Welcome, we are here with one of our own finest, Jen Kutz.

She is one of our designers on the team.

And today we’re gonna be talking about, you know, the importance of design, obviously, and then the process of design.

So Jen, when a client comes to Kingdom & Co., at what stage do you get involved and what are some things that you do to be sure that that project is getting off on the right foot?

So the first step would be for a designer and a project director to go out, meet with the client on site, kind of see the spaces that we’re going to be touching, meet not only the clients, we wanna understand not only their budget, but kind of their vision to make sure that those align.

A lot of times people want the dream, but we have to make sure that it’s realistic.

So that’s what that first meeting is about, to kind of nail down the actual scope.

From there, if they sign with design, then I go right into, send me inspiration pictures, let me see what your design style is.

We jump into elevations, we nail down all the technical stuff, then we get into the fun stuff like materials and actual construction.

And I think at early in those stages, you’re also distinguishing, okay, are we actually gonna be doing reconfiguration?

Or are we just doing surfaces?

Because obviously there’s a big price difference there.

And like you said, making sure those match.

Because what’s the point in putting in all your effort, designing something beautiful that they ultimately can’t afford to do?

And we have no interest in doing that either, it wastes our time too.

And so your job is so important, being able to make sure those objectives align.

Exactly.

In that process, how are you, or what are you doing to collaborate with other members of the team to make sure that project stays on track?

So something that’s great about Kingdom & Co is that we are all on the same team.

So when I’m designing something, we have at least six pairs of eyes hitting every plan set, making sure that it’s constructionally sound and that it’s feasible.

Sometimes things look great, but maybe from a construction standpoint, it’s not feasible.

Having us all on the same team is really powerful, especially for the client, because there’s none of this finger pointing of design, construction.

We’re all there, we’re all accountable, and we all want the same goal.

We’re all rowing in the same direction, is what I like to say.

Because there are those projects where we are working with outside designers or outside architects.

And yeah, everybody kind of has their own method, they have their own processes.

And trying to get everything to sync up can be a real challenge.

It ends up costing the customer more time and money, a lot of times.

And so that’s why design build, that process is a process that we believe in.

Because it’s more efficient, the entire team is rowing in the same direction.

Exactly.

What are some things that you do to really understand the client’s vision?

So once they first sign on board with design, I always say, send me a few inspiration photos and tell me what you like about these photos.

And that, just those few photos, I kind of know the direction based on the conversations we’ve had at the consultation.

We do have clients that don’t necessarily have that, and it’s just a blank slate.

But I do find that those clients, more often than not, just love us and love our brand and love the design direction that we already have established.

And they just are trusting us to take the reins.

Yeah, absolutely.

I think, I’ve also seen, you’ve been in meetings where someone will show you a photo, and it’s not like, okay, we’ll do that.

It’s, you’ll ask a question like, what do you like about this photo?

Because what your eyes see and what they see can be very different things.

Oh, 100%.

They could just like the cabinet color.

This happened to me recently.

A client sent me a picture of a bathroom.

It was beautiful, kind of French style.

It had wood-toned cabinets and it had a marble checkered floor.

And I called her, I was like, oh, do you like the marble checkered floor?

And she’s like, no, I just like the wood cabinets.

I’m like, oh, I was really reading into that.

Yeah.

It happens all the time.

It’s really important to ask those- Those questions.

Distinguishing questions.

Because again, different pairs of eyes are gonna see very different things.

In the same photo.

Yeah.

Can you share a memorable project that you recently worked on with Kingdom & Co?

So yeah, I’m still in the process of wrapping one up right now.

I’ll give a shout out, my client, John.

He’s actually a commercial designer that paired with us.

He can do it, but he didn’t want the headache.

Yeah.

So he’s a commercial designer that works a lot overseas.

So pairing with him together, we actually, I feel like we taught each other a lot.

He at least taught me a lot and I really, really enjoyed the experience.

Yeah, and it’s interesting that you would have somebody like that where this person is totally capable of doing it on their own.

Yeah.

It’s what they do and yet they still value the effort of paying somebody to do it for them because they’re busy and they can, they’re better off staying, generating the income that they can, staying in their craft and having somebody else handle it for them for their own home.

And honestly, it’s kind of overwhelming to work on your own space.

Like you can’t make a decision.

I can’t make a decision in my own house.

Yeah, he’s like, thank God, Jen, you pointed out things that I can’t even see cause I’m just so overwhelmed by the choice on my own home.

