"What a waste of money"

This post on Hacker news really defines for me why I need to take a break from design, especially corporate design.  Many the comments in here are exactly what clients and end users think.  Yes, there are a few comments rebuking the concept that good design is expensive but most focus on the perceived "wasted" resources-money as well as energy-going into space design.  To be fair, Interior Design is essentially a luxury service, icing on the basic need of shelter.  Yes, there are lots of studies done on improving productivity, morale and decreasing employee attrition.  However, no one seems to care about that when it really gets down to brass tacks.  All that matters is money.  And sometimes, it's not even the actual amount of money you spend.  I have had more than one client that was concerned about "optics"  They spent MORE money to make it look like they spent less so employees wouldn't think that the company valued how their space looks over how much an employee was paid.  So, they spent the same amount of money building a life-sucking dilbert-ville instead of a space that the employees might like with access to views and sunlight; control over the lighting in their space; better common areas where people can get to know their co-workers and feel connected to them.  I have had clients tell me that red paint "looked expensive"  Are you kidding me?  Paint costs the same, no matter what color it is!!!  The business of Interior Design is stupidly demanding, given what it is.  Partially because Interior Designers do not get paid nearly enough for the the ridiculous amount of hours and energy put forth in an effort to please your client and create a design that you are happy to have your name on.  Just to define this a little more, since everyone thinks they are not paid enough.  The minimum work week is 45 hours.  Even then, you can't get everything done that needs to be done.  There is always more-one more drawing to do, one more design iteration, one more hour on that detail...it's never done.  In my twelve years of working in the industry, I have been treated for TMJ and panic attacks, and been admitted to the hospital twice with life-threatening asthma attacks because I was too busy to take my medicine.  Yes, all of that is my fault, not the industry's fault, as I am ultimately responsible for my own health.  However, none of my friends in other industries report similar issues.   The other issue I have with this industry is value.  We do not value ourselves.  We give away our services for far less fee than other professional services. THEN we perform extra services without asking for more money.  Just dumb.  If we don't value ourselves, how can we expect people who are uninformed about what we do to value us?
I suppose my real question is, is there a way to change the perceptions of the general public, so they think that Interior Design is something worth spending money to hire a professional?  Do we charge more, don't back down on those fees and embrace the luxury nature of our services?  By charging more than we do, does this make people want it because they can't have it?  I would love to hear thoughts on this-both from people in the industry and not in the industry.

Photo credits: from my portfolio. SRAM Offices, Chicago, Illinois by RTKL Associates. Photo by Steve Hall, Hedrich Blessing.  This project was one of the few exceptions to the above.  The client was very involved in the creation of the space, even in the development of custom furniture for the space, and really appreciated what we as interior designers could bring to the table.  I think mainly because they were designers themselves and "got it."

Just wait till next year!

Being an Auburn fan...


Is starting to feel like being a Cubs fan.
War Eagle.
Go Cubs.

Because there is never enough white meat or rolls...

Happy Thanksgiving leftovers, everyone! (Even if you have to make more leftovers)

Mr. Drysdale will see you now, Mr. Clampett.

I am now officially taking (at least) a year off to take care of Jackson.  In honor of that I am re-posting one of my favorite emails I have ever gotten from a co-worker.  Jeffrey, you rock.  I hope they let you out of the sandbox soon.

From: Jeffrey Warren
Sent: Monday, September 01, 2008 12:34 AM
To: Katie Bowman
Subject: RE: our awesome building

http://www.som.com/common/modules/gallery/dsp_image_gallery.cfm/inland_steel_building?galleryCategoryID=503999&ImageIndex=5

Mr. Drysdale will see you now, Mr. Clampett.

Jeffrey

post script...

This photo is in the Inland Steel Building, where my office was located when I worked for HOK in Chicago. (They have since relocated to CNA Center) When I transferred to the San Francisco office, I was surprised to be in essentially the same building at One Bush Street, same architect, built about the same time, same shaped floor plate, but not as shiny.

