The Agony and the Ecstasy

There is nothing quite like 'show day' to get your adrenalin flowing - or to raise your blood pressure for that matter. A show house is a special sort of project for an Interior Designer because firstly it can generate a lot of revenue but also because your work is on display for hundreds if not thousands of people.

 

A show house is also one of the rare occasions where you are pretty much left to your own devices (within reason of course) but you don't have a client constantly breathing down your neck. In other words a show house tends to have more of the designer's stamp than other more rigid projects.

The work that goes into a show house is quite phenomenal as you have to have everything ready to go and you usually only have one day (at the most two) in which to put the whole design together. Months of planning go into the design and preparations as everything has to be picked from basics like pillows to the colour of the table ware. You would usually have scoured the town and locality trying to source the more unusual designer pieces that you hope will make your design stand out from the rest.

Oodles of site visits later you will have agreed the layout of the electrics, plumbing and kitchen with all the relevant trades, and the decorator will have his colour specifications and will be working around the clock to meet his deadline. Deadlines are the biggest problem with these jobs as normally the building contractors are working until the very last minute and the developer will want to open the show house the minute the builders have turned the last screw. What very few realise is that then the real work begins as cleaners have to come on site and all the more finicky jobs have to be done. It is for this reason that the designer usually only gets to come on board the day before the show house is due to open.

Wagon loads of furnishings and fittings arrive at the crack of dawn and your well orchestrated (or so you think) kitting out begins. There is relief with every blind that is hung and curtain pole that goes up. One's stomach sinks to levels below one's toes when you realise that your designer master bedroom blind is an inch too short because you took the measurement before the windows had been plastered and forgot to make allowances for this one window! Panic stations as you race to the curtain maker to add a band onto the bottom and make an emergency stop at the department store for extra pillowcases due to the fact that one has gone missing along the way.

The house is usually an absolute shambles and I have even been there when a vase of flowers was knocked over onto curtains waiting to be hung. There is no sense to the way that unforeseen problems can arise on show day and I wanted to call this article simply 'The Agony'. Grey hairs sprout in a day and you heave a sigh of relief when the table is set, pictures are hung and the little Brownies, that you swear have been making your day a misery, retire to bed.

It is only once you sit into the car with the last of the rubbish packed away, cushions plumped, toilet rolls in place and towels folded that your stomach starts to unclench. Finally you know that your months of hard work and planning have borne fruit and this seemingly once sterile, soulless property finally has a face. The grounds are landscaped and soft lamp light glows from the sitting room waiting to inherit a family. It is at the point that you ecstatically make your way home to the biggest glass of wine with your spirits soaring and your whole body aching!

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Written by: Ciarda Barrett (Senior Tutor)

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