i love interior design and architecture and decorating, yet I find myself going a little nutty and losing some sleep! however, i think that if i didn't have a budget, it would be a little more enjoyable. well, working with the architect was difficult for me because I'm not very assertive and I always felt like i was bothering him. that feeling would have been there budget or no budget.

for coping skills, i don't have any suggestions. the only time i felt like i was back to my "normal" self was when i was on vacation for a week and didn't look at my plans or go on the computer or talk to the builder or architect. this forum helps me a LOT too.

it is most likely harder for you emotionally because you are dealing with a historical property that was damaged. that complicates things even further.

hang in there. it will end eventually and life will return to normalcy.

Find a good architect whose judgement you trust, and make him a well compensated partner in your project.

I enjoy decorating and design and had spent so much time designing the home before we even broke ground, that it was fairly easy for me....it was bringing to life the building I'd gotten to know in my head so well. So I can't really advise you...I enjoyed the whole process, even the 10,000 decisions....

I agree with greendesigns. Having our architect to beat ideas around with and argue with and gain new perspectives with on what we wanted from the house was a huge help....it certainly wouldn't have been what it's become without his help.

We found a talented interior designer who helped us make many design decisions from the planning stage to now. The architect was more the one we went to for construction issues or clarification. So, for us the interior designer together with GW is how we have gotten half way through our build and made the decisions thus far.

It has been stressful and I have not enjoyed it. However, know I will love having a custom built home at the end that I could never have gotten if we had purchased a resale house. That last idea is what has helped us through, and also knowing that once some decisions were made, they were behind us.

Don't forget to troll around on Houzz for inspiration pictures. Sometimes you can think you want something, and then we you see examples of your vision you change your mind and go another direction.

Good luck,

Carol

Thanks Carol. I take solace in knowing I'm not the only one who finds the process stressful. I guess I'm just not an innate designer type. I did locate an interior designer, but she seems to be fleeting. Sometimes she answers my texts, and others, no. By the way, how much did you pay for your interior designer?

HI Zagyzebra,

I believe we pay our interior designer around $60.00 an hour. If we email her a question or call her on the phone she charges us for the fraction of the time her response takes. Otherwise visits are at least an hour long. However, the peace of mind and talent she has brought to the job is so worth it. She has a real eye for design which we lack.

Take it one decision at a time. The challenge you are facing by recreating a historical house will warrant expert eyes more than the average project will.

Don't forget the home decorating forum and other forums on this site can be very useful.

Carol

Wow, that's really reasonable. One designer I happened to meet wants a percentage of the project. But then, I'm in the Hollywood Hills. Yes indeed, one decision at a time. At the moment I'm trying to figure out what to do with the exterior, which was all hand tinted and etched and chiseled to look like stone by concrete artisans and set designers back in the late 1920s. One huge exterior wall has to come down. And there is no way to match it again or match whatever goes up to replace it to the existing remaining walls. If I just do stucco and stone, I'm concerned the house will end up looking like all the other builder-type wannabe castles out there. I definitely have my challenges ahead of me!

I'm not an interior designer type either.

What helps me is having an over-riding vision for what I want the space to do, a color scheme and basic style.

When we're asked to make choices, we use these to guide our choices, and it makes it manageable for me. As we make choices, that makes it easier to choose, because we have more to match, for example we chose a faucet that has curved handles that resemble our cabinet pulls.

Another thing that helps us is that our limited budget means that we don't have infinite choices. I'm sure it's wonderful to be able to spend more, but it would also mean more and more challenging decisions.

Yes our interior designer's prices are about average for our small town Ontario, Canada location (area dictates price it seems) . I figure a buck a minute is fair. Some of your questions sound like more architect territory (i.e. the wall question). We pay our architect more per hour which makes sense given his advanced training. I hope you can get some of your questions answered here. Always post photos with your questions and put the photos right in the text to make it easier/quicker for forum posters to consider your question.

I bet some here might enjoy your challenges.

Carol

Yes...no doubt more than I enjoy these challenges! Carol, I will post a photo soon about my challenge wall exterior. I'm not sure whether it should go in the Home Building or the Old House forum.

It might be worth consulting someone who specializes in preservation, rehabilitation, or restoration of historic buildings so you can get a better idea of what features are most important and how to set priorities given your needs and budget.

Duplicate

This post was edited by dadereni on Sun, Aug 25, 13 at 7:57

Maybe post to both forums with a message at the top of the post that you are cross posting. I don't know how much traffic the Older homes forum gets?

Carol