Monday Matters: Realistic Timelines for Custom November Holiday Projects

We do a lot of custom around here

Custom Fabric

One of our Custom Crewels. All hand over – under woven on ivory velvet. Sumptuous. Spectacular as drapes.

Custom Furniture

Even Custom DIY!

One of the funniest things we deal with are Clients with unrealistic timelines

This past week + weekend do you know who had one?

I DID

Rather humorous to see my Assistants just “look” at me when I described the to do list a week ago

Opps

So we worked on Saturday (thank you!!)

Asst Project Facilitator Daniel made a glorious mess.

And a bit on Sunday (forgive us Lord)

today = tackle a realistic calendar at the Morning Meeting

4 Things I wish I had remembered about Custom Timelines = take your own advice Ann!

1. Don’t rush custom. It impedes quality.

Last week was filled with custom DIY Type Holiday Projects. I left no margins = mistake. PLAN your time out. Include breaks & walks to clear your head, your Assistants heads AND your skill set!

2. The great custom idea in your head takes TIME to communicate effectively.

This is sneak peek of just one. The time that goes into making a shot is incredible.

Light bulb Design moments = super excited to get them fabricated & photographed. Instead of making sure I had specific instructions I relied on quick sketches & “kind of like this” communication. Thank goodness we are a flex group around here. Some good music in the background and fresh coffee pretty much saved the week. Next time, drawings!

3. CLEAN the mess before you start another one.

We are using this as a jumping off point for a clients custom light fixtures in a cabin project that has NOTHING to do with the Holiday Crush. We have FIVE chandeliers in our small space that need to be prep’d for our artist. They take up a LOT of space…

We have a small Studio Space. At 600 square feet, we r tight. Everything does double duty. Throw in some Client Areas & a delivery of 5 Chandeliers that need to be prep’d and all of a sudden, organization = CRITICAL.

As you watch your home morph into combination spaces: Home + Holiday + Gift Storage + Wrapping Center + Mailing Machine, much like our little studio has over the past week: Holiday + Regular Client Business + DIY, take a few minutes to review the list.

Monday Matters = Starting the week off right

Hope it helps!

Looking forward to sharing these pics with you. Can hardly wait. Maybe that’s the problem…I’m just like a kid at Christmas!

“Live a custom life. There’s only one you.”™

xo Ann