Do A Little Each Week
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ASID
Pasadena, |
http://www.asidpasadena.org
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I have been working outside in the yard a lot lately, something I don’t normally do.
February 2, 2012
It is daunting, a big old flat mess of grass, cement and rocks. I have watched tons of garden shows on TV and think “wow, that would be so nice, and it would wonderful to have a beautiful back yard but I just don’t know where to begin.”
It’s overwhelming, it’s expensive, and it’s time consuming. So what have I done outside for most of the last several years? Not Much At All. I focused on something else (the inside of my house) because I know what to do there. Meanwhile, the outside was completely neglected. Now, my home interior is complete, so I really can’t ignore the outside any more.
So I got some professional advice. As much as I would have liked to have the whole yard overhauled and turned into the beautiful wonderland in my dreams, the budget just wasn’t there. So I got some consultation from someone who was used to working with plants and ponds and rocks and grass and all the other things that I don’t know about.
I hired a consultant for a couple of hours, and only accomplished one thing, but it was the most important task of all: I got a plan. I learned how to clean and refresh the fish pond. The consultant recommend I recycle some slate from another area, and get rid of the rocks that I have quietly hated for years. He helped me select plants to fit in different parts of the yard, and other plants to get rid of.
As a home designer, it may seem silly that I needed someone to tell me these steps, that I couldn’t just ‘do it myself’. But that one consultation will pay for itself many times over, by saving me time and materials in trial and error, and making a more professional looking final product.
It’s taken awhile just to fix the pond and I will continue to move forward with the project.
As I was doing all this, I realized that this is much the way many of my clients feel in their homes. They are scared, overwhelmed and the project is so big they don’t know where to begin. Many times I have laid out a “plan” for someone in their house and left with the knowledge that I have changed their home for so much better.
Moving a piece of furniture or two, painting a room, adding some pillows, accessories or draperies makes such a huge difference. You don’t have to take it on all at once, do a little each week and it will get done and will be beautiful. But don’t forget to get a consultation from an interior designer for a plan that will give you the best design for your time and money!