Remodeling your home is an exciting journey! Whether you’re renovating your kitchen or bathroom or both, you have a long yet worthwhile road ahead of you. The best first step toward a newly renovated space is to start with an expert design consultation. A design consultation helps you get a good understanding of what’s possible for both your space and your investment. Here’s everything you should bring to a design consultation.
Know Your Wants, Needs, and Desires
Designers are definitely good at what they do, but they’re not mind-readers. So before you come to your design consultation, plan out your wants, needs, and desires for your renovated space. An excellent way to start this is by looking at ideas on Pinterest or HGTV for design inspiration. Here’s how to know what to consider a “need,” a “want,” and a “desire.”
Needs
Your needs are what your design isn’t complete without. What some clients consider a necessity, others consider a want. Think carefully as you pursue this category. These list items will be unique to you, your space, and your preferences. An excellent example of a general need is the type of countertop you want in your space. Some homeowners are adamant about granite countertops, while others are fine with laminate materials. Some are willing to have soapstone, while others need ceramic tile.
Wants
Like needs, wants are unique to you. Your wants are what you would like to incorporate into your design. These are the elements you really want but do not technically need. For example, maybe you need a deep, farmhouse-style kitchen sink. On the other hand, perhaps you aren’t that concerned about the depth or width of your kitchen sink, as long as it pulls the rest of the design together. Carefully weigh your wants against your needs so your designer can create the best blueprint possible for you.
Desires
Desires are perhaps the most straightforward category to determine. These are the dream designs you would absolutely have if your investment allows. After putting your needs and wants together, you might be afraid you have nothing leftover to budget for the desires category. However, it’s a good practice to write out a list of desires since you never know what may happen. There might be room in your investment after all for one or two dream elements!
Measurements or Blueprints
The next thing to bring to your design consultation is your space’s measurements. Blueprints of the area are ideal if you happen to have them. The measurements of your space help your designer better understand your current layout as they evaluate your dream design.
Pro tip: Pictures of your current space are also beneficial! The more information your designer has to go off of during your design consultation, the better. Don’t worry about it being cluttered or perfectly clean – it just helps to get an idea of what we are working with.
Samples
Finally, bringing in samples of elements you like, such as flooring, paint chips, or fabric, can be extremely helpful. For example, perhaps you’ve fallen in love with a particular flooring design that you absolutely have to have in your new space. By bringing in a sample, your designer may be able to find either the same design or a similar one that allows for more room in your investment for other things, like your desired elements.
One reason samples of fabrics and paint chips are so helpful is that designs are relative. So you’ve got to get specific when designing. For example, the color “blue” could mean so many different things. Royal blue? Baby blue? Turquoise? Periwinkle? A concrete example of what colors and fabrics mean to you will help the design consultation process go much smoother!
Ready for a Design Consultation?
The more elements you can bring to your design consultation, the better. But the most important thing to consider is how you want your new space to look and feel. Having this information will help your designer make it possible for you to have the renovated space you’ve always dreamed of.
But, if you don’t have all these, that’s okay too! We are here to help if you are stuck on your needs, wants, and desires. Contact the design experts at Friel Kitchen & Bath Design to get started on your dream renovation.