Not so On Demand

OK...here goes my first bitching post.
What is with this phrase "on demand" that cable channels like to throw around?  On demand means when I think of something I want to watch and it has previously aired on your channel, I should be able to go to your "on-demand" website and watch it.   YouTube can handle this-I demand to watch every Weird Al Yankovic video ever made!-but HBO, with a show that they produce? Noooo.
I'm almost ashamed to admit this but feel I have to in order to tell my sad sad tale.  OK, here goes.  *sighs*  I'm trying to watch Season two of True Blood.  As a southerner, I am deeply offended by  the bad accents on this show.  I mean they are horrific.  And when I say "horrific" I mean North and South miniseries-oh, my stars, that Orry Main is a handsome devil!-horrific.  The only one who had a close to authentic accent was Rene and we find out in the last episode of season one that his accent was fake!  I mean, I've heard a few real acadians (in ADDITION to Justin Wilson) and his accent was pretty damn good.  I digress...
Anyway, I couldn't get Season One from HBO ON Fucking Demand.  I kind of get that-it's out on DVD and they are trying to run a business.  So I order it from Netflix.  It's five disks so it takes me nearly 2 months to get through Season 1, one disk at a time.  After finishing episode 12 yesterday and dropping that little red envelope in the mail, I go to HBO On-Fucking-Demand to pick up where I left off, at the beginning of season Two.  Not AVAILABLE on HBO On Fucking Demand!!!  Why!?  Completely asinine!  HBO, I subscribe to all your bullshit channels through Dish Network.  WTF?  I paid my money, I want some on demand action. And just to rub salt in the wound, they are starting to re-run season one in the coming weeks, after I just dropped the last DVD from Netflix in the mail.
Anyone have any suggestions on how to get these free online (preferably on a Mac, as we have a Mac mini hooked up to the TV) without downloading some sketchy software.  Oh, Pirate Bay, where were you when I needed you?  What? Tied up in Court?  Oh, that's too bad.  Now my tale doesn't seem so sad.  Never mind.

Because I just couldn't leave well enough alone

After 3 months of looking at the walls in Jackson's room, I've decided that I have to paint. So...the process of paint selection begins. Hopefully I'll have something selected before he's in college.

Sir John Soane's Museum

I started collecting rocks as souvenirs when I studied in Europe in my third year of Architecture School. We had a free week and Rebecca and I were yearning to hear someone speak some form of English so we went to England and Scotland.  After a trip to Canterbury, we stopped near Dover to see the famous White Cliffs and I was surprised to see the beaches were composed entirely of rocks Having only seen the beautiful powder-white sand from beaches on the Gulf, I was completely amazed and took some of the rocks with me. It turned out to be a great souvenir so I did it a few other places that had cool looking rocks. I've amassed a collection and was starting to think I should display them in some way. I found these glass apothecary jars and added the labels so they seem like specimens. It reminded me of Sir John Soane's Museum, which I visited on that same trip to Europe.

Dead Sea Creatures and other Beach Finds

This is some of our collection of pretty rocks and sand dollars from our many trips to Fort Funston on the weekends.  It is a dog-friendly beach so we take Archie there as much as we possibly can.  And he inevitably finds some dead sea creature on the beach and rolls around in it.  It's been forcing us to keep up with regular baths so it does have a fringe benefit for us.  We were almost to the end of our walk down the beach and were foolishly thinking he wouldn't find anything dead but, he did.  And he rolled around in it for a good 45 seconds.  When we went a few weeks ago there was a huge dead sea lion that had washed up on the beach.  THANK GOD he didn't see it or we would have never gotten the stink off of him.   Andy and I managed to distract him as we passed, which is not easy to do with a dog that has absolutely no interest in retrieving things.  We were both picturing Archie running up to the sea lion and partially re-enacting the beached-whale scene from the Reno911! movie with the rest of the dogs at the beach..  Guh...oh wait let's think about pretty beach things instead of the title of this post.
Well, the tide was in this time so we didn't see any pretty rocks or sand dollars.  But we did see this.

I know it's completely juvenile toilet humor but I just couldn't resist taking it home and photographing it.  Unfortunately, I forgot to move it from the back of the car away from Archie so he gave the, uh, right cone a chewing before I could photograph it.  It was a pristine example of what I like to call an organic dildo-so San Francisco.

The Hunter

Archie likes to sneak up on his dog food.

I'm Spicy!

