Unique Interior Design: What Do Love Hearts, The CEO of An Oil Company & His Mansion All Have In Common?
Unfortunately, not every client will come to you with simple interior design requests. Some have unique demands that require a more bespoke service. We’ve worked with such clients and developed a few methods for meeting such requests and coming up with amazing home decor ideas.
Hearts aren’t exactly an uncommon thing in interior design. A few subtle uses of this iconic shape can really add a touch of homeliness and love to any room.
But there are some people who get fixated on such simple designs. Not that this is a bad thing, of course. Interior design is all about creating things that suit the client’s tastes and interior design needs. But unique requests that revolve around such specific desires do come with their own challenges.
One such example comes from a client that we worked within the Midwest of the United States.
A Heart-Shaped Box
The head of an oil company, this client has a pure fixation on hearts. Practically everything in his life came back to this simple design, in one way or another. His desk and swimming pool both used the iconic design, but he wanted to take things even further. He wanted a special carpet that featured his favorite design heavily. Now, this was a unique interior design request!
But this wasn’t a small job. The client lived in an enormous house and wanted wall-to-wall carpets. Moreover, he wanted the colors of the hearts on the carpets to change based on where they were in the house. Blue and green were the colors of choice for the hearts nearest to the windows, whereas the classic red hearts lined the fireplace. Cognac-colored hearts were to surround the bar, for obvious reasons.
That wasn’t all though. He wanted the hearts raised up, to make them even more prominent. Furthermore, he didn’t want any sudden color changes. As you walked to different areas, he wanted the hearts to gradually shift to the colors of those areas.
We could already see that this was becoming one of the more unique jobs that we’d ever worked on. And then we got to the other rooms. For the hallways outside the bedrooms, he wanted a banded carpet that featured cross ribbons throughout. Much like with the hearts, these cross ribbons had to change color based on the room nearest to them.
Then came the powder room.
Our client referred to his wife as “ladybug”. It’s a sweet little pet name, but it became the center of the design for the powder room. The room needed a raised bathtub, with ladybug designs lining the top steps. More ribbons flowed down, which created a strangely ethereal ascent to the tub.
All very unique requests, we think you’ll agree. But the client then told us that money was no object. In fact, he was so wealthy that he maintained a private plane containing sculptures from some of the world’s leading artists. Work from Rodin, Marino Marini, and Jean Arp had all found their way onto his plane.
This was clearly a man who got what he wanted and we wanted to deliver on his exact interior design need. exactly what he asked for.
Our carpet makers got to work and we produced every carpet exactly to the client’s specifications. Our team installed them all and the house looked just how the client had asked for it too.
Unfortunately, in this case, our client’s enthusiasm for unique design had gotten the better of him. Think of it as an “eyes too large for your stomach” situation. Except this time, it related to interior design.
With his unique interior design demands met and installed, the client decided that the ensemble wasn’t for him after all. He emphasized repeatedly that we’d delivered on every single demand that he’d made. But seeing it all in place had led him to the realization that he needed something a little more refined. In the end, these carpets that we’d created especially for him got replaced with something a little more traditional.
It’s perhaps a slightly sad end to the tale, especially given the amount of work that went into the project. But, as the client said, we’d delivered exactly what he wanted. We guess the reality of his unique request didn’t quite meet the vision that he had in his head.
A Trip Through Oz
This isn’t the only time when we’ve worked on a project that required a more unique perspective. Another client called us into work on his property.
This client had taken control over a gorgeous old mansion that the previous owners had converted into apartments. A lot of work restored the building back to its original splendor, but now he needed a designer’s touch. Simply put, he needed an amazing interior decor idea!
That’s when he called us. Much like the previous client, this particular person wanted a rug to meet some fairly unique stylistic choices. You see, he was a collector of many passions. But perhaps the greatest of all of this was his love for the classic tale of The Wizard of Oz. His collection was so enormous that he had dedicated an entire room to it. Naturally, he needed a suitably-themed rug to bring it all together.
Our team went to work on an Oz-themed rug that pulled all of the classic characters together. It featured Dorothy’s house, Toto, and the witch, as well as Dorothy herself. But the tornado that starts the entire story was the true centerpiece.
