Why this humble blog?

The list is very brief at this point in time, but my head is full of ideas; my little flat, the barely scratched surface of which was recently presented, is also overflowing to the brim with jobs half started.

I walk from room to room and future visions compete with each other. I have something very tangible to focus on, but I want to do it really right, and if I can avoid the trial and error method (I cannot, at this point in time), wouldn't that be great?

One of my favorite thoughts is that there is no good wind for a ship without destination. Some attribute it to Seneca; I heard it from a beloved French professor who taught me book-keeping. So, as a tribute to him, a very trim list of reasons, my personal whys, my multiple destinations:

- Log my progress on my apartment's works and design evolution

- Have a soundboard for ideas – because I am not yet there where I know how good in reality will be something which is good on paper?

- Learn, learn, learn – interior design, DIY and blogging rolled into one

- Discuss ideas which I may not necessarily believe in yet – concepts and methods I find in books, on TV shows and elsewhere. This is important, because sometimes it is necessary to play with some method, or process, before it is put in practice. Important thing is to reveal the benefits/downsides and if this will make me a guinea pig, why not?

- Hoping to connect to people facing that precise challenge exactly now, or planning to do so later

- Share experience good and bad, for future reference. Even if success is certain, why not describe the path, and let people decide for themselves if it is worth the efforts?

- Be creative – work my right brain, meditate my free hours, explore the visual beyond immediate application.

And of course, a list of destinations is not a route. There most certainly is a rational way to go about it, but for the time being I am enjoying the journey.

Next post therefore will be about studying, and eventually learning. Something.

I sincerely hope that this is going to be first and last post with no illustrations.

Before, after and encore

May I share my after photographs? Here they are – from nearly an year ago! I finished painting late in November, was out of myself with joy, and then went away, came back, and was not that happy with what I saw. The version hereunder is the one past correction/ The topic however is how likely we are to know the outcome in advance?

 

A successful design story is when we see a space and we know what it really needs, and then a design is considered and produced, and the place comes to life exactly as planned. So, it is the moment for before and after photographs, and for hefty comparisons to the original design … except that it doesn’t work quite like that. Or at least not for beginner designers. For a start, it is so hard to know what is going to happen exactly… like in my mauve kitchen I knew for a fact that a lighter colour, will bring more light, and space, and that the edges would be smooth and soft.

In the same time I ignored:

•         My pinkish window frames, clean of mauve paint, but pinkish nonetheless, would stand out… in the sense of not clean, unfinished piece of joinery
•    The tiling above the sink and cooking range will no longer be a contrast colour, but complementary. What is worse – a complementary, dirty looking colour, with very uneven joints..
•       Etc. no need to give a full description to the disaster.

The moral from the story is, that while for a beginner before/after photographs tend to encourage a lot. And when 80% of what we expect comes true, it is a very good reason to rejoice. But in the same time, it will take a lot of practice, rough experience, experimenting, until 100 % designed project is a 100 % reality. So, for as long as one is not launched professionally, and still on the learning curve – I’d rather call them before, after and encore pictures.

The last one means that the after photographs are “work in progress” – just be happy about what is achieved, take a bow, and consider encore. Especially since the experience may provide the sadly missed big picture ideas. And especially since experience is never lost – ideally the more is practiced, the fewer “encore” ideas there will be.

But for the time being, my “after” photographs only mean – phase one complete, start designing phase two, now that you have a better idea where the original suggestions are taking you!

Or as some wise people said – let the room grow on you.

Now, with respect to other rooms (more important, less important) I have a strategy devised, and this will be presented in a next blog.

In the meantime, have you noticed:

·      My photographs are not professional – nevertheless. I need to document what is happening and there is no more objective way? Or is there?

·      The encore list is part of a site survey – have you tried to do so yourselves? To what result? What do you find important in a site survey?

·      What matters more: skill or vision?

These are just a few of my questions about becoming a professional designer. And a blogger? Don't know which one is less successful right now ...

How I scratched the surface

My moving into my apartment was only the apogee of a very stressful time in life. Acquiring my apartment was in itself the most stressful thing I’ve ever done, so much as when I was finally there it took me months to unpack the kitchen utensils  alone. And it took me years to fix some basic utility problems, such as hot water … And as it is meant to be in life, wounds heal, and one day I woke up and didn’t really like what I saw, and that is when I started scratching the surface, without a definitive plan, or direction, or deadline on my mind.

The surface I scratched – the very first thing – the kitchen joinery was dirty with the dark mauve paint, used all over the kitchen to hide God knows what. In fact, it is a rather dark kitchen – situated on the second floor of a six story building, and with solid walls on both sides, it is like pitched inside a stairwell. The sun only shines for 15 minutes every day, sometime in the morning, but the specific hour depends on the season.

In other circumstances, this could have been a successful combination – dark succulent mauve walls and gentle pale yellow cabinets – off-white or “blanc cassé” as it is known in French. The craftsmanship however leaves one without a doubt that this had been a cover up job – the paint goes over the board on the window frame, and also on the ceiling.

 

My first action is on the window frames – I buy degreaser and start working on it regularly, in fact until my rags soak up too much of the degreaser and risk to leave even bigger marks on the window frame. So, the task stretches, day in and day out, the quality is variable, but some progress on the frame can be noted.

 

Inspired by the success of the operation, I already see expansion opportunities. In the same space – the ceiling needs cleaning; in the neighboring space – living room door frame is covered in the most despicable gray, and now that I had my maiden use of DIY chemicals, I am up for the next important intervention – I will strip the paint off the door frame, all the way down to the original wood.

 

So, the surface scratching did not produce the results I had expected – the window in the kitchen instead of snow white, ended up in some pinky glow. The ceiling marks needed more than manual sanding. The stripped door frame wouldn’t be complete without sanding either.

But once it was all started – the imagination could stretch and conceive different views, and that was a good, positive thing! It started in fact an invisible domino effect which I am still living through. It proves that one difficult thing to do is beginning, and from then on – it is just putting one foot in front of the other, until the final destination is reached.

Hard to believe I started more than a year ago, and only today was busy with applying the new layer of varnish on the doorframe.

I call it before, after and encore - and more about it in the next post!

In the meantime - let me know if you scratched a surface and what was it like? How far did it take you? Are you still on the way, do you know where you want to go?

And, happy scratching, of course:)