Kitchen & Bath Business - January 2019 - 60

RIGHT The round sconces and
mirror soften the look of the
solid, rectangular vanity top in
the guest bath.

SOURCES
DESIGNER: Corine Maggio,

CM Natural Designs;
PHOTOGRAPHER:

Chipper Hatter

KITCHEN

BACKSPLASH: Tile
Bar; BAR STOOLS: HD
Buttercup; CABINETRY
PAINT: Sherwin-Williams;
FAUCET: Waterstone;
ISLAND FABRIC: Fabricut;
PENDANTS: Robert +
Chris; SINK: Blanco;
WAINSCOTING PAINT: Dunn

Edwards

GUEST BATH

FAUCET: Jaclo; MIRROR:
Rejuvenation; SCONCES:
Cedar and Moss; SHOWER
FIXTURES: California
Faucets; TILE: Arizona Tile
& MS International; VANITY:

Restoration Hardware;

WALLPAPER: Schumacher

MASTER BATH

BATHTUB: Penhaglion;
COUNTERTOP, FAUCET,
LIGHTING & VANITY:

Restoration Hardware;
MOSS ART: Evergreen
Interiors Inc.; SHOWER
DOORS: Custom by
DC Smith Contractor;

SHOWER FIXTURES, TOWEL
HOOK & TUB FILLER:

California Faucets;

TILE: Arizona Tile, MS

International & SD Marble

THE CHALLENGES OF FIRST-TIME RENOVATORS

While the freedom to take risks with color and materials invigorated the
project, working with clients doing their first major remodel created a range
of challenges, particularly around expectations and budget.The clients sometimes became frustrated by the aspects of the project and workflow they could
not control - factors an experienced designer knows are par for the course.
Maggio focused on expectation setting to keep the couple's frustration to a
minimum by communicating and reiterating the steps of the design process.
"Things that are obvious to us are not necessarily obvious to the client,"she
said, and explained that frustration can be part of the process for someone
who is not going through this all the time.
Even when designers explain the entire process to clients at the beginning of the project, they may not clearly remember the conversation several
steps down the line. Reminding them of the phases throughout the project
proved important.
"We are extremely transparent," said Maggio, who added that for all projects, her firm keeps a folder in a shared drive that they and the clients can
access. It's organized by room and includes everything that is being specified
for the project. Orders and deliveries are shown and updated. "Clients who
like to be involved in that way have a place they can go and look at these
things," she explained.
This practice can also help when hiccups outside of a designer's control
happen, like the common problems of learning a product or material has a
longer lead time than expected or when items arrive in a damaged condition.
"There is no way for someone who hasn't done a remodel before to understand the level of decision-making surprises," said the designer. "What

60

motivated us through this project is the fact that
we knew it was going to be spectacular."
Budget was another factor, yet despite the constraints, the clients asked for tweaks that created
expense and sometimes time expenditures.
"They kept adding to the scope with things that
felt little to them," said Maggio, who explained
that some of the changes were big enough that
they could mean a full day of work.
The homeowners' association held up the
project, too, when a requirement for additional construction around the bathroom
plumbing arose. The delay this caused meant
the contractor could not finish on time, but
because the HOA demanded the changes,
neither the designer nor the contractor could
control the situation.
"It ended up adding work and causing the team
to have to wait at different points for approval,
which definitely extended the timeline and thus
the budget," said Maggio.
The good news for her was that because of the
plumbing and other construction delays, she did
not have lead-time issues, and most of the financial challenges fell on the contractor.

Kitchen & Bath Business / JANUARY 2019 / KBBONLINE.COM / The official publication of KBIS (KBIS.com)
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Kitchen & Bath Business - January 2019

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