Behold my new spice rack! It is a lovely celebration of my anal retentiveness. All rows carefully arranged, all the spices alphabetized. Take a good long look....this is my last delusional grasp at having an adult household.  Once Jax is completely mobile it will either be destroyed or moved up a couple feet out of his reach and possibly mine as a result. I'm enjoying these last few months of freedom before everything has to be 4 feet off the ground. As I made all the labels and moved the spices into their rightful place and neat rows, I envisioned a scene, years from now, where I was ONCE AGAIN rearranging these spices BACK into alphabetical order because either Jax (or future child) or Andy (or the two of them in collusion) have moved them around just to screw with my head.  It gets me all riled up just thinking about it.



This setup is from IKEA in one of my many many trips with my domestic partner-in-crime, Jamie.  The red sheet metal piece was originally intended to be a bulletin board with magnets.  The jars are being used as intended.  I did my research before choosing the IKEA jars.  I looked at the ones from Bed Bath and Beyatch but they were a tiny bit more expensive and too small to hold an entire spice jar, meaning you have to throw out half of the expensive spice you just bought or store the jar in a cabinet, COMPLETELY DEFEATING THE PURPOSE!  Or as my twenty-something nerd friends would say..FAIL.    Just the thought of that makes me throw up a little in my mouth. I cannot STAND designs that are not thought through.  That is what design is about.  Identifying and Solving problems in the best possible way, considering not JUST aesthetics but also function.  Is that so hard?

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

A little recipe I worked up for a pot luck brunch at our house to introduce some folks to Jax...

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Dry Ingredients:
3 cups AP Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Ginger
1/4 tsp Cloves
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1 1/2 cups Granulated Sugar
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
Wet Ingredients:
2 cups Canned pumpkin (or one small can)
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup vegetable oil (can substitute applesauce)
1/4 cup molasses

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place all dry Ingredients in mixing bowl with whisk attachment and combine.  Remove whisk attachmentand add all wet ingredients.  Switch to paddle attachment and mix together on low until ingredients are combined.
If not using paper liners, spray muffin tin with a cooking spray with Flour.  Using ice cream scoop, fill muffin cups completely to get a nice muffin top (like the one hanging over your jeans).  Bake for 20 minutes at 350.  Makes 18 small size muffins.  I'm guessing it makes a dozen of the large muffins.

Time IS on your side

I've never been particularly good at keeping track of time or being on time or well, anything to do with time other than buying watches.  And I mean NEVER.  I was late for carpool in elementary school.  Not sure if I was late to kindergarten...my mom will have to weigh in on that.  I was even late coming out of the womb-something like 3 weeks late.  Now, my friends, aren't you glad I've narrowed that down to 10-15 minutes over the years?

So, now that I have a baby and they are ALL about schedules, I needed help with this time thing.  When did he last eat?  Uh, I don't know.  10 minutes ago?  Or was it 3 hours?  Shit!  I knew I should have written that down.  So, here comes my lifesaver...the Itzbeen timer. 

It has 4 different timers-diaper, feeding, naps and a miscellaneous one, which is great for those first couple of weeks when you are in major pain and can't remember when you took your last Vicodin without a nurse coming in and handing it to you.  I don't know about you but I always take drugs when they are handed to me and seldom remember to do drugs myself.  Puff Puff Pass?  Sure, I can do that.  But, I digress.  What was I saying?  Oh yeah...time and remembering it and stuff.  The Itzbeen timer not only tells you how long it's been (get it?  Itzbeen...It's been...clever, huh?) since you changed or fed your precious honey pie but if you prefer to be told when to do something, it has an alarm mode as well.  I highly recommend getting this BEFORE the baby is born because you will need it from day one.  I got mine at Giggle here in San Francisco but I saw it at amazon.com and in Target as well.

Practice Makes Perfect

French Vanilla Cake with Fresh Raspberry Filling and Almond Buttercream Frosting.    Needs some work aesthetically but it sure tasted good.  Let's call this a BEFORE picture.

