April Recap: Leaving Space for the Unplanned

Until recently, I’d walk into big client presentations as a bundle of nerves.

I thought I had done everything right. Clients completed my questionnaire, reacted to inspiration images, and for larger projects, we’d meet to nail down the floor plan. But after weeks of pulling together a design and obsessing over the details, once I started presenting, I could feel it. I was still guessing.

The direction was usually right, but there was always a layer of uncertainty around how it would land. As designers, I think we should push the design and bring in ideas that clients wouldn’t come up with on their own. But if a room is built around one big idea the client doesn’t like, the whole presentation falls apart.

Maybe you go for a bold wallpaper and keep everything else pared back. If they decide to nix wallcoverings altogether, you’re suddenly back at square one.

And sometimes one wrong move makes the client lose trust. That’s when the feedback really starts. They think you don’t get them, so now there are a lot more “what if we tried this” conversations after six weeks of work.

What I realized is that my clients don’t just want a beautiful result; they want to feel like they had a hand in it. It is their home after all, so I changed my process.

CONCEPT REVIEW

After kickoff, I still send my questionnaire and inspiration images. It gives me a strong starting point and gets the client engaged early, which helps when they’re excited, and I’m not ready to fully dive into design yet. But instead of going straight into a full presentation, I added a concept review as a halfway point. This isn’t a new idea, but using it more intentionally has completely changed how my presentations land.

About three to five weeks in, we meet and go through ideas together. It’s still a presentation, but focused on direction. I can show multiple options for a space, bring fabrics, wallpapers, and color palettes, and review the floor plan so we can lock in how the space will function. If there are layout options, we decide together.

This is also where I test bigger ideas. Something bolder that would feel risky to introduce for the first time in a final presentation. Recently, I showed clients a bright red fireplace, and they loved it. I never would have taken that risk without getting their read earlier.

The meeting is collaborative and intentionally a little loose. I can hand them materials and watch what they gravitate toward, what they hesitate on, and what they keep coming back to. That real-time reaction tells me far more than a questionnaire ever could. And because nothing is finalized yet, it’s easy to adjust.

I also make it clear that this is their moment to weigh in. After this, it’s time to step away from Pinterest and let me run with it.

FINAL DESIGN

Three to four weeks later, we meet again for the full presentation. Everything is selected, layouts are dialed, and the design is fully thought through. Now I’m presenting with confidence, because it’s not new to them. It’s a refined version of what we already talked through, brought to life.

There’s significantly less feedback at this stage, because it already happened when it was actually useful. Instead of unraveling during the presentation, the conversation has already been had.

This has worked especially well for clients who care about the aesthetic and want something interesting and personal. They don’t want a safe result, but they do want to feel involved. This gives them that voice without turning the process into decision fatigue, while I’m still leading the design.

Now I don’t feel like I have to play it safe or hedge by showing multiple versions just to cover my bases. If anything, I can push things further because I understand them better.

The real difference is knowing how to collaborate with the client while still leading the design, because the timing of that collaboration is everything.