2023: The year of finishing what we started
There’s a movie reference that has stuck with me for a long time—perhaps one of you will know it? An ex-wife is giving a word of warning to the new girlfriend of her husband, a George Clooney character, I think, (or maybe it’s Don Draper in Mad Men?). To convey that the girlfriend should not get too excited about her future prospects, the ex-wife says something like “He only likes the beginning of things.”
I can be a bit like this. I love the excitement of the new; the shiny penny. In our work and my particular process, the big creative challenge is up front, where we dive deep to find our client’s style and create a particular mix that suits their family and their life. I LOVE that part. And while some of that feeling does carry through as projects develop, the big win, for me, is in the beginning.
For the first half of this year, we have very little new. No shiny pennies! Instead, it is the year of finishing things. With the long lead times and slow process that has become the norm since 2020, we are working on the same projects that we have been working on for ages.
A California project finished in 2019 has a kitchen and bathroom renovation that we designed in late 2021 with construction kicking off next month
A Milwaukee project that was rapid-fire decorated in early Covid gets a kitchen and bath refresh, construction kicking off in March
A Chicago project started in late 2019 hopefully gets its final rooms finished this year
A Connecticut project that has spent two years in architecture and design phase will have its first install in the fall
An Iowa project that has been in development for a year (and with the architects for ten years!) is under construction now
A Minneapolis House, moving in phases, will have a wrap on phase 3 (and possibly a start on phase 4) this spring
A St Louis Park home, in design for the past year, just went into construction
Plus several projects are in wrap-up mode and/or waiting mode (some lead times are still quite long.)
What I have learned, and what I am leaning into this year, is that there is EXCITEMENT up front but there can be real SATISFACTION in the end, where all the creative work manifests in careful, thoughtful details if you stay the course. (As anyone in a long design process knows, the middle is when it can be hard to sustain positive energy. Money is flowing out, sometimes at an alarming pace, decision fatigue has set in, progress appears to be lacking when the construction work is behind the walls or furniture is being made.) The truth is, I really do love those end parts, too. The satisfaction of figuring out exactly how a group of materials should meet, or the little detail (contrast welt, covered buttons, unusual hardware) that are small, but make a project sing. It’s just a different kind of love. To keep the metaphor going, it’s not butterflies in the stomach; it’s more like appreciating a long time partner who already knows how you like your eggs.
I asked my team to set an intention for this year. A simple, clear reminder that fits on a post it note and helps keep them on course with their strengths or correct for weaknesses. Still working on the phrasing, but mine is something like: