Stages of a project

In this serie of short posts, I am explaining what a client should expect if they choose to work with Emmanuelle Lemoine Interiors.
If you are geographically next to Anne Stuart, Anne works according to same patter also with one only aim: having a happy client.

This first part describes the first stage of a project, the first client meeting and what is needed before going back to the studio and start working on the design.

So, let's start to describe the stages of a project, or this could also be called “how do I work?”
If you hire me to help you with you design project this is what you should expect:

First meeting with potential client


It all starts with a design problem, and somebody calling me
to see if I can help. After a first phone conversation we have a first meeting,
free of charge, where the potential client and I talk about their project and
assess if we could work together. It is necessary for a potential client to
feel comfortable working with me as trust is the base of a relation between a
client end his/her interior designer.
It happens that both the potential client and I feel it will
be difficult to establish a good working relationship, and in this case I
always have another good interior design to recommend, that would suit them
better.
The important thing for me is to have happy clients only

Contract

After we have established that we are suited for each other,
the new client and I sign a contract. As a BIID Associate I follow the BIID directions
(the BIID Interior Design Job books) and use two contracts according to the
size of the project. For bigger projects I use the BIID agreement for interior
design CID11 (or for even bigger project the ID10). And of course, the fees are
explained in the contract

Taking the Brief

This meeting is the occasion to know more about the project
and the clients. It is important for me to fully understand the needs of the
clients, how they live, what they like and what they don’t like in order to
create the best scheme that will suit them perfectly.
I very often think that there should be a module in
psychology in the Interior Design school, as designing for people is so much
more than assembling colours and texture because it is about people’s life.
This is why I take it so seriously to understand my clients, their dreams and
how to help them transform their house into their beloved home.

Measured survey

This part is probably the part that requires the most
discipline and forbids you to be creative, as it aims to take and accurately
record every measure that will be used to draw an accurate plan and any needed
elevation drawings.
This can be considered as an extremely stressful task as you
are not allowed a mistake as the rest of the design work will be based on the
drawings that result from the survey. I sometimes have to indulge the paranoid
side of me and re-take some measurements just to be sure!
(In a previous project, I have measured the same wall at
least 5 times; just to make sure the ordered furniture will exactly fit in the
space… no need to say that the measurements were the same each time!)

To be continued...

Emmanuelle Lemoine