What’s an Interior Design VIP Day?
One of my popular services is my Interior Design VIP day. This service is great for those that want a day of design expertise in order to pull a room together or to get a plan for going forward.
Since I get so many questions about how it works, I thought it would be helpful to show you a recent example of an interior design VIP day.
The start of the interior design VIP day
My empty nest client had sold the family home and was about to move into a downsized condo (sound familiar?)
The day started out with a meeting at her current home. I took inventory of all the furniture pieces she wanted to bring to her new condo. Some things were “must bring” and some items were “if they can work”.
Photos and measurements of each “must bring” item were recorded. We then drove over to her new condo. Her main concern was furniture placement for the long and narrow living/dining room which measures 31′ long by 13′ wide.
The design plan
As always, I start any decorating project with a floor plan. Most people are not all that visual when it comes to furniture placement. Seeing it on paper, or in this case, on my ipad screen is so helpful to visualize exactly what the room will look like.
Using the aid of an app on my ipad I created the room to scale and put in all the door openings and windows. Once I had the room created, I plugged in my client’s “must bring” items. This included a 10′ x 14′ antique oriental carpet, a dining room set, a family heirloom roll top desk and an electric fireplace.
We discussed her lifestyle, how much entertaining she planned to do and how much seating she ideally would like. I was able to swap things in and out until we found a design and floor plan she loved. Although I can’t show you in a photo I was able to turn the plan into a 3d virtual feature so my client could imaging walking through the room.
Side note: the app is limited as to furniture and fabric options so my client understood all the items were for scale and visual representation and not for fabric or finish suggestions!
The color scheme
Once the plan was finalized we chose a color scheme. Using the warm tones in her carpet as our guide, we choose a beautiful creamy, ivory white for the walls.
This warm neutral will compliment not only her carpet but she has a beautiful collection of warm toned artwork that will be throughout the home.
Making it fresh
One request my client had was that she wanted her new home to feel fresh and updated. The existing pieces she was bringing were very traditional so she requested updated shapes and colors for the new pieces.
Again, using her carpet for inspiration I suggested she buy a turquoise or blue sectional. She loved that idea so we were off and running.
Sourcing for the furniture
Since my client will be ordering all her new furniture, we spent the remaining interior design vip day hours “shopping”. My client wants to sit on the new pieces so we chose four local furniture stores that she could visit on her own time.
This is always the fun part because the client gets equally involved. Together, me on my ipad and she on her laptop we virtually shopped for everything on her “shopping list”. This included a left facing sofa with a chaise, two swivel chairs by the big window, a coffee table, a third “funky chair” and some side and accent tables.
I set up a Pinterest board to hold all our possible selections. I would hold up my ipad and ask her, “what do you think of this?” If she liked it, I pinned it. She would do the same after getting my approval. There was no initial editing we just pinned anything that might be a possibility.
Obviously I checked the dimensions for scale and made sure the store had plenty of fabric options to choose from.
Finishing up the day
Once we had a very full Pinterest board we went through and edited. I removed the items my client liked the least and left the items she wanted to go see or sit in. At the end of the day I had a very happy client who had a clear plan for moving forward. She can confidently purchase new furniture as time and budget allows, knowing she will not make an expensive mistake.
Is an interior design VIP day for you?
Every VIP interior design day is different but here are a few other ones that I have done lately.
- I helped a homeowner choose all his colors and finish selections for his new renovation
- I spent the day choosing artwork from a huge collection belonging to the homeowner and deciding the best placement for each piece.
- A day of shopping (in person pre-covid) for tile and lighting for a new build.
If you have a decorating project you are struggling with and need a little or a lot of help, give me a call. A one hour phone call, a two hour consult or an interior design Vip Day might be the perfect solution! Here is another post you can also check out explaining the benefits of a decorating consult.
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