The Shoemakers Children...
Updated: Jul 19, 2019
Always go barefoot, as they say. Same can be said about an interior designer's house, or at least in our case anyway.
We were recently approached by a scout who pitches projects to big design magazines. She asked if we'd be interested in having our own homes featured and I suddenly felt a little dizzy (not in a giddy, good way). It's the same feeling I get when a client asks to see my home. It's not that either of us are ashamed of our homes. They are fine, and they work well for our brigade of children, but they are in no means photo ready. Especially for a design magazine!
The assumption is that we put as much time into our own homes as we do our client's. Hardly. And here's why...
1. We are too darn busy. Running a small design business is all consuming and if we get a free second we sure as shinola aren't going to be picking out draperies for our basement.
2. We just can't decide! Oh the irony. When it comes to a client's home we see it so clearly. We can usually picture the design after our first meeting and wouldn't ya know, our client's tend to agree! But like many of you, when it's your own home it can be impossible. Ever try giving yourself a back-rub?
3. We may need some deep analysis after this confession but here goes. We are perfectionists. When we design a room for a client every detail is carefully chosen, the this-matches-the-that and it's a complete story. When we install the room every pillow is fluffed and every picture is hung with the most accurate of levels. We fuss and fuss and fuss and when we hand it to the client we snapshot the space in our heads and it never changes. OF COURSE we know that's not true. As soon as we leave the dog chews a leg, the rug is christened and a perfect pillow becomes a pancake thanks to a jumping toddler. But we love our fantasy world where nothing changes and sprinkled throughout the mid-west there are beautiful rooms that never see a bad day. Back to our own homes... why ruin the fantasy?
Being aesthetically compulsive of course we care about our homes and we attempt to decorate them with the bits and pieces we've collected over the years. Hodgepodge would be the best description and that's OK, they are loved and lived in and don't mind taking a backseat to the rooms we create for our clients. Just do us a favor and call before you come over so we can fluff one of those pancaked pillows.
