For many, interior design is something associated with beautiful pictures, constant shopping trips for gazing at beautiful decor and endless selfies from a construction site. But it is not. The interior design is still plenty of spent nerves, responsibility for the decisions made, the constant search for a compromise, and often also the total absence of any thanks to you.

Everyone is interested in reading about brands and budgets used in the project and enjoying beautiful photos of the realized interior. But few people talk about the mistakes made during the work or about the difficulties encountered during the implementation. We decided that it would be useful for many to look at all this from the other side. For potential customers – so that they do not take on the construction and repair by themselves, and for our subscribers - to gain experience. After all, learning from other people’s mistakes is much more productive.

Prepare popcorn, make yourself comfortable, now we are going to tell you about difficulties encountered during the implementation of our project “KRONVERK”.

Difficulty number one - underskilled construction crews

During the construction of this site, three construction crews were replaced. And this is for half a year of repair. Because of this, the repair time was delayed twice. Whenever you have to work with a new construction crew, it takes all the time in the world to “play well”, find a common language and get used to the methods of work. If the construction crew is not of the highest qualification, then you have to constantly explain everything that is detailed in working drawings nearly at the elementary level. And if you do not do this, then it will take twice as long to fix the “screw-ups”.

Remember, if your builders do not know how to read drawings, and if they are skeptical about all your ideas and are not ready to learn new things, don’t work with such people. You need to work only with professionals!

Difficulty number two - irresponsible contractors

During the construction of the salon, the contractors involved in the manufacture of furniture, did everything at the very last moment, which caused a huge number of additional problems.

When deciding to order custom-made furniture, you must always be prepared for something to go wrong. It is a common phenomenon, when, after the first installation, a part of the furniture or some of its details are taken to the workshop and redone. It is very important that there is time for this. Therefore, you must follow the sequence in everything.

Several important points when working with involved contractors:

1. Always require technical documentation of the product being manufactured. It will be difficult to prove later that something was manufactured incorrectly with no drawing, signed by the customer. It is crucially important to sign all technical documentation on the manufactured items on time.

2. Approve all samples in colors and materials and fix it on paper. Sign everything and store copies or photographs of documents. The manufacture of furniture is often delayed for 3,4,5,6 months. During this time, the material number or RAL color will be absolutely erased from memory. And the possibility to quickly check everything for correctness is priceless.

3. Monitor the work of contractors, ask for photos of the furniture being manufactured at intermediate stages and remind about yourself in every possible way. In a word – don’t let them relax.

At this site, the time of manufacture of furniture was delayed for too long, the furniture manufacturer lost half of the information, everything was checked in a rush and on the last day. The furniture, which was not installed in time, entailed the impossibility to complete the repair work, for which reason the repair was delayed for too long.

Difficulty number three - lighting

The third significant problem identified during the construction process was lighting. The main light on the site is organized by the track system with spotlights. Lighting was calculated by experts on light. Everything was calculated - the light temperature, the lamp wattage, the number of lumens per meter. According to the documents, everything was taken into account. In fact, after the installation of the lamps, it turned out that the spotlights were very bright and it was impossible to look at them.

It wasn’t possible to replace the spotlights, because they were all mounted. Eventually, we decided to disassemble the lamps and cover the glass of the spotlight with white paint, thus making the light a little softer and more diffused. This greatly saved the day, and the light became softer.

Before buying lamps for the project, always try to find a display sample in order to see what kind of light you get in the end. And also remember, lighting is not something to save on. Everything depends on it, starting with the mood and ending with emotions that you experience being in the room. Improperly organized lightning can make your stay in the interior unbearable.

The most technically challenging solution in its implementation, which entailed an avalanche of disappointment, was wooden portals, which were elementary in design. Portals were made of solid pine. Because of the improperly prepared base for fixing portals, or rather a complete lack of preparation, since the contractor hadn’t issued a technical assignment for the preparation of slopes, the installation of the portals turned out to be impossible according to the original idea. As a result, it was necessary to make changes to the design, after which black casings, framing the window portal, appeared. These casings covered the gap between the portal and the existing walls, as well as hide the joints between the materials. This could have been avoided if the manufacturer of the slopes had done its job properly and was interested in the qualitative implementation of the project.

To summarize, friends: work only with professionals, do not be lazy to clarify something once again or double-check, state and document absolutely everything, and remember: unintelligible specifications result in unclear situations.

You can study the project itself and its implementation on the website in the projects section, and find more interesting stories from the construction site and sketches about the progress of work in our Instagram: @cartelledesign

All the good!