DOING THE RIGHT THING

December 2, 2011

This is a small story about a couple of small projects.  

One was for a client, and the second one was for me personally.

Several months ago, I took on a small living room project.

The focus was to replace the client’s sofa, so my job was to source a new sofa, and select appropriate fabrics that would complement an existing color scheme.

Something I always love to do!

Oh – and to custom design a couple of seat cushions for an adjacent window seat.

I managed to snag a fabulous sofa on Sale at our local Seattle Design Center, which made for an especially rewarding experience.

It’s truly amazing how a new fabric can totally transform an existing sofa or loveseat, as there’s really no need to replace furniture that already has “good bones” as we in the industry like to say.

The window seat cushions, however , were another story.

It was a very simple formula:  one long window seat, two cushions designed to fit snuggly in place.

You can imagine my dismay when the upholsterer delivered two enormously L O N G seat cushions – not what I had in mind at all.

Even more disappointing was the realization that the error was mine, a simple matter of providing less than clear instructions. In my many years of handling interior design projects, this was a first for me.

The experience was humbling indeed.

Of course, I had no choice but to make the situation right for my client, once I got over the initial faux pas, and blow to my self esteem.

Fast forward to the present day, and I now find myself on the receiving end of a project – done for yours truly.

Yes, this time around I’m the client, and here I am – dealing with a less than satisfactory end result.

And wondering whether the manufacturer of this custom piece will honor the client relationship and make things right?

As of this writing, I still don’t know the outcome.

Admittedly, I’m a bit caught up in the spirit of the season knowing that most mistakes are not intentional.

Still, I like to think that the client relationship will be honored, and that the company will do the right thing in the end.

After all, a happy customer is always the happiest outcome, right?

Isn’t that what we want most out of any professional relationship?

Categories: Home Design | Tags: Fabric, furniture, interior design, reupholster, seat cushions, sofa | No Comments »