Being an interior designer in Nashville, TN is like living a dream. Yet, just like dreams sometimes leave you groggy and in a funk that you can’t shake, being in a creative profession can at times make me feel like I I ate my pillow and it went straight to my brain.
When I’m in a creative funk or when things just aren’t going right — like clients aren’t trusting the process or the subcontractors are dragging their feet or, God forbid, the clients aren’t happy with the finished design —I have to go back to my core values. I have to remember who I am as a designer and what I am about.
Remembering these four basics helps get the stuffing out of my head and back to doing what I love. I will:
Focus on the work. If things aren’t clicking with a client, my sensitive nature goes into panic mode. Of course, my narcissism keeps me grounded and saves me from despairing thoughts that many artists feel. (“I’m not good enough,” “nobody likes me,” etc. etc. Nonsense.) Admittedly though, I might nurture the thought that no one understands me. The only thing that gets me out of listening to my inner critic is by focusing on the task at hand. I love what I do and when I direct my energy to the work of design, my juices start to flow once again.
Choose clients who value what I do. Nothing is worse than trying to convince a client to trust you while standing in a room with nothing but drywall and little evidence that a wall used to exist right where you are standing. If a potential client doesn’t trust me at the get go, I should just plan on lots of glitches along the way.
Don’t second guess my gut. When knee deep in and clients who start to get cold feet, it might be easy to listen to their fears and not take the risks that got us here in the first place. But, what I’ve learned over years of designing is that I am the expert. I am the one that knows what I am doing. Instilling confidence in my clients by not second guessing myself is a win-win for all parties involved.
My hero, Charles Faudree.
Look for inspiration from my mentors. If cloudy brain is keeping me from really connecting with my work or I’m having trouble finding my inspiration, I look to the design gods. I go back to the interior designers who I aspire to be like. Nothing gets me back on track like a swig of Charles Faudree followed by a shot of a little blue and white chinoiserie.
My design manifesto was brought to you complements of moi and a little thing I like to call #RedemptiveDesign.