Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 7, 1991 TAG: 9104060319
SECTION: A GUIDE TO BETTER HOMES PAGE: 6 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KIM SUNDERLAND
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Professional interior designers take a number of considerations in hand when they come into your home to create a look that's totally you, but is done according to what you can spend.
In a typical project, for example, professionals consider materials, color, furnishings, function, aesthetics, how people will interact with the space and the purpose of the space, according to Kathleen Parrott, a housing extension specialist at Virginia Tech.
"Then the professional designers will present their concepts in a model or graphic for the customers," said Parrott, who is also an associate professor in the Housing, Interior Design and Residential Management Department, where students can acquire degrees in interior design. "Whatever the customer likes, is what the customer will get."
"They must have it their way," said Betty Carlyle, co-owner of the Design Center in Blacksburg. "It's their home!"
And there are plenty of ways to redesign your home to reflect your own tastes. For instance, designers can help you with the placement of furniture, upholstering or recovering furniture, window treatments and floor coverings. Designers also work with space planning, carpeting, tiles, lighting and wall coverings.
"Most people want to start out new so they'll usually purchase a piece of furniture to start with," said Maureen Thomas, an owner - along with her husband, J.C. Thomas - of Classic Interiors in Christiansburg. "It lends a particular style to work with."
Thomas, who has been in the furniture and designing business for about 12 years, said space ideas are different for everyone so it's important to get measurements at their home. Seeing a customer's home also allows the designer to see what style fits the person.
"It's important to see how they live," said Thomas.
Appropriate fabric - for use on a lounging couch or a formal 18th century piece - can usually be chosen more appropriately if the designer knows what he or she is working with.
In the New River Valley, consulting fees average $25 to $48 per hour, and many designers waive the fee if you buy from them. Also, it doesn't hurt to check around on prices, Carlyle said. If you may only need help with color schemes, remember, it can be done.
"Most people are really decisive and will usually only come in for help with their colors," said Thomas. "There's no problem with that, and we can help."
That's another thing about designers: They're very accommodating.
"Most people can be pleased with some determination," said Carlyle, who owns the Design Center with Jann Rasnick. The store has been operating at the University Mall for about six years.
"You've got to go the extra mile to see what a customer wants," Carlyle said.
And all designers have had their share of hard-to-please customers, too. Carlyle said the difficult situations are those with people who think they know what they want for their home, but end up hating it after the job is completed.
"You've just got to try to make it work for them," said Carlyle. "Others you can go to extremes with and they still aren't happy, but that's just their personalities. It's part of life."
Thomas said she, too, has worked with several difficult people.
"They want designs that, like clothing, looks like it came from a men's store when they really bought it in a department store," she said, adding that it's important to remember that quality isn't cheap.
For example, one 14-by-16-foot room that Thomas redesigned cost $11,200, which included carpeting, a sofa, three chairs, a cherrywood secretary, three cherrywood tables and mini-chest and a large gold mirror. She also chose drapery - from the rods to the sheers - two table lamps, a floor lamp, greenery, a Chinese bowl, various brass pieces and a floral arrangement.
"This was a bare room from the floor to the walls," Thomas said. "But I'm happy to work with whatever you want to keep."
by CNB