Even a carefully composed interior space like this one can be designed from a distance. (Photo by … [+]
NurPhoto via Getty Images
If there’s one profession that can’t be done at a distance, you may think, it is interior design. And you might be wrong.
“For me, not much has changed since we’ve been told to socially distance,” says Dane Austin, an interior designer whose office is in downtown Boston. “So much of what we do is digital: I can do 90% of the work from our computers.”
He points out that, for many years, presentations for clients have been done via PDF files, not with posterboard festooned with fabric swatches and paint samples. As for the groundwork of measuring and assessing a space, he says, “A lot can be garnered from floor plans and photographs.”
Jill Litner Kaplan’s design firm is located in West Newton, Massachusetts, but her projects range all over the map. She has worked remotely for years.
“Every time we start a new project, the ideal situation is that I take the project manager and design assistant to meet with the client, to build trust and to establish a relationship. We document the space, taking measurements and pictures.”
However, when a client’s home is in Saudi Arabia, for example, and time is tight, the relationship and the trust are established by way of facetime, messaging, texting, email and telephone.
“In the absence of an in-person walk-through, we ask prospective clients to document a space,” Kaplan says. “They may not know how to measure accurately, so we teach them, step by step. We tell them to walk around with their cell phone cameras and we tell them what to photograph. It takes a client willing to do that, but, although it’s very challenging to design a space without ever being in it, it can be done.”
She points out the importance of asking endless questions.
“Do they have dogs? Do the dogs get up on sofas? Are there adults with physical limitations? Babies? Teenagers who need space?
“And,” she adds, “It is very important to get a sense of the style and the spirit of the whole house, even if we are only designing one small area. As you walk from room to room, you never want to feel as though you’re going from one zip code to another. Each project needs to be synched with the rest of the house.”
“Our ‘new normal’ is actually a much-needed reset,” Austin says. “This is when we realize how much we need our homes, and how important it is for them to work for us in the way that suits us best. Now is a great time to rethink the formal living or dining room that you rarely use and turn it into your home office, yoga studio, game room, or whatever really works for you.”
“With everyone forced to work at home,” Kaplan agrees, “If there ever was a time to think about what home means, it is now.”
But, as she and Austin point out, it can be done at a distance.
“We have had big projects where we never met with the client, where we shipped fabric samples in the mail, where even the big reveal was done on facetime,” Austin says. “One of the benefits of this profession is that we can help people from afar.”