Hey, Y’all! Spring is in full swing, and we hope you are making the most of this warm weather! Along with the changing of the seasons, so many other changes have occurred in our world in recent months, and we wanted to pop in to give some background on how the realm of Interior Design is impacted. Ivory Lane Interiors strives to be a dedicated resource and advocate for our clients, providing info you may not always find elsewhere!
Before we dive into the economical impacts, we wanted to give a little background on some of the areas that we handle as an Interior Design service, as it relates to products, installation, and more.
Items An Interior Designer Handles
Project Coordination
Designating a project coordinator is extremely beneficial in many businesses, and that’s absolutely the case when your space is being renovated or designed from the ground up. There are so many moving parts, product orders, and vendors involved, and their timelines all need to be tracked efficiently. An Interior Designer wears the hat of the project coordinator and makes sure every piece of the project is monitored. If you think about a kitchen remodel, for example, the Interior Designer tracks the progress of the sink, cabinets, countertops, backsplash, flooring, and more. Some of the tasks an Interior Designer handles are: on-site check-ins, selecting and ordering products, tracking orders, communicating between everyone involved, and receiving shipments. There is never a dull moment between all parts of a project, and having an Interior Designer handle the intricate details takes a weight off our clients’ shoulders.
Client Support
Speaking of taking a weight off, an Interior Designer is an ADVOCATE for the client. With all of the moving parts we’ve mentioned, any project could have something unexpected occur, and my job as the Designer is to anticipate those surprises and look out for your best interest. Whether it’s an installation question from a contractor or a product being back-ordered, the Interior Designer is there to handle these items so you don’t have to. If a vendor informs us that the furniture we ordered will ship later than anticipated, we’ll create a game plan to resolve the situation and aim to have the least amount of disruption to the schedule. As the project coordinator, the Interior Designer can usually spot a problem before it ever arises, so we’re tackling it before anyone else knows something is up. We always want my clients to feel supported and stress-free knowing that someone is looking out for every single detail of their design project.
Final Reveal
Once the project wraps up and all orders have been received, our team at Ivory Lane Interiors handles the installation process and final reveal. This is something we personally LOVE being involved with for our clients! After focusing on items physically connected to the home and its design, it’s so exciting to also ensure that your space comes together with accessories and finishing touches! I make sure that all of the furnishings we’ve selected are in place and ready for you to view the space in all of its new found glory. This is one of the most rewarding parts of the process!
The Current State of the Design World
Now that we’ve chatted through some of the items an Interior Designer juggles, we wanted to give you some additional insight on the current state of affairs overall in the design realm. As you’ve probably noticed, the supply chain has been disrupted in the past year, largely due to impacts from the Coronavirus. At the start of the pandemic, many manufacturers temporarily halted production lines to protect their employees, and various imports and exports were stopped between countries. Both domestic and international deliveries were impacted as quarantines began and some level of road and air travel were suspended.
With all of these factors coming into play during the same time, there are ripple effects that have caused delays in many consumer products. The area of manufacturing is one that directly impacts the design world, and it is one that has been hit hard over the past year. There has been an unexpected demand for products during this timeframe, but supplies have been slower in production and lower in volume. Many manufacturers opened back up after just a short period of closure, but the logistics of where they purchase supplies from were disrupted. With increased demand and shorter supply, we’ve seen increases in costs and longer wait times for ordering products. This includes furnishings like couches, dining tables, flooring, and more. For new constructions, the supply and cost of lumber has been impacted.
We know that all of this will pass and that the supply chain will eventually catch up and normalize. Nothing lasts forever, friends! In the meantime, our goal at Ivory Lane Interiors is to ensure that processes continue to run smoothly, and we will always inform you of how the state of manufacturing may affect the furnishings you’d like to order or the construction of your home. We want to gear you with the information that you deserve to understand why there may be a longer wait for certain items or a slightly higher cost than what we were used to seeing before the pandemic. It’s a strange world we’re living in, y’all, but we’re all in this together! We are excited that things are slowly getting back to normal in many areas of life and will keep you updated on how things progress with manufacturing supplies!
For now, we’ll make lemonade out of lemons, and we hope you’ll enjoy a glass with us this spring season!
Sending Love from GA,
Sarah