This past weekend I was asked to sit in and give design advice at the Chicago Home & Garden lounge. It was a great day full of beautiful fall sunshine and creative design solutions. Helping people with their design dilemmas is my "not so secret guilty pleasure". Seeing the light bulb go off in their eyes when I offer up a solution is intensely satisfying. The reason why I love seeing that light go off is because I love what good design can do for people... and I love that the best design often is the most simple.Great design makes life better, period. Creating spaces where people feel comfortable, productive, excited, nourished, etc... is an important endeavor and affects people in profound ways. The best spaces can stir ones senses and memory, evoking nostalgia and home. These spaces can inspire awe, promote healing and spirituality. On very basic levels they can help us save time by being organized and efficient as well as help us be rested by being comfortable. If you have ever seen the opening of the Dick Van Dyke Show... you know that a good furniture layout is good for your health as well... albeit maybe not as funny.
So as I talk to these people looking to improve their spaces, I can't help think that I am helping them to improve their lives... to make their day brighter, their space more efficient, to make their walls more artful and interesting, to help them add color to an otherwise bland palette, to make them push themselves just a little so that their nest reflects their own style and personality... to help them feel as though they can express themselves confidently and creatively!
All of the people I met had stories about their lives and spaces, including their hopes for the future. Many had watched shows on HGTV and thought designing themselves SHOULD be easier and a few found out that it sometimes isn't. Everyone has their own issues, obsessions, defaults that sometimes are hard to overcome unless their is an objective third party. A Design professional is just THAT person. Designer's can see the simple solutions through the complex gobbledygook (yes that is the technical term) and offer creative options and alternatives that fit both the spaces and their lives of their client's.
