The first time I ever saw a house that had been ‘done’ by a designer it bothered me. I would have been a youngen of about 14.
What bothered me then, is still the same as what bothers me today in the design world.
My friends family had engaged an ‘it’ designer of the era in Melbourne town. He had designed her bedroom in pretty pretty blue and white florals with ruffled cushions. All tasteful girly, nice and sweet. Yes, it was the early 90’s.
Her 15 year old brothers room bothered me even more. It was decked out in terracotta and a lot of check pattern. It was more fitting for a smoking jacket wearing 45 year old man, than for a teenage boy.
What bothered me about these rooms was that they did not reflect my friends personalities in the slightest. She was not & never would be a floral or ruffle kinda girl and as I got to know her hot brother (yep -some snogging might have happened!) he was not a smoking jacket kinda suave dude.
Perhaps they weren’t given much of an option by their parents, or given access to the the designer, but the fact that these rooms reflected absolutely none of the personalities of my friends has always bothered me. Years later as I embarked on my own design career I have often thought of these rooms to be absolute anti of my own design ethos.
To me the greatest challenge of my work and what keeps me inspired is getting to know the personalities of my clients. By getting to know them we can collaboratively a space that truly reflects their personalities & lifestyles. They are the ones living in the space, not me.
So as I start work on a project of 3 teen & tweenage girls bedrooms, I am taking up the challenge to create rooms for them that they can feel proud of as being a representation of themselves. With this particular project, I consider a good design to be creating rooms that will grow with them as their tastes change & develop through the next few years not just what they are now. I’m sure the 10 year olds current passion for purple will be dramatically different in 2 years time!
So there you have it, my rant for the day! Possibly not much point to it rather than getting it off my chest.
And now just to up the eye candy quota, here are some images of a very talented designer who I have a designer crush on – Martyn Lawrence-Bullard He is an ‘it’ designer of the moment, & with very good reason!
His work oozes personality, & his portfolio is diverse & beautiful. He is not recreating the same thing over & over. Instead just really beautiful & individual work.
ah, now for the eye candy…