Why I love my dog

At the risk of this sounding like a 5th grade creative writing project....this is why Archie is the most awesomest, smartest dog EVER.
Jax was fussy this evening, as happens probably 3 nights a week.  I was pacing around, trying not to hover over Andy as he tried to comfort him.  (Not because he wasn't doing it right, just because I get anxious when Jax is crying and I'm not doing anything about it)  Archie was pacing right along with me, trying to help out.  So, we figure out he's not just having trouble going to sleep and he needs a little food.  I sit down to feed him and Andy says, "OK, well me and Archie are going to go downstairs and change clothes."  and heads out of the room and downstairs.  Archie starts to go, hesitates...then looks back at me.  I say, "We're OK, pooch.   Go get him!"  Archie barrels out of the room and down the stairs, happy to be released from duty.

I love that dog so much.  He is adjusting to the new pack member swimmingly.

European Baby Bucket

We received a European Baby Tub a couple weeks ago from my oldest friend, Heather Crocker.
OK, it's a bucket. However, it is a specially designed bucket that keeps the baby safe warm and surrounded by water, the thing that we adults all love about taking baths and showers. Shouldn't babies have that, too? Baby rights NOW!

Environmental note: It is recyclable, non-toxic, and free of BPA, PVC and phthalates.

The Jacksons...

Looks like I've gotten my creativity back. I have all these projects in my head, with plans for cakes, knitted stuffed animals, and artwork for Jax's room in addition to getting the back yard so it is not only habitable but enjoyable...photos will be posted when I actually complete something. It's just so nice to have my brain back to be able to use it for me and not work. These new found hobbies are yet more evidence that with each day that goes by I am more and more like my dad. Oh boy did he have his hobbies - woodworking, fly tying, gardening. But, to paraphrase my mom, he enjoyed reading about and buying the stuff for the hobbies more than finishing them. So, let's hope I can complete these projects all the way to the end before moving on to something else. Not such a bad thing to be like my dad. He was mellow but definitely could get his dander up about things. I miss him most during football season. I watched the Auburn vs. Tennessee game Saturday night and I could just hear him yelling at the TV with every play. I even found myself rooting for Tennessee before I remembered who they were playing. Hey, wait a minute...WAR DAMN EAGLE! Beat those hillbilly Vols! He taught me all the rules and ref signals and I even learned from him how to spot the penalty before it was officially called. That impressed many a guy in a sports bar in Chicago. I guess all the southern boys were used to girls that knew football. Funny that I ended up with the guy that hates sports and is thoroughly unimpressed with my knowledge of college football. Actually "hates" is too strong a word. That would indicate some level of emotion about sports - Andy is actually apathetic about sports. The only time he cares about sports is when I am watching a sporting event on TV and he wants to watch something else.
Speaking of Jacksons...Jax has had a couple of milestones! Jax slept almost 8 hours straight Sunday night. Didn't have a full repeat last night but he did go right to sleep at 7:30 and slept until midnight, instead of his usual fussing every 20 minutes for 3 hours. He's also starting to get some better motor skills. He's figured out how to use his head and his fist to put the pipe (the Bakun name for pacifier, funny considering his namesake smoked a pipe) back in his mouth. And this morning he rolled over from his back on to his side. GO JAX GO!!
Oh, and a third Jackson comes to mind. I have a new euphemism - "Tito's crying" now means it's time to feed the baby. Thanks to dooce for this post, I get a little giggle during feeding time.

Jackson loooves the ladies

Jax's room continues to be in development. I'm sure it will be for a while. It's further evidence that I do have a designer mind, not just a technical one....the design is never done. The room has a weird echo so I got the idea to just hang up some fabric wrapped panels instead of art, inspired by my brother's stay, where he hung fabric on the wall so he could do some voice recording in there. In an afternoon that started out as a quick trip to Jamie's storage unit to drop off some things, then evolved into a latte and hey-why-don't-we-grab-a-sandwich, let's call Jeanne and see what she's doing, Jamie and I went to Discount Fabrics to poke around. I was browsing through the huge racks and racks of fabric, hoping to find cute kid prints that I could stand to look at without cringing when I happened upon an adorable velveteen print with pinup girls on it. It reminded me of the wallpaper in the bathroom at Kuma's Corner in Chicago. hmmmmm...that might make a good wall hanging for Jax's young developing eyes...high contrast black background, a lot of motion in the print. A little inappropriate for a baby's room, though. F-it. I'm getting it. At the cutting table, the tatooed and pierced woman helping me asked what I was using it for and when I said, "Wall art for my son's room" she responded "Cool." I definitely smiled inside on that one - Yay! I'm a cool mom!
I stretched it on to some painting canvas frames and hang it up above the changing table. The echo is gone and Jax can't keep his eyes off it!




















