How Much We Can Get Done in 2 Hrs (Consultations and You)

Depending on many factors, 2 hours can seem like forever or go by in what feels like a few minutes. As a professional, I can do any number of things at a consultation. I’m always listening, and my junior designer is taking notes, but I can be picking out paint colours for your spaces, we can work out some options for furniture placement, or I can even be going through the zoning and building code implications for your renovation ideas.

Zoning and Building Code?! You can do that in a consultation??

Absolutely. We can’t give you a definitive answer on some topics (like the exact zoning laws for your property- I can’t memorize every municipalities zoning map and by-laws!), but I can give you an idea of what renovation ideas will have zoning or building code implications- or what does and doesn’t require a permit.

Typically, I go through all of the above in a 2 hour consultation, giving clients the benefit of my well-rounded expertise. This typically doesn’t leave time for floor plan sketches, but I’m a big believer in leaving my clients with all the information they need to make a decision and I love taking complex issues and breaking them down to make them more understandable. So depending on whether we’re talking about your master bathroom or renovating your entire home, I try to get you the important information first, and then work through some design ideas. That is why our consultations sometimes vary.

How about a peek into our process? Here’s a look at what our typical consultation process looks like:

1. First is the “discovery call”. This just means we chat to discuss what you’re looking for, and compare how Sanura Design can help to give us both an idea if we’d like to move forward.
2. We schedule a consultation and send you homework. We’ve developed a great questionnaire that we send clients to collect a lot of basic information we’ve learned we always need at a consultation and saves us valuable time the day of by getting it from you ahead of time, and also helps us assess what your priorities are so we can tailor the 2 hours to you and your needs.
3. We receive the questionnaire ahead of the consultation and review the information, bringing the questionnaire with us to the consultation (either in print or digital form). We use this to assess what tools to bring to the consultation (do we need paint chips to help with colours? are we helping you with a better furniture layout and should we bring our measuring tools?)
4. We arrive at the consultation (our consultation always includes both myself- the principal interior designer- and my junior designer), and discuss what is on the agenda, clarifying answers from your questionnaire if required.
5. We walk around your space and hear your concerns, frustrations, and parts of the space you like. We’ll probably discuss your needs for the space in more detail and the budget you were thinking of for the space (if applicable). We may sit down and give our input in a more concrete way as well, making sketches of ideas (like the sketch above of a custom tv unit for a condo) and picking out colours with you with the help of our paint chips.

But what about everything happening in the spring of 2020- the pandemic and the need to isolate? Doesn’t that mean we can’t do a consultation because we’d have to meet in person?

Not necessarily. Here at Sanura Design we’ve always offered the option to do a consultation digitally (before it was “cool”?). You get the same level of service (we’re very passionate about service and relationships here), just in a different format. You’d need a camera of some sort (most cell phones and laptops have one built in) and a microphone (also typically built in with the camera). We’ll do the same steps 1-3, but for 4 and 5 we meet digitally and you walk us through your spaces as we chat. We can even do digital sketches on a shared screen- which we will email you to after the meeting.

Most of our services can be done digitally (we’re currently working on a complete condo redesign project, and it’s still full steam ahead working on sourcing and budgeting with our industry partners and our client), so don’t feel like your project needs to wait, we can always get started now.

We’re always honoured to be invited into your home to help you with your design needs, what part of your home is bothering you the most right now? Let us know below or call us and we can set up a consultation to get the design process started!