Creating a Vision Board: The Guest House
Now that we’ve secured our dream property in Palisade, Colorado, it’s time to turn my business plan into a reality, starting with the Guest House. While I was living in Denver, I started researching builders and interior design companies on the Western Slope, specifically in the Palisade and Grand Junction area. I found Instagram was a useful tool for this endeavor! I follow a large number of businesses and people on my Palisade Posh account, several of them builders and designers. I think in all, I reached out to six different contractors, builders, and Interior design firms. Sadly, I was surprised at how unimpressed I was with the Interior Design firms given my 21 year tenure at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. The college offers a degree in Interior Design and many of my friends and colleagues taught and or chaired the Interior Design department! Given their caliber of knowledge perhaps my expectations were too high. For example, it is never a good sign when the initial meeting starts out with them saying “… you know we are very expensive…”. After hearing that comment for the third time, I found myself wondering well if you are all very expensive then isn’t your cost just the normal standard?
I even had one firm require a $150 consultation fee just to meet with them and there was no guarantee that we’d be working together. That was a ‘head scratcher’ moment for me, let me get this right… you want me to give you $150 just to meet and I don’t even know if I want to work with you? Yeah…. That was a big, NO I DON’T THINK SO!
Although I’ve worked with builders, contractors, and designers while living in Denver, this interviewing process was a new learning experience for me. During the process, I was given a great recommendation from one of the folks I follow on Instagram, Big Dog Builders. This husband-and-wife team are local, do a lot of renovation flips around the area and are well thought of and respected by our realtor and other members of the Palisade community. Big Dog recommended Eric Carlton, a contractor they often use and who is the owner of Innovative Expressions. After our first meeting, Eric came back with a proposal that, although still over our budget, it was close. He also provided four different design options that showed he listened to what I was saying during our meeting. That impressed me the most and when I commented on it he seemed surprised! Eric came across as humble and kind as well as knowledgeable in construction, building codes and being both cost conscious and effective. After completing the interview process and gathering three bids, two from contractors and a third from an interior design firm, I decided to go with Eric from Innovative Expressions.
At our next meeting, I learned that they too are a family operated company with both his wife and son as part of the team. All three are very good listeners! It is amazing how the simple act of listening can make the world of difference.
With my contractor and team confirmed, I set about creating a vision board for the guest house. This board grew out of the design “book” I’ve been creating for years. The latter is a visual compilation of design ideas, materials, and items that I find aesthetically pleasing. The book is dense with information and related to interior design for the guest house, main house, future art studio and boutique farm. It is an encyclopedia of design inspiration that is my vision bible for the property. In addition, I’ve also started collecting design inspiration from my Instagram account. With two in-depth resources to pull from, I thought it would be more useful to create a vision board that was specific for the Guest House, I ended up with two boards. Each included examples of exterior finishes including siding, lighting, and doors as well as interior design ideas. For the interior, I focused on color both for the cabinets and the counter tops, flooring, shower design, and tiles. I’m a visual person and I find visual examples help to communicate design ideas more clearly.
Truth be told the interior design vision board is something I picked up while working at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. Walking the hallways of the Texas building, interior design students often had their work on display in the form of vision boards! It is the best form of communication and in the case of Palisade Posh, will ensure that Eric and his team and I are on the same page when it comes to design and finishes for the guest house. As constructions gets underway, probably early spring 2024, I will continue to blog on the progress of the guest house which once complete will be called Posh Cottage. But until then, here is a peak at what you can expect…
My next vision board will be for phase one of the main house renovation!
