Chicago Home Magazine recently featured the home of a college friend, Keith Largay, and his partner, Rob Andrews (names were mentioned in the article so I'm not undermining any attempt at anonymity.)
We recently attended a holiday party there and can attest to the beautiful simplicity they achieved with the combination of lacquered macassar ebony wall accents with pale neutral upholstery and very streamlined furnishings. Lonnie Unger, of Susan Fredman Design, did a fine job with these clients!
One theme in the article is the idea of the designer "arbitrating" between clients when the couple come in with different concepts that must be melded in creating one space. This is just one small part of a designer's responsibility that isn't covered in the job description.
The article also mentions potential difficulty in placing sconces due to the incompatibility of the electrical wiring in the sconce with the location of the junction box in the wall. Sometimes the wiring in the sconce will be located towards the top or bottom, which would require you to move the junction box in order to hang it at the right height.
This can be avoided if you locate the box during construction based on info from a spec sheet on the sconce, or you can sometimes make after-market adjustments to the wiring location on the sconce itself through a company that specializes in this kind of thing.
These problems are part of a designer's job to address during the purchasing process, to help the homeowner avoid costly mistakes, but even the best designers sometimes miss these small details. And sometimes the information just isn't available prior to purchase, so it's a surprise when the light fixtures arrive and don't work with the box locations.
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