Installations: each one is unique!

When I started Storibook Designs I admit that I never really prepared myself for the level "installation" would play in the business and in my daily life for that matter. A person of vision, of ideas, quick to flow with design possibilities, I didn't always have to go the next step and think through the installation.

But in my business, installation is an integral part of the design. If I can think it, create it, then I damn well better be able to install it. .... or KNOW exactly how it will be mounted so that I bring my installers to a job prepared. As the designer, it is my responsibility to think through the installation at the time of design so I am not blindsighting my installers on the job site.

I learn something new about tools, anchors, building construction, drapery hardware, etc. with every single job. As a result, things like toggle bolts, L-brackets, wall anchors and drillbits are on my standard shopping list!

With all that I've learned the last few years, I admit that it brings a smile to my face when a customer says, "Wow, you really know your way around a toolbox". A compliment like that almost makes every physically exhausting installation worthwhile.

Design: Where do my ideas come from?

There are several questions that I seem to get asked by every single client. Aside from, "you must have amazing treatments in your home?", to which the answer is, "not really....you know the story of the cobblers son....", one of the most common is, "where do you get your ideas?". mmhhh, good question.

I definitely react to fabric IMMEDIATELY. I don't just SEE a fabric, I see a whole story when I look at it. I guess most people who are perhaps wired differently than I, just see a blue fabric. Me? I see a blue, plush slipcover on down-wrapped floppy cushions and a thick brush fringe, the pillows to go with it ......

I think I'm an observer. I think I always have been and my mind is always busy. For that reason, I can't pinpoint a specific source where my ideas come from. They just flow continuously and that is the way its always been. Fortunately, they are ideas that are appreciated and put to good use!