HIRING A DESIGNER FOR YOUR NEW BUILD
The design selection process for a newly built home is as exciting as it is daunting. There are so many spaces to consider, and so many styles to sort through. Having a designer assist you with this is key to elevating your new home!
This post is for both the client who has recently signed on with a builder, is building their own home, or a bit of both, and to the builder, who has a client in contract to start their new build.
Let’s start with a general statement:
Hiring a designer, whether you’re the client or the builder, saves everyone a lot of stress and headaches, plus ensures a thought-out-magazine-worthy new build. This isn’t a fluffy statement, but a FACT.
Designed & Renovated by Marianne Elizabeth Design
To the homeowner:
You may have an idea of what you are wanting your house to look like, or you may have none. We are so lucky to have such incredible visual platforms such as Instagram, Houzz, Pinterest, etc. and I’m sure you have boards and ideas saved in every corner of your social media. But now, you actually have to start making the final decisions and that can be exciting for some, scary for others, or a combination of both!
Scenario 1:
You know what you want, but you don’t know how to bring it to fruition. You love a white and bright kitchen you saw on instagram, with it’s sharp black hardware and playful pendant lights, but you also love this other blue kitchen on Pinterest with champagne bronze hardware and 20 pot lights, and then you really love this rustic earthy kitchen design on Houzz. So, which one is right for you? You want your new home to be a reflection of YOU, not the internet, so you ask your friends and family. Your sister says “a blue kitchen, that is crazy, you’ll hate it in 5 years,” and you best friend says “OMG a white kitchen is so boring, you should do a colour like red,” and then you mom just makes passive aggressive comments how she never had an opportunity to design her own home because your dad loves honey oak. So now you are fed up and stressed and overwhelmed. Maybe it’s time to hire a designer now? No?
Scenario 2:
You’ve settled on doing the classic, and slightly overdone look of a 3x6 white subway tile. It’s time to make the decision, but there are 5 shades of white 3x6 tiles. So, which “white” tile is the right “white” tile? Is it the off white, the creamy white, the bright white, the almond white, or the warm white? And then… what grout do you pair with it? Contrasting? Matching? If you go with contrasting, HOW contrasting? Grey? Brown? Greige? Charcoal? Black?! And if you go with matching, HOW matching? The exact same white, or a white that would tie into your countertops, except you have yet to pick your countertops. You also have to pick the orientation of the tile. Is it a horizontal 50 bricklay? Or staggered? Or is it a straight stack? Vertical bricklay? Oh, vertical straight stack, got it. What size of grout lines do you want?
Let’s remember, we are just talking about ONE tile selection, ONE grout selection, with ONE orientation, and you have a whole house to do!
Now I can sense someone is still rolling their eyes… so let’s do one more:
Scenario 3:
You’ve moved passed your mom’s passive aggressive comments, you’ve silenced your sister and friends opinion, you’ve made all your selections and told them to your builder. They start to install… and it isn’t looking how you imagined it would! The white tile was the wrong white, the grout is too brown, the grout lines are too thick, the hardwood looks pink, the countertops are too grey… and you don’t understand. Everything looked fine on its own, and I believe you that it did! You made good choices, but you didn’t make good choices that balance and benefit each other, and now the space hasn’t come together like you had imagined and you’re devastated. Either you have to pay the builder to change some of the items, or you just have to live with the decisions and always wonder if it could have looked better.
Here are my top 3 personal biggest pet peeves when it comes to custom home builds:
All the metal finishes are the same colour
The client likes black hardware, so now everything is black. From the hardware on the cabinets, to all the light fixtures, to the door knobs/hinges, plumbing fixtures, anything metal is now automatically black. This doesn’t feel custom, yet you’ve built a custom home. News flash: you can mix and match metals, it just takes some finesse and style.
Light packages: you have the same light series throughout the entire house.
The client goes to a light store, is immediately overwhelmed, so decides to just do the same series throughout the whole house. Lights are such a fabulous way to enhance and elevate the design in a house, but it’s frightening how many selections there are, so the majority just opt to do the same series throughout and hope for the best. This is such a missed opportunity!
Your backsplash in the kitchen is the same as the tile in the bathrooms… and all your bathrooms match!
You DO NOT have to match your finishes. You can create a cohesive design in your space without doing matchy-matchy throughout.
At the end of the day, there is A LOT to pick and choose, and so many homeowners become so overwhelmed that they make decisions like using ALL black hardware, the same light package throughout, and doing the same tile everywhere. This isn’t the fault of the client, but it is a missed opportunity to design and create a beautiful home that is custom to you and your family.
In conclusion, hiring a designer to assist you wth your selections will not only ensure you have an incredibly beautiful home at the end of the build, but it will also save you stress, time, and possibly your relationship/marriage. (No husband likes to hear “but which white should we do, Dear?).
Designed & Renovated by Marianne Elizabeth Design
To the builder:
Insisting your clients work with a designer saves you time, stress, and often money! Imagine delegating every design decision to someone who is passionate about every design decision. I KNOW you love building homes, and I love designing them, so teaming up seems to be a no-brainer. It’s a partnership that enhances your client’s experience, plus ensures that the final result of your beautiful workmanship is highlighted to its maximum as a designer has made the home selections, not an overwhelmed homeowner. This alone opens opportunities for magazine worthy-award-winning homes. Your portfolio will look it’s best, your clients will be more relaxed, and you’ll save yourself a whole lot of work.