Last week a client sent me a picture of a sofa from a furniture chain known for tacky recliners, complete with odor-eating fabric and cup holders-galore. After toying with the idea of firing her, I let her continue her campaign for the monolithic, twelve-seater with room to hold a case of beer. Mind you, I'm not talking about a mini-van, we are discussing A SOFA for a clients rather small Manhattan apartment. Scale. No, not the one we hate to step on in the morning, but the issue of size many people deal with as it relates to furniture and their homes. While some might be convinced they can get toothpaste back into the tube, when it comes to arranging furniture in a room, the battle of space-planning is often a cantankerous one. Over the years I've enlisted many design tools to help clients visualize furniture layouts. I've used painters tape to mark where the items will go in a room, I've cut out cardboard or newspaper renderings and moved them around a space, but these days my go-to tool is an app anyone can use, the Interior Design 3D App available to tablet owners and smartphone users. Spend $10 and a few minutes getting the feel for the app...then simply plug in dimensions of a room and start placing furniture. Once I did that for the client above, she finally saw the light...or lack thereof, because the enormous sofa she wanted blocked her main window! Before spending a fortune on larger pieces that often take weeks to arrive, take a few minutes to map out where pieces will go. I saved enough dough for the chef-client above, she had enough to upgrade her kitchen tools and make me a celebratory dinner!
