from Pier One.

You can see by this image that the fireplace is not centered properly in the living room. This makes it very difficult to design the dining room because there is no room for even a small table with chairs all the way around.

To solve that problem I had these mirrors installed so that the reflection would give the illusion of dining chairs going all the way round the table. A great solution if you have a small space like that and need to work around it.

I also talked about this project at the beginning of February when I was featured on The Express with Shaw TV. 

What’s your favourite small space solution?

Related posts:

The Difference Between an Expert and a Master

Kimberley Seldon & What They Don’t Teach you in Design School

You Don’t Suck if you Don’t Book Every Client

Download my eBook, to learn what you didn’t get in Colour Theory. How to Choose Paint Colours: It’s All in the Undertones.

If you would like your home to fill you with happiness every time you walk in, contact me.

To make sure the undertones in your home are right, get some large samples!

If you would like to learn to how choose the right colours for your home or for your clients, become a True Colour Expert.