I did get some other fabrics that I'm still playing with and will publish photos once those are up and ready.

dog beds and other major concerns

So tonight Archie actually took a pass on the couch. Let me repeat that...Archie took a pass on laying on the couch. I realize that my incredulity at this notion goes without explanation since dogs love laying on couches almost as much as licking their butts. That being said, I feel the need to elaborate a bit more on his temperament. This is a dog that gets on the couch/bed/chaise/fainting couch/what have you/ ONLY (mostly) when invited and thoroughly enjoys it when he's there. I'm not saying he doesn't hang about hinting, poking with his nose, clawing at you, wagging his tail and imploring with ears perked and brown eyes all round and soft...waiting for that invite but he will wait to be invited. And if that invite comes, he never hesitates. Until tonight.
Jackson was in his crib asleep so it was time for extra Archie love time. He's laying on his sweet-ass Crypton William Wegman dog bed that I just moved upstairs last night. Andy calls him over and he just blinks and stays put. Then, after a bit more urging from Andy, Archie gets up and curls up next to him on the couch. Not 20 seconds later, everyone seems settled in but he jumps up and goes back to that bed. I've been noticing that he disappears at night to our bedroom downstairs to lay on his bed. I thought he was just trying to get a little peace and quiet considering Jackson's habit of crying starting around 6:30-7:00pm but now I'm guessing it's the bed. He LOVES that freaking bed. He couldn't love the cheap dog bed NOOOO, he has to love the stupidly expensive dog bed. It is a great dog bed and I got it so I wouldn't be ashamed to have it be one of the first things you see when you walk in our bedroom. [Because there are just herds of people going into our bedroom day after day after day to tour its magnificence and it's been published in every design magazine, right? Nooo...as always seems to be the case in every place we've lived in, the bedroom is the biggest wreck and is more of a landing space for stuff I don't have a place for elsewhere + a bed. I haven't even removed the picture hooks from where Dennis and Aimee had their pictures hanging. But I digress] So now I'm thinking "I have to buy him another stupidly expensive dog bed so he has one to lay on downstairs. Well, maybe instead of the extra large size he has now, which Clifford the Big Red Dog could lay on comfortably, I can get the slightly smaller (and thus, less expensive) one, and get one that actually is more appropriate for a 60 lb Lab-Sharpei mix." This is going through my head while I brush my teeth. Why am I thinking this? As I type, his perfectly good inexpensive (and already paid for) dog bed lays unused next to me on the carpeted floor and I'm worried about if he will want to come and sleep in our room with us but not want to lay on this horrible dog bed that we've provided for him and choose to lay on his uber-cushy designer dog bed, all alone, upstairs, missing us horribly. Like the dog that rolls around in dead sea creatures on the beach is really worried about the comfort and design of his dog bed. Well, the good news is that crypton fabric won't absorb that dead sea creature smell.

School Lunch Night

Tonight Andy and I are having a School Lunch night. We arrived at this dinner decision not out of nostalgia but, out of laziness. This is our menu for dinner this evening:
Appetizer...baby carrots with Ranch dressing
Main course...Grilled cheese (Colby-Jack and Pepper Jack Cheeses) with Tater tots
Dessert...chocolate chips (no, not Chocolate chip cookies but Chocolate chips, poured out of the bag into the palm of your hand)

And what wine would you pair with this gourmet meal, you ask? Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Brut Champagne. That's right, I am well on my way to becoming a sommelier specializing in pairing excellent wine with comfort food. For the record, perhaps next time I will go with a nice Cab Franc or something.

I wish I could blame this on having a 8 week old infant in the house but sadly, I can't. Andy and I specialize in this type of thing...sleeping until noon, having popcorn or just tater tots for dinner, being 10-15 minutes late for everything. It is the Bowman-Bakun way.