Matters of Taste

Irwin Weiner - Many years ago, I was walking through the Kips Bay Decorator Show House in New York with a group of design colleagues. We were doing our annual stroll through this famous show house, trying to convince ourselves that this was America's interior design equivalent of Paris Fashion Week.

We simultaneously admired and bashed the work (and designers), and that was the most fun of the day. The pinnacle for us was the room with the colors that matched the M&M's. A designer had purchased packs of M&Ms and selected the colors that mirrored the decor. Of course stores now sell M&Ms and other candies in rainbow hues, but back then it was quite unusual.

The M&Ms had our group divided right down the middle. Some thought it whimsical, coordinated, and detailed. Others thought it was tacky and over-decorated. For the record, I was a member of the latter group. I thought it was totally tasteless.

Interior design and "home style" is a relatively new and expanding industry in the United States. In the last few years, the housing and Internet booms have made home design accessible to a broader audience. Home makeover television shows, Internet marketing, cheap imported furniture at big box stores, and now-hard-to-get home improvement loans brought decorating smack into the epicenter of the average American home.

That's good and bad news. The good: more people are aware of interior design. The bad: the quality is largely atrocious. Many have embraced the Do It Yourself trend, and most of what I see people doing for themselves should end up anywhere but in someone's home.

Interior design is like a new toy. Most people can't get enough of it, they love to keep playing with it, and they don't have much experience with it.

Now add people with money to professionally decorate to this trend. They, like the masses, can't get enough of interior design (the new toy), they love to keep playing with it, and they don't have much experience with it. Remember this formula: People With Lots Of Money [Do Not Necessarily, and Quite Rarely, Equal] People With Good Design Taste. If Donald Trump was my decorator, he'd be fired.

Compounding bad taste is the wrong-headed notion that any high-end design purchase has to be the "right choice." Why must clients have certainty that something is right, absolute, and It? Part of the reason is that they have no experience or knowledge about what is good and bad design to begin with. They don't have the right tools to Do It Themselves or have confidence in their choices. That makes it difficult for them to weed out the many, many bad possibilities from the few good possibilities available.

One client drove me so crazy not being able to make up her mind about a purchase, that I asked her how she chose a husband. She answered, "There was much less choice." Most of my clients can relate to this.

Changing design styles also compound the choice problem for clients. Twenty-five years ago, styles were quite contemporary; ten years ago, they were more traditional; now we're swinging back to contemporary.

Seasons are also confusing for clients. Commercial furniture stores show cotton-covered upholstery with light and airy patterns in the summer and fall colors in the autumn. It always amazes me how difficult it is to sell a heavyweight fabric to a client in summer.

But back to the "right choice" topic. It doesn't just apply to a single purchase, but extends to the entire decorating project. There is no one "correct look" or a "right way" to design a home project. If there did exist such a thing, there would be only one interior design magazine and it would feature only one house.

Imagine if you had unlimited financial resources. It might be ideal to buy everything you ever dreamed of to complete your interior -- right down to the color-coordinated candy bits. But then again, even if you worked with the most expensive and amazing interior designer, would you have a good interior when you were done?

For me, a "good interior" gives me the same goosebumps I get when listening to a great piece of music, seeing a wonderful film, admiring a beautiful painting, or gazing out at gorgeous natural scenery. I've spent many years trying to analyze what I could create that might evoke the goosebumps, show good taste, and be worthy of the mantle "good design." I can totally recommend that you pick up a copy of The World of Interiors magazaine, a British shelter piece that gives me goosebumps each time I study its pages. I love it, and it can give you much inspiration for your high-end design projects.

Color-coordinated candies will not lead you to good taste or good design. Instead, consider this advice:

1. Go for unusual architectural elements. I love spaces with good bones. High ceilings, big windows, sweeping staircases work well for me. Fussy architectural elements like moldings and columns are not as important and are generally applied ornament.

2. Focus on the essence of the space, clearly defined. I think that most times if you have a space that is large in scale to work with, then the rest is easy.

3. Fill your space, but do so wisely. Fill rooms with whatever you like, but try to always keep things unusual and unique. Look at elements for what they are -- for their shape, color, and design -- and not for their context. It doesn't matter if what you buy is dated, inexpensive, or priceless. It's only important if it's incredibly interesting.

4. Grow and evolve your interior. I don't see myself as a "collector." I am an "accumulator." You should be too. Continue to accumulate the elements that fill each of your rooms, then carefully curate (weed out the unwanted, add the wanted). Always be looking and learning. It helps if you have a great decorator at your side to help you learn, too. Find one with great experience, a good sense of humor, a breadth of knowledge, and good taste -- and then trust her or him to do a great job for you.

Remember that it takes a lifetime to decorate. The process should never stop. You're living in a breathing, growing, changing environment, not a museum. It will never be completed, you'll always run into unique pieces to add to your accumulations, and you'll learn to live in an evolving state of design.

My wish for you is that you enjoy the journey, and fall in love with your space.

And I also wish you goosebumps.

What do you think "good taste" means? If someone's not born with it, do you think they can acquire it? Thank you for your post . . . .

