In some eyes, interior designers have an image problem.
It’s an image that has been fueled by television sit-coms, cartoons in the New Yorker and the ferocious publicity over the sums that First Ladies have spent to re-do their predecessors’ re-dos of the White House. It’s an image of snootiness, sometimes imperiousness. Designers have been popularly portrayed as an irritable, fractious lot, frivolously up to their waists in chintz.
The scene on Wednesday in the Merchandise Mart offices of the Illinois Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers decidedly did not jibe.
The mood was all business, as six designers presented room renderings and material samples to their peers for approval. They were undergoing “vetting”-in this case scrutiny of what the six, representing their “teams,” intend to do with six houses in the 1994 Parade of Homes at Aberdare Estates in Gurnee, July 23-Aug. 14. (Two other Parade homes are being decorated independently of the ASID.)
Although for years the ASID has sponsored “showhouses,” in which the individual rooms of a single home are given over to designers to showcase their work, its co-sponsorship of the Parade is a first for the ASID, a professional association with 1,000 members locally.
Such events are marketing tools both for the designers and for the association itself, which prides itself on its unified (nonmembers who are ASID critics use the word “clubby”) standards. Members must pass exams on design, architecture, building technology and ethics, among other topics.
The ASID always vets its showhouses to make sure that there is a certain cohesiveness to the designs, to avoid undesirable repetitions of patterns and fabrics, and in general to keep out the, uh, tawdry elements.
For the Parade, the process has been extended, though with a twist: Not only did the designers have to coordinate their ideas with the ASID, they had to coordinate their ideas with one another in a much tighter context, as each of their six homes in the Parade was divided into teams of three to five designers. The potential for fractiousness is high.
But from outward appearances, harmony reigns. The designers who presented the boards and swatches for vetting encountered little opposition from the four judges (all fellow designers and ASID members).
A few exceptions emerged: two bedrooms in two houses were perceived as too similar; judges said that one wallpaper design just didn’t belong; one example of window architecture was labeled a designer’s nightmare (“What a mess,” one judge said).
The design teams were working with budgets of $6,000 to $10,000 for window treatments and wallcoverings (including installation charges). Most furnishings will be borrowed from antiques dealers or furniture companies and retailers, to be returned at the end of the Parade. Some of the designers worked with the architects and builders more closely than others to physically change their houses’ floor plans.
What visitors to the parade will see, in addition to houses themselves, are interior design schemes that aren’t remarkably different from one another in tone. This is related not so much to the designers’ lack of imagination as to the realities of the houses: Each is priced from $450,000 to $600,000, in determinedly traditional architectural styles that are designed to blend with the existing Aberdare development itself. These are not homes for young married/first-time buyers, mostly. They are what in building parlance are called move-ups-for older, more monied buyers.
Sociology aside, the homes reflect a lot of what’s on the market and what designers perceive the marketplace wants. That means there’s a lot of green, specifically hunter green-green draperies (civilian attendees at the Parade have to get used to the term “window treatments”), green upholstery, green wallcoverings.
Two homes will have mirrored exercise rooms. One house reached into the past to place transoms over every door, a feature that both pleased the judges (who liked the return of a vintage feature that lets in light) and puzzled them when they learned that they were inoperable (thus precluding ventilation, their original purpose). There’s lots of hardwood flooring, meaning that several designers will be showing off custom-made area rugs (including one made just for the Parade) and fanciful use of inlays. And, yes, there’s lots of chintz.
The designers and judges (M.J. Kamin, Joanne Knaus-Sims, Carol Caz and Jayne Dranias) cautioned that every element is tentative; it’s an endless serious of adjustments that go with the process. In the next two months, promises to lend certain antiques might evaporate, carpet suppliers might fail to deliver on time, the builders might just nix some features.
Designer Nancy Sublette learned that first hand. In her presentation, she held up a sample of beige wool sisal carpeting that evoked a murmur of approval from the judges. “This is what we wanted to use,” she interrupted. “I even found it for $21 a square yard.” Nods of approval all around. Good deal. “But the builder (Rick Swanson) rejected it. It was just too much for him.”
Some anticipated highlights:
– Designer Linda Ruff presented a cheerfully tropical theme (somewhat mysteriously labeled “European”), the concept she and four colleagues have for the house by Cyrus Homes. Because the three-bedroom house has what they determined is a “British Colonial look,” they used palm-motif fabrics generously. Armstrong is creating an “elephant footprint” vinyl flooring for one room. The master bedroom has a big wicker bed straight out of “Gunga Din.”
– Designer Jack Weyna explained how he and three designers worked with builder Tom Henderson to move doorways to improve traffic flow and create more visual impact. They got the builder to agree to lay some of the oak flooring on the diagonal, a departure from the traditional method of placing it in a straight shot through the house. Some will have inlaid walnut. Potential for conflict: Within the house that Weyna described as architecturally “Georgian eclectic” were furnishings in an Art Deco flavor. Not a problem, the judges said.
– Designer Lori Lennon inherited builder Mark Bushman’s not-too-common wish for what she called “a big monster TV” directly over a fireplace. “I said, `OK, why not?’ ” Lennon told the judges. She devised an elaborate (and tall) set of paneled, wall-mounted cabinets for making the monster go away when not in use.
In the end, the judges agreed that their reservations were few, pronouncing the level of design “sophisticated.” Nonetheless, they suggested that three of the design teams get together to find ways to get eliminate some of that green.
And the architure’s aforementioned homogeneity was a little disappointing, offered judge Knaus-Sims. “If this is a `parade,’ at least we could offer a little more variety,” she said.
Caz agreed. “These (designs) are comparing apples and apples.”
Lennon, who is also the ASID chapter president, steered the discussion back to the unity theme that she said was on the ASID’s collective mind: “I trust that the team will hold it together,” she said. “I trust the designers.”
