I’m In (Professional) Love With My Contractor!
My sons’ shower room is looking in remarkably better shape!
The building works in my new apartment are advancing well, even too quickly! As Hocine (the contractor) has one extra person working with him, they are a team of three rather than two. I asked him for an update on timing, and he told me yesterday that he will actually finish three weeks earlier than expected. And that’s including the additions I requested. We've come through the wilderness to nearly done in one fell swoop.
I don’t know about where you live, but here in France, this is completely unheard of. Everyone here has had, or has heard of, nightmare experiences with contractors taking twice the time they announced at the beginning of the project, or even longer. So much so, that when I tell people I’m doing a major renovation project, they all do that empathetic, gritted teeth smile, and wish me all the luck in the world. As you can imagine, I’m about to declare never-ending, undying, all-encompassing (professional) love to Hocine, I can tell you!
When I manage an interior design and renovation project for my clients, I propose a scheme for each room. We start with inspiration boards with colors, textures, materials, sometimes shapes. Once that is validated, I detail down. So I propose an exhaustive design, based on what we have agreed on the inspiration boards, including the walls, the flooring, all the furniture, the lighting, the textiles for the sofa and other soft furnishings and the accessories.
As this is my own project, and I have many other priorities, I haven’t been following my own process. Which admittedly is a bit of a mistake, but I just couldn’t dedicate the time needed to produce complete designs for each room. And now I’m starting to panic, as Hocine has announced that he will finish earlier! The 2.5 months I thought I had has suddenly turned into 7 weeks… Which is tomorrow in real time!
There’s so much to do! I don’t have a table and chairs for meals, so if I don’t get a wiggle on, we’ll be standing around my beautiful new kitchen like at a drinks party! And anyway, we’ll have to be in the kitchen; it’s the only place there’ll be lighting, as there are spotlights over the worktop. I don’t have any of the lighting for the other rooms. I have a list of what I need, but haven’t chosen any of it yet. Arrggghhh.
These are the tasks that I do for my clients before the renovation works even start, so that we can order everything and receive it in time for the big installation day. But for me, myself and I? I’m putting the exact stress on myself that I warn my clients about and manage for them. This is so ironic. I feel like I should suggest an extra line to Alanis Morissette for her song: ‘Isn’t it ironic, don’t you think? The Interior Designer who hasn’t managed her own design project properly’. That doesn’t scan right, but you get the message….
So as this is my project, for my own use, obviously I know how all of this works. I know what I have to supply to Hocine and when I have to provide it so that he’s not waiting for my input. He asked for a paint plan last week (so in advance of when I thought he would need it…). Now, I had already chosen some wall papers which I love, and I knew more or less which colors I wanted, where. But Hocine doesn’t work with ‘more or less’, he needed the precise references. I set too immediately.
There are so many paint colors. The choice is literally endless. It’s so complicated - so many suppliers, so many nuances. Hundreds of thousands. Decision overload and FOMO abound. No wonder so many people end up with plain white walls. I totally get it!
This explains why I’m so particularly loyal to a wonderful paint and wallpaper company called Little Greene. They’re a traditional English company, and work regularly with the British National Trust (the historic houses conservation charity) to source paint colors and wallpaper patterns.
Some people prefer Farrow and Ball. As my mother (who was a couture clothes designer with a great eye for color) pointed out to me, the Farrow and Ball colors are all tinged with black. Which in her words make them very ‘light sucky’. I prefer the Little Greene colors as I find them purer and the light reflected clearer.
And I just love their wallpapers. I’m definitely not a minimalist. I love color, I love texture. I love being surrounded by things (and people!) that bring me joy. Little Greene often sources a pattern at a National Trust historic house, and reproduces it in several other color schemes. Often I look through the wallpaper samples and suddenly I’ll be hooked by a combination of a classic design (some of which go back to the 18th century), in more modern colors.
So I have chosen Little Greene wallpapers for one wall of the living room, for the dining room and for my bedroom. When you go into my new apartment, the entrance hall opens directly (no doors) onto the living room, to the bright library beyond, and onto the dining room. There is also a door (which will be open most of the time) to go into the pale pink and black sparkly kitchen, which in itself sounds very maximalist! And the paint colors have to work together for all of these vistas…
If I allowed myself to look at colors beyond the restricted, yet very beautiful, Little Greene colors, I would have déclaré forfait - given in - long ago. I would have just chosen a warm off-white. With which I would have been very disappointed!
Instead I have chosen a series of colors that (I hope!) will go well together and go well with the wallpapers. I’m curious to see the result. Sometimes when you use color on big surfaces, the effect can be surprising, sometimes wonderful, other times not. You just have to bite the bullet. Anyway, there’s nothing more I can do, I’ve chosen now and given Hocine the painting plan.
In any case, these are not vital decisions! At the end of the day, it’s just paint! And Hocine will gladly repaint if I make any mistakes. Perhaps with a light ‘je pensais autant !’ (‘I thought as much’). And then we’ll laugh together, and he’ll say ‘chacun son goût !’ (‘to each his/ her own taste’), and ask what color to paint over. Sigh. Told you he’s amazing.