To the Finish Line
We all have these moments: a wedding, a birthday, a big project where everything we’ve envisioned, planned, and worked so hard for is on the brink of becoming real. It’s show time...and in our world that means construction and fabrication.
And construction and fabrication is the place where there are still a few little chances to refine and finesse, but it’s also the time where holes in the plan, or changes in the market, or even simple physics require quick thinking, flexibility. There is a finite amount of tolerance for wait-and-see on any construction project that is necessary, but ultimately leads here to do-it-now.
Some examples? As we put together finishes and their applications with others in the plan, things might look odd, or a little off in the real no-longer-just-on-paper world. Or maybe a framing challenge earlier in the build makes the spots where the sconces need to go impossible. Or you find that a desired sub-contractor suddenly has limited availability, or that the exotic wood for the counters is subject to a new trade embargo. All of these things can and have happened.
But, fear not, this is where your professional interior design and build team make it all worth it. Maybe once the shower goes in someone on the team notices that the tile pattern that looked great in a 3-D rendering, doesn’t work so well once you’ve got it in the real context. Maybe it changes the focus for the room, or results in some small cut tiles. Sure, the planned design would work just fine, but sometimes there’s a chance to make it better. This is the time to do that.
Same thing goes for the shop drawings for cabinetry and other custom features that everyone had already reviewed and approved, and then anything from grain patterns to gravity changes the way bits and pieces fit together. Or things like stains and even paint colors that once the entire scope of the project is visible to team members need to be fine-tuned. Importantly, this isn’t failure or finger pointing. It’s the job of the professional to assess the work and deliver the best possible outcome.
And as we see the results of construction and interior finishes playing off of one another, we can make better decisions for the finished space and the role it will play in your life. Questions like: drapery or shades and the particulars around their installation? Where to put the console table you just found at the consignment store? How best to center the chandelier now that we’ve added another chair to the furniture plan? What about the rug and its relationship to electrical outlets and where you’ll want lamps. What about optimal circulation with all these new variables? This is your last chance to secure the story you want to tell, and to do this, everybody—from client to painter—has to engaged and ready to make things work.
Join us next month to tag along on some workshop and studio tours, as we see what artisans and craftspeople can do for idea generation and determining finely crafted details.