The Humble Makings of an Interior Designer

Furnishing Forward: A Practical Guide to Furnishing for a Lifetime
by Sheila Bridges

Furnishing Forward guides the reader through finding a personal style, establishing a realistic budget, and working with color. It covers many basic issues of decorating, such as finding the right balance amoung sofas and other upholstered furniture to avoid overcrowding a room; finishing hardwood floors and choosing rugs; using slipcovers and decorative pillows to liven up a room; and incorporating details like wall sconces, ceramic vases, candlesticks, and mirrors. Bridges also offers advice on where and how to shop for quality pieces as well as on working with design professionals to create the look you want.

When I was a child, I always thought that I would grow up to be either a veterinarian or a marine biologist. I certainly never envisioned becoming an interior designer. I'm not even sure if I knew what an interior designer did until I was in high school. I had never heard of fabric swatches, paint chips, or memo samples and definitely knew nothing about toile fabrics or Aubusson rugs. While I do vaguely remember being dragged into the dining room by my parents and asked my opinion about the fabrics that they were being shown by their interior decorator, the rest is pretty much a blur.

Obviously, something happened on my way to adulthood that drastically changed my career path from talking to the animals like Dr. Dolittle to talking to clients about fabrics and furniture. I can't pinpoint what set me sailing on a course to spend my days searching for antiques, art, and architectural salvage instead of searching for aquatic adventures on uncharted waters with Jacques Cousteau. Even though my close friends will tell you that I still have a childlike fascination with animals and the ocean, I am very happy with my choice to become an interior designer. I am content with this choice even though it was unplanned, unanticipated, and most highly unlikely. Like every other profession, there are moments of frustration and moments when I wish the frenetic pace would slow down long enough for me to spend quality time in my own home. But I can't think of another career that would be as continually challenging, eye-opening, and visually stimulating to me as the one I have chosen. I also can't think of another profession that would have allowed me to play so many roles without an audition first. I have become a walking, talking, fabric-wielding designer-decorator-stylist-psychologist-florist-accountant-collection agent publicist-attorney-trucker-analyst with a Stanley Powerlock twenty-five-foot tape measure. It is as exhausting as it is rewarding, but I wouldn't want to trade places with anyone else in the world.

So who are you anyway, and how do you know whether this book is for you? You woke up this morning and suddenly realized that whether you like it or not, you are an adult. You have a career rather than a job. You pay bills and balance your checkbook regularly. You own a dog or a cat, or maybe both. You are married with one small child and are seriously thinking about having another. You are single with a demanding career that takes up most of your time. Or maybe you are a single parent with a demanding child that takes up most of your time. Either way, you probably own or lease a car and use a computer daily. You have an answering machine, a fax machine, voice mail, e-mail, a cell phone, a car phone, a pager. You have more than one type of insurance, including health, disability, home, auto, life, or pet insurance. You no longer have a roommate (unless you choose to) or live with your parents. You just purchased and moved into your first "real" apartment or house, or maybe you're still a renter if you live in an expensive city like New York, Chicago, Boston, L.A., or San Francisco. You have a real life with real responsibilities and realize that it's time to own some "real" furniture. But you're not quite sure where to begin. How do you upgrade from Conran's to classicism without becoming completely overwhelmed? How do you make that transition from IKEA to inspirational without having a nervous breakdown? What do you do with the stuff you already own that you think is too good to throw out but don't want to live with anymore? Where do you buy stylish, quality furniture without the quality price? And once you find furniture you love, how do you put it together or arrange it in a way that will make the room look great? How can you make your home look terrific without spending all your money?

Do you need professional help? Do you want to enlist the services of a professional interior decorator or designer? And if so, can you afford one? Even if you can afford a design professional, what should you know before hiring one? If you choose not to work with a designer or decorator, how do you buy furniture that you won't hate or outgrow in three years? Is it really possible to buy furniture for today and tomorrow that you will love ten years from now?

There really is a psychology to decorating, which exists for everyone who has ever tried to part with a rocking chair that belonged to a relative or a blanket that belongs to a child. Decorating is, and should always be, a very personal, intuitive, and enjoyable process. When it isn't, the results are glaringly obvious. My hope is that this book will address many of those apprehensions in a practical and reasonable way. My desire is that by discovering the basic anxieties and emotional stumbling blocks that we trip over while decorating our homes, we will learn how to avoid them in the future. The goal is to help you to get past these impasses so that you can eventually create an affordable and comfortable home environment that reflects who you are or who you would like to be.

In the following chapters, I explain how the concept of "Furnishing Forward" will help you make logical and practical decisions so that you do not waste money on impractical items that you will need to replace in a couple of years. This concept will also help you approach decorating in a way that is straightforward, down-to earth, and hopefully less overwhelming. Since so many people are intimidated by the mere notion of decorating, I was inspired to write a book that would take some of the mystery out of interior design and put some of the humor back in. I also wanted people to be able to refer to a practical guide and visual map when trying to create the kind of spaces they wanted to live in. The first step toward demystifying the world of interior design and decoration is to understand what it is exactly that interior decorators and designers do.

Good design is far from arbitrary, although it may seem that way to some. Design is a well thought-out process that is as much about furniture, color, and lighting as it is about mood and atmosphere. It is as much about materials and fabrics as it is about function, scale, and proportion. There is a certain exactitude inherent in the process of design, partly because every design is based on a specific point of view. Interior design is also about spatial relationships and visual perceptions. It is one of the few professions that are truly reliant upon our senses. Without them we are profoundly lost in the world of design. Since our senses create a commonality we all innately share and are attuned to, I genuinely believe that we all have the creative potential and capacity to design and decorate our own homes.

It is important to understand that creating a comfortable and elegant interior involves a lot more than just shopping for a great sofa or an interesting floor lamp. All the things we surround ourselves with in our homes certainly have an effect on our emotional well-being. Once we recognize this, the more likely we are to develop an appreciation for good design. Finally, the easier and more enjoyable the design process becomes for us, the better the results.

Copyright © 2002 by Sheila Bridges

About the Author

Sheila Bridges, president of Sheila Bridges Design Inc. is an interior designer whose goal is to create high-end, residential spaces that are thought-evoking and visually interesting while also comfortable and livable. Her understated style is culturally classic, as she creates visually provocative and rich interiors with an elegant simplicity.