Photo Credits: My M&MS, The World of Interiors.

The FUD Factor

Irwin Weiner -- Sometimes I catch myself following in my late father's footsteps. Usually in airports, I indulge in his old habit of purchasing the odd business how-to manual. In one of my favorites, What Clients Love, author Harry Beckwith talks about the FUD Factor. FUD = Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt. He describes a problem facing potential customers as a combination of these three dark horsemen. Oftentimes in my interior design business, I think I'm dealing with a bunch of FUDaholics.

Historically, European monarchs were happy to spend money on decorating to the point of entire countries going into debt. Louis XIV, the most powerful 17th Century monarch, was never shy about spending design money. The results of his decorating sprees changed the appearance of France. It is now one of the most stylish spots in the world. The French are not genetically more stylish than Americans. They've just been surrounded by good taste and high-end, luxurious decorating elements for centuries. It's rubbed off on the masses.

My fantasy is that we should all live in perfect environments. All the world would be your stage, and it should be gorgeous. The ultimate compliment I've been given is when one of my clients had a facelift close to the end of our project. "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille," she told me. She wanted a beautiful new face to go with her beautiful new surroundings.

I'm egocentric enough to believe that a gorgeous interior will change your life and make you a happier person. But then the FUD Factor hits full on. How do I get my clients to see that I'm right about their decorating direction, that they should relax and trust me more, and that their FUD should evaporate?

Oftentimes I'm in a prospective client interview being told of the difficulties that person has had with the designers they have hired in the past. One prospect had prepared for our initial interview by having fabric samples taped on the walls of her living room. She wanted to hear my opinion regarding the samples she had selected, to see "if you have good taste or not."

Let's just say that these were FUDaholics that I didn't want to turn around. I left these interviews faster than you could say decorate shmecorate.

High-end interior design projects should be enjoyable for both the client and the designer. There are stressful times and difficult moments, to be sure. But like shopping for a new wardrobe, decorating should be mainly fun, enjoyable, and creative for everyone involved. My most difficult jobs usually involve clients unsure of their taste, distrustful of designers, and overly anxious about the end result.

We are all aware of clients who get ripped off by their designers, professionals who won't return client phone calls, so-called professionals who are not well educated in their craft, and others who are not caring and attentive about their work. They only increase the FUD Factor for all homeowners, and I can relate to that. As a professional who wants your high-end decorating experiences to only be smooth sailing, here are a few of my favorite tips to lessen the FUD Factor:

Try to be less uptight and more relaxed about the process of hiring a professional interior designer and decorating your home. That's easier said than done, but here's my sound logic. Family squabbles and fights can drag on for years and years. Sometimes they will never end. These problems should make you uptight! Decorating, however, is a project or series of projects with a distinct beginning, middle, and end.

One retired decorator once lamented to me that he left the business because his clients drove him crazy. "It's decorating, not brain surgery!"

My older, experienced clients are more laid back about their projects. They've seen that tension-causing phases of their project soon ease up and wonderful results can be achieved. Many younger clients often get hysterical -- and this is no exaggeration. They have to choose every last detail and micromanage their projects. They are making their lives and their decorators' lives a fresh hell. Shortly before firing a client (yes, decorators often fire clients; meditate on that for a moment), I once asked the wife if she put as much thought and stress into choosing her husband.

Pace yourself during your design project. That is the key to overcoming FUD. High-end decorating is not like buying a luxury car. In buying an auto, you choose finishes and luxury details that come prepared from the factory. But your home design project is handmade, customized to your requirements, filled with many complicated variables, and does not come rolling off a factory conveyor belt. This means your project will take more time and more money. There will be mistakes, yes. But a designer with a good reputation and talent will come through for you.

Part of pacing yourself is to embrace the Zen of When. It's better to stop screaming, "When will my table be shipped?" or "When will my pictures be hung?" The Zen of When takes over when you embrace the truth that in the end, it will be worth all the time and inconvenience. Many uncomfortable situations are simply not in your power or in your designer's power to control.

Research, research, research. Do you have fear, uncertainty, and doubt about hiring a decorator? Push aside the FUD Factor and do your homework. Now that school is again in session, take a cue from your children and hit the books. Many designers will tell you that most of their clients did not come to them from their published interiors or through advertising. They get the bulk of their new clients from word of mouth. A beautiful interior in a magazine will not tell you one iota of the business practices, acumen, or fairness of a designer. Your friends' honest opinions will reveal much more about who you should hire based on their experiences.

If you don't know of someone whose opinion you can trust, or if you find someone telling you that their decorator is too suspiciously good to be true, ask them a simple question. "If you could change one thing about your designer, what would that be?" Eventually, you will get to some honesty, which can help you select a professional you can trust, or help you manage your expectations upfront. A well-used resource like the Franklin Report will also give you the opinions of clients who have used recommended interior designers.

My closing remark is upbeat, dear reader. It's time to tell Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt to FUD off.

Do you have a decorating success story you would like to share? How about decorating disasters? Thank you for your post . . . .

Image credit: BrazilBrazil.com, entitled Doubt.