Hi there, designer š
Last week we talked about outsourcing and why building your own technical skills early in your business can make a huge difference.
This week I want to share a quick real-life example from my studio.
A contractor Iāve worked with for years called me recently and said:
"Ana, we have this long corridor in one of our projects and honestlyā¦ it's just ugly. The clients donāt know what to do with it and neither do we."
There wasnāt even a designer involved on the project - the contractor was working directly with the homeowners.
They simply needed ideas.
He sent me a quick floor plan with dimensions and a short message explaining the situation.
The clients were hoping to add:
ā¢ some additional cabinetry
ā¢ a place to sit down
ā¢ something to visually break up the long corridor
ā¢ and they mentioned their previous home had floral wallcoverings they loved
Now they wanted to take a slightly more modern approach, but still incorporate some of that personality.
Honestly, that was more than enough information.
And this is exactly where having your own technical skills becomes incredibly valuable.
At the time, I was deep in design development for a 6,000 sq. ft. home project, so I told myself I would spend no more than three hours on this.
I quickly:
ā¢ brainstormed a concept
ā¢ opened SketchUp and modeled the idea
ā¢ designed a simple built-in bench with cabinetry
ā¢ added a wood slat divider to visually break the corridor
ā¢ created a small presentation deck with the concept
ā¢ selected several blue floral wallcoverings for them to review
The existing photo from GC of the ugly corridor:
The quick SketchUp 3D modeling:
Then I used Photoshop to place the wallcovering onto the existing staircase photo the contractor sent me - just to help the client visualize the idea as additional request.
Simple.
Clear.
Easy to understand.
Iām attaching a few screenshots from that quick presentation so you can see how simple the concept was.
I sent everything back to the contractor and the clients loved it!
They immediately placed the order for the wallcovering, the millworkers came to verify dimensions, and the construction team proceeded with the scope.
The only thing left for me to do was send a few blue pillow options for the bench.
And that was it.
The entire thing took about three hours.
No meetings.
No long design process.
No back-and-forth with the client.
Just a few tools I already use every day.
And before I even started, the contractor had already sent $3,000 through Zelle.
This is exactly why I always encourage designers to build their own technical capabilities early in their careers.
Because once you have those skills, opportunities like this start to appear everywhere:
Quick consultations.
Concept packages.
Builder collaborations.
Contractor requests.
Small projects that can quietly generate meaningful income - without taking over your schedule.
Sometimes being a designer isnāt only about full-service projects.
Now, is this the kind of project that ends up in my portfolio?
Definitely NOT! But thatās not the point.
Opportunities like this are simply quick, focused consultations where your eye and technical skills solve a problem for someone.
And those moments can quietly become a very nice source of additional income alongside your larger projects.
See you next week, designer š¤
Ana šø
Interior Design Den
Responses