Inspiration Images
It is a bit of a dilemma when it comes to communicating your ideas to your architect, interior designer, or builder. Words don’t really do the job effectively. You have a “picture” in your mind, but even with the most well chosen words, you can not be sure the message is being conveyed. The person you are speaking to may be creating a completely different image in their mind than the one you are describing seeing in your mind.
Pictures clipped from magazines or copied from books can be tremendously valuable in this communication. A fine interior designer I worked with in Hawaii, Marion Philpotts, calls these pictures “inspiration images.” I like the phrase so much i have stolen it (but with credit to her.) What’s great about this phrase is it captures the purpose of the pictures. They are not meant to be copied exactly. They are meant to convey an idea and to get the thinking started.
I often tell my clients to clip freely, not worrying whether the picture shows their complete idea. Sometimes we might like the beams from one picture, the fireplace from another, and the windows from still another. This is great. Your architect or designer will thrive on this. It’s their job to draw from all of these images and create something new and tailored for you.
So clip away. Inspiration images are much better than words.
If you would like to read more articles about house and home design, please visit my other website, www.about-home-design.com.
Bill Hirsch
www.designingyourperfecthouse.com
Tags: architecture, Design, dream house, house design, interiors, residential architecture
