This week is High Point Furniture Market and Spring has sprung. Many of our Guests are finalizing plans for extended absences around the world in some combination of Vacation, Humanitarian, Mission and/or Sabbatical Work and we are scheduling decorating to be completed while they are away. Lists finalized, budgets approved and CFA’s (cuttings for approval on fabric, trim and finishes) are posted by mail.
All is good, there is Decorating hope in the air.
Things we like to accomplish while you are away include:
- Updating the decor in your main home
- Refinishing floors in a rental property
- Power washing and repainting a barn at the ranch, trim a few trees, till soil and prepare for next year’s Kitchen Garden
Here are the Top Four Issues we tackle when managing or overseeing remote Design and Decorating work along with a few thoughts on best solutions.
- Security
- Detail
- Derailments
- Completion
1. Security
Household Staff needs vacation too and scheduling rotating security detail, even on smaller properties can be cumbersome. Many Estates, Trusts and Multi-Property Families rely on advanced systems including video, audio and motion for protection of assets while in residence and away. As a Design Firm, though we use Receivers + Professional Movers/Delivery Companies, we do like to have added layers of protection for the day when people need to be on site working, expensive supplies are visible, and trades people are everywhere.
When on site professional household staff are unable to stay inside the property (consider: sheet rock texture work, refinishing or any other project requiring ventilation and dust control) and we are not about to start taping and sealing off compartments of houses, we often recommend the use of Security Detail.
Security Detail includes use of uniformed and non-uniformed or undercover personnel who monitor comings and goings of personnel during extended absences and under the supervision of whomever is managing the projects, be it Design Firm or In House Management.
Why I like it: It is easy to source and schedule, practically anywhere in the world. There are literally hundreds of easily scaled options from 1 – 25+ on site uniformed to the same undercover and the Homeowner can check in via smart phone. Very cool.
2. Detail
Even the best laid plans have last minute questions. Not once, in 25 years plus of Designing and Decorating, have I undertaken a project where the homeowner completely bowed out. We have come close, very close, but even those who hire us remotely to do remote work on a remote property, at some point, want some sort of input. Using a combination of video, audio and text we are able to deal with Decorating Detail Decisions that need to be made on projects last minute.
Whether it’s thread color on a surface seam to an unanticipated awkward corner molding, a picture is worth a thousand words.
This also eliminates horrid back and forth via email with several different parties. We use our private Member Dashboard to host these and check in once a week via pre-scheduled sessions. Because our conversations are pre-scheduled and planned, the Homeowner is not inundated with useless chatter. Service matters, no matter the budget and pre-scheduling discussions, especially when Guest is off continent, is critical to good service. Next?
3. Derailment
The tree removal company burst a sewer pipe on the back 40 at the ranch. You are in Ethiopia on a Mission Trip. What to do. Here again, the use of virtual tools, exceptional management systems and planning go a long way in navigating derailment issues that pop up. We live in a fallen world, what else is new.
The prepared Homeowner, Estate Manager and/or Multiple Property Family already knows these things happen and is not surprised.
Allocation made for legal, civic and what we call nuisance issues within yearly budgets is huge. There is a proverb which states “the wise considers the cost before hand”. There is nothing new about derailment. Anyone with even a one room rental property knows full well, issues planned for are more easily solved. That, and the wise owner knows calmness can lay great issues to rest. No broken pipe will disrupt meditation on sabbatical because it has, in theory and in reality, been planned for.
My best tips on this? Tackle signing and authorization well ahead of time away with limits set for financial authority. Do so for various areas of derailment. Set up authorization and know who will make the call. Know who has the original documents and how they can be dealt with virtually. Don’t be derailed because someone on your staff doesn’t know how to sign a PDF on a tablet or smart phone! Take care of the details. Practice.
One reason we work with families organized via trust is that these things are consistently addressed. If they are new to our Guests, we consistently address them. It does not matter if the property is small or large, the estate world wide or corner lot small, considerations and planning are the same.
And finally,
4. Completion
The biggest difference between a professional firm and hiring the neighbor (sometimes the neighbor is professional, we know) is completion. Well meaning novice designers and decorators often bring excuses. Well meaning but ill prepared, these types promise and never deliver. Our Guests know my team and I speak truth.
You cannot get a long term sofa for $950, even for a cabin, from a Design Professional. It is not possible. Plan to spend $4,000 at the very low end, $10,000 to $25,000+ depending on size for the high end. Excellence, even on a budget (EVERY project has a budget) has a bottom line.
Prepare with honest advisers who let you know the real cost and aren’t asking for $2,000 at the end of the project to cover delivery fees and missed budgets. Consider Completion as one of the, if not the, most important parts of undertaking your Decorating project while away.
If you have issues or things you have come up against, let us know. Of course there are more, but we break them down into these four categories.
We are always re-vamping checklists, depending on size of property, scale of work, in these four areas: Security, Details, Derailment & Completion.
Now, go plan your time away. The flowers will be fresh and the budget met when you return.
Happy Spring!
Ann McDonald
Live a custom life. There is only one you.
=====================================================================
If you’d like to talk with me about your upcoming Decorating or Design project, send me an email: Ann@Couturechateau.com or call the office: 925-386-0720. We do have private portfolio links for view and if you read our “Learn More” section, you know absolutely no project is too small once you are a Guest of Couture Chateau. Remember, we have designed and constructed custom cat poles. Granted, the cats did come in via private jet… That said, they are happy at home now, Couture Chateau style. Photo credit: Private Client of CC, EH)