This story has a happier ending than our previous one. The client loved the rug and used it to pull together his collection remarkably. We also later discovered that he had a penchant for decorating rooms in the style of his collections. He had another room dedicated to items from the Normandy. Moreover, he’d installed an Art Deco rug into the room to complement the design of the ship.
We guess that it always helps to have a theme in mind.
Our Top Tips for Unique Designs
These stories teach us that clients aren’t always going to come to you with simple ideas. In fact, they’ll often have very unique visions of what they want to achieve with their interior design projects.
We relish the challenge that such projects offer. Plus, we’ve come up with a few methods that ensure we deliver exactly what the client wants.
Unique Interior Design Tip #1: – No Judgment
This is a BIG one for interior design. You have to realize that the client has their own tastes, interior design needs, and vision for the project. Judging them for those tastes not only has a negative effect on the client, but it also means you’re not going to work on the project much longer. They’ll just find somebody more willing to work with them.
Even something as simple as a laugh at the wrong moment can irreparably damage the relationship.
Thankfully, we’re very interested whenever a client brings a unique request to us. We’re not going to judge them for what they want. Instead, we’ll try to figure out a way to bring their ideas to life. Of course, it doesn’t always work, as was the case with our Midwestern client. But it’s all about delivering the project that the client asks for. Moreover, it’s about not entering into the project with preconceived notions of the “right” way to do things.
Unique Interior Design Tip #2: – Provide Your Feedback
Having said that, we are the interior design experts. As a result, we have many years of experience under our belts. This gives us a good idea of what works, and what doesn’t when it comes to your carpets.
Respecting the client’s right to have whatever they want for their design does not mean that you can’t offer ideas. The key is to do so without telling the client that they’re wrong. No client has a “wrong” idea of what they want for their project. They may just need a little guidance in regard to how to bring it all together.
When we approach projects like those mentioned above, we put thought into what we bring to the table. The client hired us for our skills, so we must put them to use during the project. This usually involves providing alternative suggestions. The client won’t always go for them. If they have a very specific idea of what they want, they’re unlikely to change their minds. But at least we offer a few options for the client to mull over.
Unique Interior Design Tip #3: – Detailed Planning
The larger the job, the more planning and thought have to go into its execution. This is especially the case for the more unique and bespoke jobs. We’re not just dealing with the logistics of designing and installing a rug or carpet. We also have to make that rug or carpet to very exact specifications.
Planning involves constant communication with our clients. We don’t want to leave any room for errors or misunderstandings. Instead, we use the planning stage to ensure that the information we have is correct. This also gives us the chance to test out the designs and make sure the client wants to go ahead.
The planning stage also allows us to set deadlines and outline how we’ll work with the client for the duration of the project. It’s all about improving client confidence so that we can place our full focus on the work.
Unique Interior Design Tip #4: – Absorb Yourself in the Request
We don’t have expertise in the subjects behind every interior design request we take on. Take the Wizard of Oz example above. We certainly knew of the film, but that didn’t mean we had the same passion for it as our client.
However, the rug we designed had to demonstrate the same level of passion that the client had. If it didn’t, it wouldn’t have fit into a room that’s so obviously dedicated to the subject matter.
This requires a great deal of learning on our part. We find out as much as we can about the source material and the little unique pockets that can inform the design. We also try to feed off our client’s passion. Anything that they tell us can go towards achieving success with a unique project.
We love what we do. But we also try to love what you want!.
The Final Word
Working with unique interior design requests presents an interesting challenge to us. It pushes us to figure out ways to mesh our design principles with the passions of our clients. We’re happy to say that we rise to meet that challenge, more often than not.
Perhaps you have a unique idea of your own that you want to try out, but you don’t know where to start. That’s where we can help. If you want to bring your very own unique interior design ideas to life, we encourage you to do the following:
- Have a look at some of the projects we’ve worked on in the past.
- Read some of the articles in our blog to discover what we’ve learned.
- Talk to the team to get your project started today.
We look forward to taking on whatever unique ideas you have in store for us. Learn more about our outstanding Houston decorators here!