Picture Perfect?

Yes, interior design is about more than just what's pretty and perfect. There's also a very strong math component that TV design shows don't have the time, within their 30 minute block, to show. It's the part about design that can be boring...fabric samples are not pulled, sofas are rarely "tried on" for a best fit, paint samples aren't applied on the wall to make selection that much more easier...you get my drift.

Understanding how much clearance is needed to open your closet door fully so that you can see all of your clothes, OR being able to open your oven door all the way so you can get the turkey out without all its juices spilling onto the floor, OR figuring out whether or not the new sectional you want to buy will fit (and make it up the stairs) in your apartment, OR most importantly, whether or not your grandpa will able to maneuver around his home in his new wheelchair, are all elements of design that utilizes the not-so-sexy mathematical applications that's as close to perfection as design gets.

Aside from that, everything else is pretty much trial and error... What I mean by that is that there's no perfect design, no one single perfect solution for your design dilemma. Designing your space is only perfect on paper...only perfect in the pictures where everything that's not perfect is cropped out. In reality, the options for designing your space are as endless as there are people looking to design their space. Yes, there are norms, but every designer has to take these other things into consideration:

* how a person lives: are they squeaky neat or do they have slob-tendencies...heehee?

* how they will use the space or elements within the space: do they sit on the sofa, upright and erect or flop down horizontally with a pizza box beside them as often as they can?

* what architectural elements within the space are dictating its design: are there columns in they way (yes, they're beautiful, but still in the way!) ... a fireplace, walk-ways coming from every direction?

When someone asks me whether or not they can do this, that or the other, my response typically is, "it depends". Sir Isaac Newton's Third Law of Motion states that "for every a action, there is an equal and opposite reaction". How that applies to design is this: if you really MUST, for various reasons like "it was free" or "I just love it" or "it was my mother's", do something in your design space that I don't think is best, then I will merely balance your preference with an element of my own that makes your "must have" WORK! Your old, shabby leather chair from college...I can make that WORK!

So, while design isn't perfect, it can be perfectly done....as long as you accept the fact that it's not really perfect at all!