One day turnaround!
Nothing like a good old before and after to show the power of interior design but this one also has a story which I thought might make interesting reading….
A large proportion of our projects are residential, helping people breathe new life into their homes, advising on making the best use of space and extending properties but we also work in the care home market as well as designing and installing show homes.
This particular project for a regional developer, a great client who we have recently started working with, was set for install a couple of weeks before we were due to fly to Turkey for a week’s family holiday. You know what’s coming don’t you… Well there were various site delays, squeezing our install date to closer and closer to our departure date. It was Jubilee weekend; we were due to fly to Turkey on the following Thursday; the show home was launching two days later on the Saturday. Now I should say at this stage that a schedule this tight is extremely rare. Placing furniture whilst paint is drying is never going to be ideal for anyone but we will work closely with the client’s team on site to make it happen. The site manager got the first floor finished and carpeted in time for the Jubilee weekend so that Bank Holiday saw David shifting furniture into place and me ironing bedding in a porta-cabin since there was no power in the house. I am now a dab hand at ironing bed linen without it touching the floor! We left site that Monday with the bulk of the first floor done bar soft furnishings and final dressing. Downstairs was still way behind so we were asked to delay finishing off until the Friday afternoon. We flew on Thursday so this meant leaving it in the oh-so-capable hands of our project coordinator Nikki and at the time, newly appointed Junior Designer, Katy. The before picture you see here is how the sitting room looked mid afternoon…and below what it looked like ready for launch the following morning; I think you will agree that the girls did an amazing job!
People who know me will understand how hard it was for me to leave an unfinished job; I felt bad about leaving the girls to deal with it and it completely compromised the interior designer control freak in me! The reality was that the girls did not leave until close to midnight and were on site again early on Saturday placing art! Good design needs careful consideration and planning and I should stress that all this had happened on this project. It was just the final bringing together that we were squeezed on. Since this plot had already been sold, the real test was what the purchaser thought. Well, she burst into tears….of joy I am happy to report!
Written by Jacqui
Pictures taken by and property of HomeSmiths Ltd.
As well as having written for regional magazines including