When we’re shopping with a client, many questions come up. Clients have certain expectations, and most of them, especially once they dive into the process, have some concerns about whether they are choosing the right items, the right finishes, and so on.
Because it can be a complex undertaking, and certainly, from our standpoint, it’s important to know the person we’re shopping for. The better we know you and what you are trying to accomplish with your remodel, the better we will be able to steer you towards the items that are going to make you most happy.
Start With The Cabinets
In any joint venture, we need to start somewhere. If the client doesn’t know what they want or doesn’t have a preference at the outset, we usually begin with cabinets. We’ll look at whether there is a preference for stained or painted, dark or light, simple or traditional, and just narrow it down from there. Essentially, it’s a process of elimination.
Once we’ve accomplished this, we have something solid to work with, and can start looking at countertops, flooring and backsplashes – these are the items that can be overwhelming if you don’t have someplace to start.
Generally speaking, though, we always try to find out as much as possible about your likes and dislikes before we get started. That way, we can eliminate a lot of choices before we even begin shopping. The more we can narrow it down, the fewer choices you’ll have to make for the rest of the items.
How Much Time Does It Take?
In normal circumstances, the shopping will take place over an afternoon. Of course, every job is different; for instance, if it is a whole house we’re doing, rather than just a kitchen or a bathroom, it may take a little longer.
We may find everything you love in one showroom, but we may visit several before we nail it down.
The trouble with having too many choices is that sometimes, you’ll forget what you chose. Beautiful things can be very distracting. That’s where we come in – we keep things organized so that you can relax and focus on choosing things you love. That’s why we have an itinerary.
The Itinerary
Before we dive in, we print out a decorator sheet, which is basically a shopping list of all the things we need to cover. Then, we work our way down the list and make a note of everything we choose.
Since we’ll potentially be at several showrooms, we will have appointments, which keeps us on track and forces us to move things along, making decisions as we go. We will always have plenty of time to look at everything we need to cover, but it’s when we allow too much time – that’s when things often start to slide, and nothing ends up getting picked.
What If We Don’t Find What We’re Looking For?
Occasionally, we’ll run into a situation where we don’t find exactly what you’re looking for. In that situation, we’ll put our trust in the vendors and ask them to help. We’ll describe what we’re after and, since they know more than we do about the product, they can often find it or even have it made – which is especially helpful with tile and flooring.
There are so many choices for these types of items. Because of this, there is just no way for any supplier, no matter how big they are, to have it all available to see and touch. In most cases, however, they probably know where to get it.
Not Everything You’ve Seen On Pinterest Is Possible – or Practical!
Things may look great in pictures, but having to live with these items isn’t always practical.
In most cases, you’ve probably been dreaming about what your remodel is going to look like before you even call us. But, if the item isn’t available anymore, if it doesn’t fit with your budget or isn’t appropriate for your home, we might not be able to deliver on that very specific vision. We understand the desire for things to be a certain way, but you need to be flexible and open to looking at other things.
Take marble countertops, for instance. Your fingernail can scratch a marble countertop, so imagine what your heavy stock pot or your knives are going to do to it. The truth is—and we’ll always tell you the truth—unless you have no children, no friends, and don’t cook in your kitchen, you’ll be replacing that marble in three years. We might instead suggest a quartz that looks a whole lot like it and will hold up much better over time.
Ultimately, we are 100 percent focused on helping you choose items that will give you a result you’re going to love. That’s always our goal, right from the start.
Are you getting ready to remodel your St. Louis home? We’d love to help! Drop us a line today, and let’s start the conversation.
