- Timing: At What Point Should a Designer
Join Your Planning Team?
For the best results, involve Gary from the very beginning. Gary's insights bring the special touches that add years of pleasure when he can collaborate with the entire team that will build or remodel your home or office, Early interior designer involvement ensures that the 'space created' fits your lifestyle, perfectly.
- Choosing the Designer: What You Will
Want to Know
Gary's credentials as a professional Interior Designer ensure the quality of your design project down to the smallest detail. Gary is a 30 year certified member of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID). ASID certifies that designers meet the highest professional standards in the field, including accredited interior design education, years of proven experience, and passing a rigorous examination. Gary's ASID designation is your absolute assurance of a certified interior design professional.
As with any potential working relationship, you will want to assess Gary's credentials and evaluate the 'chemistry' for your working partnership. To do so, consider these points:
" Verify Gary's education, experience, and references.
" See his portfolio and ask questions about his work.
" Confirm the scope of Gary Hixon Interiors, Inc.(GHI) services.
" Confirm that he and his staff will be available when you're ready to begin.
" Assess the 'compatibility quotient' between Gary and you.
" Discuss your budget openly.
" Discuss compensation.
- Understand the Way You Live: The
Interview
To create an environment that restores you each day, Gary must understand how you spend your time - publicly and privately. Do you host elegant dinners for 60 or linger over intimate dinners for six? Are you a gourmet cook, an orchid grower, or a music lover? Would you rather spend your day reading a good novel or hiking in the mountains? Is your desk swept clean of paperwork or stacked high? "Don't clean your house for me," laughs Gary. "I need to know how you live."
To find out how you really live at home or office, Gary does a comprehensive interview. "My job is not to judge how you live or to change what you like to do; my job is to develop spaces in your home or office that capitalize on your unique qualities," offers Gary. "My goal is always to work with you to create a place with pizzazz, something a little gutsy, something that friends and strangers will respond to, something that is fun to be in."
Your honest, open answers provide the essential chemistry for Gary's distinctive brand of creativity - whether he is designing a new home, an office, or a remodeling project.
- Signing a Letter of Agreement
Once you've decided that GHI is the right design studio for you, we'll put your agreement in writing. This agreement outlines the services that we will provide, the schedules and approval processes, and the method and amount of compensation.
- Your Design Plans
Gary will present you the preliminary design for your new space for discussion, and the process begins. In subsequent meetings, Gary shows you more refined drawings; color and fabric samples; lighting options, floor, window, and wall treatments; as well as furniture suggestions.
- Maintaining the Project - with efficiency and
fun
To ensure that your project proceeds on schedule and remains cost efficient, Gary's skills are complemented with a capable staff. All of your requirements - that Italian tile for the master bath, those built-in bookshelves for the study, the Kilim rug for the dining room, as well as blueprints and the master schedule for all of the contractors and subcontractors - are organized and computerized for accuracy and consistency.
"You specify your choices and priorities, and we do the rest - maximizing
your design, finding, ordering, and coordinating installation of everything
from light switches to fabrics, furnishings, cabinetry, and more," explains
Gary. Gary's experienced staff coordinates the maze of schedules,
subcontractors, and craftspeople this effort
requires.