Isn’t that interesting?

Yeah, I just, I agree with you.

It’s too much, it’s too important.

Yeah, that was a very intriguing project.

How would you handle or how do you handle challenges that come up during a design project?

Particularly if you’re dealing with budget constraints or certain client expectations or unexpected obstacles?

So something I deal with a lot is having a set budget that the client has and then starting to receive their inspiration photos and they don’t align with that budget.

So kind of juggling this place of do I disappoint them by giving them a smaller design than they wanna see but it meets their budget or do I push the budget, show them what’s possible and then maybe they fall in love and we have to cut things out.

And that’s a very hard kind of juxtaposition I deal with all the time.

And what works for one client I found does not work for the next.

Everyone is different.

They are, yeah.

And I’ve seen you, a lot of times you’re just up front with them and be like, hey, I could go two directions here.

What do you wanna see?

Exactly.

And they usually wanna see the dream but sometimes it’s hard to reel that back in after they’ve seen it.

It is tough.

You know, another question a lot of people have is what are some upcoming trends that you see?

So a big one that we’re starting to see that you’ll love is biophilic design.

Yes.

Which is connecting people with nature.

We’re seeing it a lot in commercial workplaces because it helps with productivity, health, mental health, all of it.

Bringing in terrariums, live walls, things like that.

We’re starting to see in residential.

Yeah, grounding people to the earth.

Exactly.

Absolutely.

And it feels so good, you know, as life gets so fast and gets cumbersome and gets complex, yeah, bringing in that nature has such a calming effect.

It’s powerful, yeah.

For homeowners that are just looking to refresh a space or something they can do on their own on a budget, what are just some easy ways of doing that?

Paint is number one.

Painting walls, painting cabinets, hardware.

So replacing plumbing fixtures, cabinet pools, lighting fixtures, that just completely transforms the space.

Yeah, easy ways of doing that.

And then on certain areas, you know, there’s, we always look at trying to balance functionality and aesthetics.

Sometimes they’re mutually exclusive, but a good design would blend those.

What are some ways that you do that of blending what looks good, but what functions practically?

I think the best example of this that I’ve done on a few projects is taking that dead space under the staircase and transforming it into a beautiful feature of a wine cellar or a cigar room, something like that.

Yeah, those always look really good.

Yeah, and that was just a space that you’re just honestly collecting clutter that you don’t need.

If you could give one piece of advice to someone that is just about to start a design or renovation or even a new build project, what would you tell them?

Communicate.

Communicate clearly and often.

Because we are not mind readers and we want the same goal as you.

We wanna know what your budget is, we wanna know what your design style is, and we wanna constantly, constantly touch base and make sure that we’re meeting that so that we can move forward.

And I would add that, you know, be prepared for an investment of time.

Even though you’re paying somebody to make a lot of those decisions and organize it, you still gotta be there to approve it and you still gotta be at meetings and we all have busy schedules.

That’s true.

You know, some of our projects for clients that are busy, they’re constantly, you know, either traveling or with work engagements, sometimes their projects will just spin their wheels because they don’t realize, hey, you still have to invest that time regularly to get that ball down the field.

Make decisions.

Yeah, we tell people a lot in the consultations when they ask, well, how long is this gonna take?

We usually say, well, we’ve seen, you know, a whole home remodel take four months, we’ve seen it take a year and a half.

And that question mark is the client.

And that’s just the design.

They get a big laugh about it.

That’s just the design.

Yeah.

Recently we worked on one and the gentleman was extraordinarily decisive and we got through it in less than a month, I feel like.

Oh yeah, it was quick, yeah.

Some can just really go and it’s just being able to make those decisions.

It’s a sizable project.

Right.

And you know, he’s just very assertive.

I like that, I don’t like that.

Boom, boom, boom.

And if you don’t like it, what don’t you like so that we can come in with something quickly?

And other clients, yeah.

It’s over a year.

And they just, they’re hung up on one thing.

Analysis paralysis.

Yes.

And then there’s new styles they’re seeing on Pinterest.

Stay off of Pinterest.

That’s my other, that’s my other advice.

Just stop looking.

Yeah.

Once you decide, stop looking.

Once you send me pictures and we have a conversation, just stop.

Yeah.

Okay.

Well, thank you, Jen.

You do great work and we’re excited to have you on the team and for what you add to the team.