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Who influences your design decisions?

Emmeline Westin

8 years ago

Making changes to your home can be daunting and sometimes it's good to have a second (or even third) opinion. Others are confident enough and don't need anyone else's input.

Which type are you? Whose advice do you seek?

Renovation of a two bedroom mansion block flat in Tooting · More Info

Just myself

My partner

Family members

Friends

Other - tell us!

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Comments (3)

Tom Flanagan
8 years ago
Other than the wealth of information on Houzz (I couldn't not mention it!) I'd say travelling and seeing what other people can do - nothing short of inspiring and what it sets off inside of you. I often surprise myself with the choices I make these days - I'm currently toying with the idea of painting my door bright yellow. Still plucking up the courage as it were but you know, baby steps...
Heidi Cullen
8 years ago
Everything can influence what I do to my home. Magazines, Pinterest, Houzz, my own nutty tastes, films, being a hedge witch, my love of gothica, country cottage coziness and Scandi-cool. Every room is very different. My home is for me and how I live. Other people don't come into the equation except my joiner who reigns me in if he can.
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I do prefer Jonathan's plan. Just a few reasons:- I am not a fan of strings of rooms together creating lengths that you can see straight down, especially when at the end of it is a playroom full of toys. I think the playroom needs to be slightly segregated, although visible from the kitchen is great. His plan gives more longevity as you have a separate lounge, great for an adult retreat in future years, and also, the playroom then becomes a nice breakfast area when the kids eventually depart as teenagers to the dark recesses of their pits ( bedrooms ). Jonathan's dining area is much nicer too with a good outlook over the garden. A quick question...........is there a particular reason why you want an extra bathroom downstairs? In my experience, they rarely get used to their full potential. We have one, and, when our kids were at home, they moaned like trains and didn't like using it, so, in preference would hang around upstairs and wait for the main one to become free. Now, that they've left home, the only thing being washed in ours is the dogs. You probably would be better off with a downstairs loo and coat room, as currently there isn't great provision for all the coats, shoes & school bags you must have. You may think the Utility will get used for that, but it's too far from the front door as dumping your coats and shoes for most kids is an 'immediately you get through the front door thing'!
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thanks all for comments. The fact is, I’m paying the ID a fee for design. She will give ideas as to what she thinks works for certain things and whilst most of them (thus far) come from a place she has existing relationship with, not all do. She is already coming in well in excess of my target budget- which I have mentioned to ID 2x now - and whilst I have some flex I also am going ’ok, I can get these items elsewhere for cheaper - not by even negotiating, but by just going onto other suppliers websites and it pops up with stuff like ‘10% off first order’‘ Now that adds up to thousands saved over the total project. We aren’t talking 50-60 quid. I’m not asking the ID supplier to beat that price - but just match. Which I don’t think is unreasonable given total spend , and the fact that other suppliers are without any negotiation happy to give 10% off, so I’m pretty sure the supplier will not be losing money on all this if they just matched the competition. It just leaves a bad taste in mouth that I’m the client of the ID, not the store that is the preferred supplier. It’s over budget. And I’m seeing considerable savings achieveable by going to another supplier(s). It makes me wonder who is working for who here, and I don’t know of many people who would be happy to pay more for an object from store x, when the store next door sells the very same thing for less.
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lisa77226
8 years ago
I decorate solely for me, not to impress anyone else. I do it to create a 'haven' from the rest of the world so whilst I pay attention to trends out of interest, I ultimately do only what I will visually enjoy.

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