Back in December when we first started putting elbow grease, love and money into our new studio, I had grand visions of a completed space in time for summer. Suffice it to say we are far from being finished and I’ve been in the same boat as many of our clients - waiting on product, dealing with backorders and stock issues, and surprised daily at the rising costs of raw materials. We’ve come a long way - but there is a ways to go.
Here are the highlights:
Wallpaper is up! We’ve got some super fun wallpaper coming into a few spaces (see pic of our fabulous bathroom!) but the delays and issues have been almost comical. From damaged paper to just plain stock delays, it took much longer than anticipated. However - the reward for waiting is getting to see these beautiful papers up and ready to enjoy. The paper went up over a weekend and it was so fun to hear the squeals from everyone returning to the office on Monday and seeing it for the first time.
Permit delays - As we’ve written about previously, the construction and renovation boom continues - hooray! The downside is that the permit process is s.l.o.w. No lack of love for the patient folks who do the work - we just have to wait our turn. Even designers have to hurry up and wait their turn :)
Unexpected problems - As with most renovations, there have been a few moments where the scope of work has expanded due to unfortunate demo discoveries. When you’ve got walls opened up and the site is messy - it’s time to make all your infrastructure and mechanicals functional and to code. This is the really unglamorous spending - no pretty wallpaper to see when it’s done - it’s just safe and dependable and typically covered back up with drywall.
Planning and the creative process - renovating while you are using a space is challenging in that you are playing a constant game of Tetris to figure out how to keep functional as the construction interruptions are occurring. This means demoing in stages and trying to keep the project calendar as efficient as possible. All while grabbing the trades when they are available! Additionally - we are wanting to be smart in our creative process — giving ourselves time to see what changes we would like to make as we settle in and understand our work flow better. Because we haven’t been able to move as quickly as anticipated, we’ve already adjusted our initial plans several times - and it’s going to be better!
Product delays - we’ve been pretty lucky with quick availability of our lighting, tile and plumbing - in part because we’ve focused on staying with stocked products. Other items - like windows, cabinets and raw materials have had increasing lead times. Again, being a design firm doesn’t mean that we have an inside track on getting ahead in the queue.
All in all, these delays haven’t been a big deal. It’s been a gentle reminder from the universe to keep perspective and have patience. The team has been super flexible and we’re mostly just grateful to have the additional space to spread out. We appreciate our clients’ flexibility with our half-finished space too!
