Take Your Time
Happy Monday folks and welcome to another round of “what exactly is going on inside this crazy head of mine”.
If you’re just tuning in, I’ve decided to begin my day (M-F…the weekends are all mine) with a somewhat unedited stream of what I currently have ping ponging around this brain of mine. A brain dumped captured in 25 minutes at the start of my day. If you know me, or Leslie Tyler Design, you know I love breaking rules and carving my own path. I went to school with intentions of being a film producer (and who knows, maybe that will become a reality one day) and never stepped foot in any design school. Any “formal training” I could credit to my current career would be my study of Theatre Arts and set design.
I do things differently, not because I’m rebellious and intentionally set off to change an industry. It was because I simply didn’t know any better.
I began my design career right before our global community would call almost everything into question. Rulebooks were being thrown out left and right and I suppose it was fertile ground for someone like me to do something I only prepared for in heart. In a sincere love for people, a realization of the significance our spaces had on our lives, and a deep respect for historic architecture and craftsmanship.
I would furthermore go out on a limb and say that life as a single mom to a toddler, and even younger baby business, my approach (while I also try to keep a handle on the much important mental health) is anything but “industry norms”. I do surround myself and business with industry professionals who do execute work according to the very important building codes. I actually take things a step further and find classically trained craftsman who could rebuild a replica of an original window using traditional methods with more energy efficient glass if that’s your jam. The fun part though, the ART of creating, is entirely a dance of Throwing the Spaghetti, rearranging it a few times, and then coming back to it in the morning and throwing the whole thing out. And then doing that over and over again until it just clicks!
I would classify myself as an excellent industry collaborator with many in my network. But my day to day is spent mostly alone. I don’t say that to sound lonely, my creativity thrives in being left in my own little corner, but it also makes those “checkpoints” (you know, the one’s that catch you before things go off the rails? ) few and far between. And no, I wouldn’t have it any other way!
If you caught my last post you’ll know that I have a quite healthy client book at the moment, but the one that I am having the most unbridled fun at is my own kitchen. I was sharing the other day that my clients projects are eerily lining up with my personal projects for my home. Over the past few months I have had a huge surge of kitchen request, as I am working through my own. And on the horizon for these very same clients are home gyms and rec-rooms. Shocking, the exact project I have planned once the kitchen is complete. In this case, I am not sure which came first, the chicken or the egg. Is life imitating art or vice versa? We may never know.
What I do know is that I am being given an opportunity, almost simultaneously, to work through my own creative blocks and try out all the incredible things that I can bring to my clients in real time. You may be surprised that even as work has begun on my own kitchen, I haven’t done a huge amount of tedious planning. Now before you go running to tell the church, I have done the preliminary layout and “tentative” plan. Enough that my electrician and plumber can begin their jazz. Extensive finish selections though, oh it is definitely a “we’ll see how it goes” and THAT”S OK! From an artistic standpoint, my most effective process is actually working through a project as if I was building, making a decision after another and after that other has had time to simmer. To be honest, I really do enjoy slow design. That, and I don’t mind living in a construction site for months (really, it is possible to enjoy your home and life even when things are a hot mess - oh, and another benefit of not having an open concept).
Now, for most clients this cadence is not realistic and precisely why the seek professionals to execute. I totally understand that desire and have adjusted in my professional life accordingly. But when I am able to let my hair down and move how I want. It is organic, slow moving and responsive to what the home itself is asking to be.
As my 25 minute timer has long passed I will leave you with this. Enjoy the process, truly. I know is sounds cliche. We often rush through the “mess” of construction and place the value of our homes on the “finished” version. But if you are able, and willing to move slow,