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Our Design Process & Philosophy
At Decor by Denise we specialize in full-service
interior design projects of all sizes-from one bedroom condominiums to 30,000 square foot homes  and even larger office spaces. We offer a comprehensive suite of design services starting with space planning and color
palette development, through fabric selection, window treatment design, furniture and furnishing selection to accessory selection
and placement. We also offer kitchen and bath remodeling services as well as custom built-in and furniture design as
part of our full service offering. As your interior decorating partner, we pay attention to every detail to get the job done right the
first time—saving you time, money and peace-of-mind throughout the transformation process. Our goal is not only to help you realize your vision for your home or office, but also
to make the interior design process as easy and stress-free as possible. To meet this objective, we have spent years perfecting
our interior design methodology which starts with the creation of a "design road-map." Much like a traveler
maps out his or her course before embarking on a new destination, our road-map acts as our compass in guiding each and every
home and office decorating decision as we work through the design process. By breaking down the process in this way,
we are able to tackle each design element as discrete tasks, addressing them one layer at a time. With each successive layer
of the design, we use our road-map to guide us until we have built a complete interior design solution, tailored specifically
to your requirements. By working in this way, we eliminate much of the stress homeowners and businesses alike endure
when they embark on an interior design project on their own. We provide our clients with a clear idea up-front of the
process flow, the tasks to be completed and the deliverables as each stage—thereby making the creative process more
palatable even to clients who are predominantly more business-oriented.
 We used to work like they do on HGTV where we would meet with you, capture all the details and then go off for a month to return
with a beautiful storyboard that details every aspect of the design plan we had created you. This concept
works great on TV where the homeowner isn't paying the designer for their services, but in the real world this approach is
simply unrealistic. On TV the homeowners have no choice; they relinquish control and just have to have blind faith that
it will all turnout as they had hoped. But, in the "real world" when a client is paying for your services and
they have never worked with you before, it is a recipe for failure to assume that you will, after meeting with the client
for just a few hours, be able to go off and create a room in its totality that they will absolutely love. Inevitably
there will be some element that they will not like and rework will have to be completed.
My method is based on the premise that I have to earn my client's trust versus just assuming
that when they sign the contract they sign over their project to me carte blanche. The process I developed
and have worked with now for over eight years is designed to gain my clients' buy-in at each phase so
that at the end of the project they are delighted and absolutely love (not like) the results!
Having come from a very process driven
world prior to launching Decor by Denise, I have broken down the design process into discrete steps with clearly defined
deliverables, addressing each phase in a logical manner, tackling the foundational elements up-front and building upon
this foundation in a step-by-step fashion. At each phase there are clearly defined checkpoints with my clients so
as to get there approval before moving on to the next step. By working in this way, I am able to take a creative
process that sometimes is viewed as esoteric by many and make it more palatable to our clients who are predominantly
more business-minded and logical.
To better understand our tried-and-true process, we have
included below the high-level steps we follow when embarking on a new design project. These steps are addressed sequentially for
the most part by our team, but we often incorporate some elements of the detailed design in the conceptual design review
so as to help you begin to see how our vision for your new space will "come to life." Initial Consultation. We require an in-person
consultation for all new full service interior design projects. This is where we want to learn all about you—your
desires, your likes, your dislikes, your goals, your priorities, your lifestyle (kids, dogs, travel all the time, etc.), your
budget and timeframe. We also like to meet in-person to learn more about you personally so that we can determine
how best to work with you should you decide to hire us. Some of our clients are more literal and less visual, some have
trouble making decisions, some husbands and wives have two very different styles, etc. This information helps us
assess the most appropriate way to work with you going forward and factors into our estimate of how much time it will take
to get the job done. This is also an opportunity for you to assess whether our approach, philosophy and personal style
are a good fit for your preferences. After meeting with you, we will provide you with a detailed proposal that will
outline all the services we believe you need to achieve the results you desire as well as an estimated cost to complete the
project.
Requirements Analysis & Capture.
Once we agree on the terms of the proposal, we will schedule a time to meet in your home or
office space to capture all the detailed requirements, measurements and photos we need to start the creative process. This
meeting usually occurs within one week of contract acceptance.
Conceptual Design. After capturing all the detailed information in your home,
 we will have space plans to share with you. Our space plans address all core spatial issues including placement and sizing
of case goods, upholstery items, TVs, lighting, rugs, focal points and addresses built-ins or cases where other remodeled
elements must be included. We will show you a few layout options, but will always recommend one approach.
We do this to provide you visibility into our process so that you can rest assured that when we recommend something that we
have done our due diligence to ensure it is the absolute best solution for your space. This also helps you build trust
in us as this is likely the first time we have worked together and is also possibly the first time you have worked
with a design professional. Building and keeping this trust is of utmost importance to us and helps you feel that you are
an integral part of the process, which you are! In addition to space plans, we share the color palette we have developed
for you during this phase. Our color palette plan will include not only wall colors, but also accent colors for
fabrics, rugs, and artwork. In addition, we bring in large swatches of the colors to test in your home. This in-home
testing is critical because architectural features, lighting, interior layout, other colors in the home, flooring, cabinetry,
the quantity of color and furniture finishes all vary the way a color looks from home to home. By testing in your home
or property before you paint, we ensure your complete satisfaction with the end-result before the first stroke of the brush.
Having a solid space plan that we all agree on and a firm color palette, we have built our foundation, our Design
Roadmap, from which all other design decisions will flow.
Detailed Design & Sourcing. This is where we build upon our Design
Roadmap to select all the additional design elements starting with any materials we need to select, furniture
and window treatment design window treatment design, fabric selection, and completing the room with accessories (rugs,
artwork and decorative items). Again, some of these items are included in our conceptual design review to help you envision
where we are going and to get your buy-in before we go "to far down the path."
Contractor Coordination & Sourcing. As
a full service firm, we work with every type of vendor to provide our client a comprehensive design solution.
From flooring to painting to tiling to general construction work (and so much more), we have a preferred vendor
we partner with to deliver the desired result. This alleviates the time and effort that would fall on the client to
find a reputable contractor to work with and it frees up their time as we coordinate among all vendors to ensure
sure things are done in the proper order to achieve the desired result.
Order Placement & Management. We sell the items we offer our clients
at a discount (in most cases), taking a small percentage for ourselves to cover the adminstrative costs involved
in placing and managing orders, addressing issues as they arise and coordinating among all vendors to ensure products
are delivered on-time. We manage every aspect of the process from the time an order is placed through to delivery.
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© Copyright Decor by Denise 2010-2012. All Rights Reserved.
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