How Was Your Tuesday?

I don't often stray off the topic of design, but in light of yesterday's ground shaking event, it's impossible not to be curious what everyone thought about quite possibly their first earthquake.

I had arrived home just after 1:30pm and headed out to my deck with a large glass of lemonade and the day's mail. It was an incredibly beautiful day and I was determined to enjoy it! A short time later my chair, the deck and house started to vibrate, then shake and things got very loud. My first thought was a low (way too low) flying plane, then I thought gas explosion or did someone drive into my house? I ran inside to check on my daughter who was running down the stairs to see what was going on.

I experienced Hurricane Isabel while living in Williamsburg, tornado's as a child in Oklahoma, and even though I had that fleeting thought this could be an earthquake, I was also thinking no, not in Northern Virginia?

It was amazing to note, other than the foyer chandelier swinging for several minutes afterward, there was that moment where I thought...did that really just happen? I tried calling my husband at work and my son who just went back to college. No cell service. It happened.

What was your experience like? Where were you?

Finally A Diagnosis...

At first I thought it was a simple case of DADD aka design attention deficit disorder. My bigger concern was that it may be DP, aka design paralysis. I've only had symptoms of DADD before. It never lasts long. I've seen clients and friends suffer greatly from both and left untreated, it can result in some pretty sad rooms.

I've never had DP before since I am typically a very decisive person. However, the rooms in my own house were whispering a different story. I had to address it. So this past week, I was not on some fabulous vacation, but instead getting diagnosed and seeking treatment.

Analyzing my head. Poor guy, I better help him with the diagnosis.

The symptoms of DADD are moving from one room/project to the next before completion. Not uncommon in design, especially when you're waiting for any type of contractor work to be completed or custom orders to be delivered. Like I said, I've had this. It's not permanent, the symptoms always pass.

The symptoms of DP in my mind are far worse. Harder to treat. They require a willing participant, and a serious amount of intervention. They include an inability to make any design decisions for fear it is the wrong decision. The wrong color, pattern, size, etc...I've never had that happen to me. I prefer to move forward and indulge my love of design knowing that mistakes will occur. Yes, even people in the biz make mistakes. The difference is that we know that they are not fatal. EVER. It's usually my challenge to help others figure this out. To move them from their current state of paralysis to making the decisions that result in a space they enjoy rather than one they obsess over everything they dislike about it...everyday.


Diagnosis: design deranged.

 As I looked around my house, each room needed something, both major and minor. I realized this was not DADD or DP but something else all together. Why wasn't I able to get these rooms done??? After a few days of pondering this, it hit me. I had let myself slip into complete DD. I was design deranged. I'd had a break from design sanity. Simply put, I forgot to treat myself and my own house like any other project that I would do for someone else. Sure I had a plan, but it had a major flaw. I was starting to force these imaginary deadlines on myself that weren't needed. Typically design plans for a room have a deadline. Or at least a completion date projected. Houses with unlimited budgets have deadlines. My particular situation was different. What was my deadline? The next room? The next project? A party? And why was using the word done?

Design for most of us is a very solitary process. This was one of those times I wish I had a design partner or friend with equal (or more) experience to bounce ideas off.


Mary McDonald has Nathan Turner. She's lucky and he's a saint!

 And, then there is budget. I have one. They impose limits and delays more than any other single thing ever does. But, what I'd lost sight of is that it also creates challenges and creativity. I needed to change my mind set to eliminate the word done.  Even though completion is the desired result when working with clients. It's usually what they want and expect. Still, I never like to suggest something just to make do when I know it's not quite right. And, here I found myself trying to do just that. Most designers see their homes as design labs. It's in our DNA to make changes and adjustments more than than average person. The reality is that in designer speak "done" seems like an oxymoron or at least to me.

The therapy and self diagnosis worked. By the weeks end the creative juices were flowing again and things are starting to fall into place, little by little. And, the best part? I was reminded that it's okay not to be working on design daily and succumb to DS. You know, design saturation.

Sometimes, you really do have to stop and smell the roses. I had forget that step. I was too busy getting bogged down analyzing color, size, shape and all the little details that go into a room. I had denied myself the best part: the enjoyment and interest of imperfection and letting things unfold in due time.